Day 30, Year 1: Engine Arrival
Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Weather: Looks Like Rain is Coming
Location: Oxford, Maryland, Tred-on-Avon, SailAway Marina

This morning was one of the longest mornings I can ever remember. I had hoped the new engine would arrive early, but 9:00 o’clock, 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock, and finally 12:00 noon came, and still no engine. David called mid-morning to say that he had been delayed by more engine preparation tasks, but he and the new Yanmar did arrive just after noon. I don’t know if “beautiful” is a word that is normally used to describe diesel engines, but I have to tell you that this Yanmar looked beautiful to me. We were anxious to get the engine inside the boat, but there were other tasks that came first.

While waiting for the engine to arrive, Mark decided to make sure the packing glad was secure. He found that he did need to add to the packing gland but found difficulty getting the packing material into the stuffing box. When David arrived, he asked a few strategic questions that revealed that we were going about the task the wrong way. He wanted us to remove all packing material and start over. Of course, we are in the water, and I could only imagine a flood that might sink us. He assured both Mark and I that he actually prefers replacing packing material while in the water. His father was an engineer at DuPont with a specialty in packing glands, bearings, etc. David learned from him and while in the Navy, he maintained engines on an aircraft carrier and learned even more. We did have a flood of water, but David was successful in replacing the packing gland. Then it was time for lunch, and then we got to the business of bringing the engine onboard.

The process was exactly the reverse of taking out the Perkins 4-108. The new engine is actually a little larger and posed a few interesting situations fitting through the companionway way and then around the corner into the aft cabin, but by 4:00 this afternoon, the Yanmar was sitting in her new home. I documented the “engine out” and “engine in” with many photographs that I hope to get posted over the weekend. The placement is temporary as the engine will have to come out into the aft cabin while the new placement fittings are permanently mounted and the exhaust system is installed. We are disappointed that the sea trials will probably be delayed Monday and our departure is delayed. We will have to figure out the next steps and see where we go from here.

051116 Day 30 Boston to Norfolk, USA–New Yanmar Engine In