The good news was that the cause of the oil-filled bilge was easily diagnosed and repaired. The brass tube that attached the engine oil-sending unit to the block had a crack in it that I made worse when I cleaned the floor of the engine compartment.
The bad news was that a long list of safety related problems demanded to be attended to before anything else could be addressed. The fuel line filter (which was barely visible) had to be relocated from the bottom of rear wall of the engine compartment to the top where it could be easily accessed. The fuel pump ditto. That was just the tip of the iceberg.
I had also ordered some parts for the aging Atomic 4 gasoline engine to make it run better and hopefully last a few more years. Those parts included a new thermostat housing, crankcase ventilation system and coil with a resistor.
The engine had been running without a thermostat since the previous owner had cleaned out the block after it over-heated. He hadn't replaced the expensive $165 proprietary thermostat and was running the engine cold. That, I learned, was not good for the engine. So, I chose to replace the entire thermostat housing with bronze/silicone housing built by Indigo Electronics, that cost $150, used inexpensive NAPA thermostats and best of all, cooled the engine more evenly.
All of the bilge and storage areas of the boat were covered with a black soot and smelled like exhaust. The crankcast ventilation system is an inexpensive $80 add on from Indigo and is designed especially for the Atomic 4. I'm not much of a mechanic and lack the experience to work by braille in the Ericson's cramped engine compartment that only allows access from the top and front. More work for Gary - one of Deaton's capable mechanics, who was assigned to my boat.
I could handle exchanging the coil that John Deaton had recently installed with the new one from Indigo that sported an external resistor to keep the electronic ignition from overpowering the coil. Hopefully that would cure the problem of burning out more coils.
Deaton's list of other things that needed to be addressed was long and expensive at $76/hr. and I didn't have pockets deep enough to cover the cost. John prioritized the list based on safety first basis and suggested that I could handle those items that I felt comfortable doing. Gary offered to provide instruction where needed.
As Gary tackled his part of the list, I jumped one mine. One of the most glaring needs was to clean up the mass of wiring that went nowhere and organize the circuit board for 12 volt system. I pulled what seemed like several hundred feet of unnecessary wire from the boat. At Gary's suggestion, I installed a 00 grounding post in the engine compartment and relocated all of the ground wires that were attached to the engine and transmission.
With Gary's help, I stalled a new automatic bilge pump in the sump and a backup unit with a float switch in the upper bilge.
The first complication came when the carburetor began leaking on start up. We ordered a rebuild kit but ultimately chose to replace it with a new carburetor.
The Ericson spent the better part of a month at Deaton's Yacht Service with Gary working on it off and on. I drove down every other week and spent 4-5 days each time working on my list.
I squared away the wiring and cleaned the black soot out of all the storage compartments. I also replaced the main halyard with advice from Wag, Deaton's rigging specialist. Both the main and the jib were rope to wire. I changed the main sheet to all rope. I brought it back to the cockpit and added a new rope clutch and a used 2-speed winch to the cabin top. No more going forward to raise the main.
The engine now sprang to life at the press of a button and purred like a kitten. On
The bad news was that a long list of safety related problems demanded to be attended to before anything else could be addressed. The fuel line filter (which was barely visible) had to be relocated from the bottom of rear wall of the engine compartment to the top where it could be easily accessed. The fuel pump ditto. That was just the tip of the iceberg.
I had also ordered some parts for the aging Atomic 4 gasoline engine to make it run better and hopefully last a few more years. Those parts included a new thermostat housing, crankcase ventilation system and coil with a resistor.
The engine had been running without a thermostat since the previous owner had cleaned out the block after it over-heated. He hadn't replaced the expensive $165 proprietary thermostat and was running the engine cold. That, I learned, was not good for the engine. So, I chose to replace the entire thermostat housing with bronze/silicone housing built by Indigo Electronics, that cost $150, used inexpensive NAPA thermostats and best of all, cooled the engine more evenly.
All of the bilge and storage areas of the boat were covered with a black soot and smelled like exhaust. The crankcast ventilation system is an inexpensive $80 add on from Indigo and is designed especially for the Atomic 4. I'm not much of a mechanic and lack the experience to work by braille in the Ericson's cramped engine compartment that only allows access from the top and front. More work for Gary - one of Deaton's capable mechanics, who was assigned to my boat.
I could handle exchanging the coil that John Deaton had recently installed with the new one from Indigo that sported an external resistor to keep the electronic ignition from overpowering the coil. Hopefully that would cure the problem of burning out more coils.
Deaton's list of other things that needed to be addressed was long and expensive at $76/hr. and I didn't have pockets deep enough to cover the cost. John prioritized the list based on safety first basis and suggested that I could handle those items that I felt comfortable doing. Gary offered to provide instruction where needed.
As Gary tackled his part of the list, I jumped one mine. One of the most glaring needs was to clean up the mass of wiring that went nowhere and organize the circuit board for 12 volt system. I pulled what seemed like several hundred feet of unnecessary wire from the boat. At Gary's suggestion, I installed a 00 grounding post in the engine compartment and relocated all of the ground wires that were attached to the engine and transmission.
With Gary's help, I stalled a new automatic bilge pump in the sump and a backup unit with a float switch in the upper bilge.
The first complication came when the carburetor began leaking on start up. We ordered a rebuild kit but ultimately chose to replace it with a new carburetor.
The Ericson spent the better part of a month at Deaton's Yacht Service with Gary working on it off and on. I drove down every other week and spent 4-5 days each time working on my list.
I squared away the wiring and cleaned the black soot out of all the storage compartments. I also replaced the main halyard with advice from Wag, Deaton's rigging specialist. Both the main and the jib were rope to wire. I changed the main sheet to all rope. I brought it back to the cockpit and added a new rope clutch and a used 2-speed winch to the cabin top. No more going forward to raise the main.
The engine now sprang to life at the press of a button and purred like a kitten. On
the test run the engine began to overheat so it was decided to do a short haul and check the prop and bottom. The two bladed folding prop was moderately covered with barnacles but the bottom wasn't too bad. I took her out again and had no overheating.
I was still getting more than 4 knots of headway at idle speed and that made handling in close quarters pretty dicey. The folding prop was worthless in reverse. I had been looking at the 3 bladed prop made by Indigo just for the Atomic 4. It promised a significant boost in performance. I ordered the prop and we pulled her again to install it a few days later.
With the new prop and a carburetor adjustment, we got the idle speed down below 2 knots and she handled beautifully in forward and reverse.
I took the boat out for another test run. This time I sailed down to South River which is on the far shore about 5 miles down the Neuse. I motored up the river about a mile, dropped the hook and spent my first night at anchor. A pleasant breeze made for a comfortable, bug-free evening. The next morning the Neuse was like glass as I motored back to Oriental.
John Deaton told me it was time to quit spending money on the boat and go out and use it for a while. Seemed like a good idea.
I was still getting more than 4 knots of headway at idle speed and that made handling in close quarters pretty dicey. The folding prop was worthless in reverse. I had been looking at the 3 bladed prop made by Indigo just for the Atomic 4. It promised a significant boost in performance. I ordered the prop and we pulled her again to install it a few days later.
With the new prop and a carburetor adjustment, we got the idle speed down below 2 knots and she handled beautifully in forward and reverse.
I took the boat out for another test run. This time I sailed down to South River which is on the far shore about 5 miles down the Neuse. I motored up the river about a mile, dropped the hook and spent my first night at anchor. A pleasant breeze made for a comfortable, bug-free evening. The next morning the Neuse was like glass as I motored back to Oriental.
John Deaton told me it was time to quit spending money on the boat and go out and use it for a while. Seemed like a good idea.
