Engines out

[ESpiegel]

Engines coming out again. Attempted to drive the boat around to Seabeck from bremerton on Friday (60 miles), and at about the 15 mile mark discovered a gear leak from the forward seal. This was causing ATF to spray from around the bell housing area. Rerouted to Everett where the shop was located that rebuilt the gear, and pulled the boat out today. Hopefully, with the statewide shutdown they can find the time to get the engine pulled and the seal replaced. I believe this shop is considered "essential" due to the CG and commercial fisheries work they perform.
Hoping for a quick return to the water...

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[RobS]

That bow down 3rd photo is scary, unless the entire wet exhaust was fully drained of seawater I would be real concerned with water flooding the turbo and possibly the exhaust manifold. I'd be pulling the exhaust elbow for an inspection before cranking the engine.

[Pitou]

That bow down 3rd photo is scary, unless the entire wet exhaust was fully drained of seawater I would be real concerned with water flooding the turbo and possibly the exhaust manifold. I'd be pulling the exhaust elbow for an inspection before cranking the engine.

That was my thought exactly before I had even scrolled down to this post.

Earlier, I saw this picture when posted in "I'm an Albin owner now" and had the same concern. Possibly the muffler was drained before hitting the road.

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I'd heed Rob's advice and put your hauler and lift operator on notice to take better care in keeping the bow up when hauling and transporting your boat in the future. If traveling over the road it is best practice to drain the muffler. There should be a drain plug in the aft bottom of your muffler. I'm currently in motion to upgrade the self tapping machine screw that Albin used for a muffler drain plug and replacing it with a Sea Dog garboard drain & plug.

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If you have a generator you'll find a drain on the lift muffler as well.

All the best as you work your way through to getting things squared away .. you'll get there!

[ESpiegel]

Any pics of where this drain plug would be? I discussed this with the mechanic today, and said the exhaust was dry when they disconnected it to yank the engine.

[Pitou]

Any pics of where this drain plug would be? I discussed this with the mechanic today, and said the exhaust was dry when they disconnected it to yank the engine.

Sorry, I don't have a picture.

Being a different builder, it is possible that there is not a drain "plug" / drain "screw" in the bottom aft of your inline fiberglass muffler towards the transom. My 28TE and my present 31TE both built and finished by Albin in Porsmouth, RI have Centek Vernatone fiberglass mufflers and both have stainless self tapping machine screws in muffler to facilitate draining for transport and winterizing. Crawl into the bilge and reach behind to the lower portion of the muffler and feel for the screw/plug. A flashlight will be more than helpful to be able to see. If you don't have one, I would recommend adding one before you spalsh again.

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[ESpiegel]

Thanks for the pic. I’ll have to look for it when I get back to the boat. I think my muffler is outboard the stbd fuel tank and is probably hard to reach. Here is a pic of the exhaust elbow. It has a pretty good rise to it.

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[Pitou]

Yes, the exhaust hose will be running outboard and along side of the starboard fule tank and you'll find the muffler outboard starboard side aft of the starboard fuel tank.

I looked in a folder of old pictures of my rear bilge area and found this which will help better direct you.

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[MerryKate]

Just ask the travel lift operator to tip the bow up as he lifts it till water stops running out of the exhaust. It’ll be fine after that. Most experienced operators know this, but many don’t so I always remind them.

[Pitou]

Lifting the bow will help and with some mufflers you will get most water out, but not all. The Centek in my 31 and my 28 are / were baffled separating the discharge opening preventing the travel lift tipping method from getting all raw water out. Pulling the machine screw plug would still take a few minutes to drain.

The riser or lack thereof on the typical factory 31 TE gives more reason for caution to be taken. I will add pictures later, but after purchasing my 31TE, I redesigned my exhaust with a custom riser and surge tube. The installation of the proper garboard & drain plug will complete the job.

[Pitou]

Since we're talking about protecting the turbo and manifold from raw water ingestion:

I worked with marine Exhaust systems out of Riviera Beach, Florida to design a stainless steel exhaust riser and shower head for my 31TE and at the same time added a surge tube to further protect the turbo and manifold from taking a gulp of raw water that might come up through the stern while at rest.

The original exhaust system on my boat consisted of the same 2 - Cummins Marine stock pieces (elbow & shower head) as shown in this thread, but setup even lower and with stagnet water at rest in the shower head. My new exhaust design drains all water from the shower head.

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[katmak]

Thanks for the write up n pics . Great learnings . Enjoy the boat

[ESpiegel]

Got the boat home today. Everett marina to Seabeck Marina was 47 miles. Awesome day to be practicing social distancing on the water, just about 3 hours total. Averaged about 15 knots, burning 14 gph. WOT at 3440 rpm, 22.5 knots @ 23.5 gph.
Will be much easier to work on the boat now that it’s only 2 miles away from home. I need to reseal the engine hatch, probably replace the macerator pump, add the kicker motor, stern wheel and kicker throttle. Looking forward to it all!

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[MadMoney]

Glad to hear you made it home to Seabeck, it's been quite the journey for ya!

Anthony Warren
1999 28' Albin MadMoney

[Pitou]

Congratulations in your perseverance. Once all is said and done you'll be able to relax.

Curious .. why are you looking to add a kicker engine?

[ESpiegel]

Congratulations in your perseverance. Once all is said and done you'll be able to relax.

Curious .. why are you looking to add a kicker engine?

I want to add a kicker for a couple reasons.
- wanted to be able to troll for salmon, reposition/hold in current for bottomfishing and didn’t want to troll with drogues or deal with a trolling valve. Everything I had read about the common rail engines was that long hours at idle was not good for them. At idle, the boat does about 4.5 to 5 knots, which is way to fast for salmon trolling.
- this is my first boat with an inboard, and a single engine. I’m not comfortable with being offshore with a single engine and having engine issues, or my worst fear of wrapping crab pot line around my shaft and not having another means of propulsion to head in, or at least keep my bow to the weather.
- in my marina, all of the slips are a side moor. Trying to maneuver my single engine boat in between other boats doesn’t excite me. With the kicker I’ll be able to direct my stern thrust, and with my remotely operated bow thruster it will make docking less stressful.
My trip home yesterday was solo, and luckily there was only a slight breeze. I had to angle 45 degrees off of my slip, back in until my port stern almost touched, then use the bow thruster to swing the bow in. Then run back to the port corner, step off of the swimstep with my stern line and bow line in hand to tie off. Took me about 4 tries to get the angle and timing of bow thruster down. I don’t have the bow thruster remote installed yet.

I’m going to have the kicker steering wheel mounted on the port end of the fish box lid, and the remote shift/trim/throttle mounted on the fish box side of the transom door. This will give me clear sight line forward, able to see my chart plotter/sounder, and be close to the rods. I don’t mind fishing alone, and this will make it easier.

The previous owner had already installed a kicker bracket on the transom, and had used it for guided salmon fishing. He had said that it worked great.

I’m hoping that on rainy days, I can keep the kicker pointed straight ahead, and use the main rudder for steering from the cockpit. This should work unless there is a lot of wind or current.