Congratulations!! The boat looks great.

As you might have seen from the other post, Water in my port side engine oil.

http://kingscrafthouseboat.blogspot.com

Edited: 05/19/2012 at 07:52:37 PM by jtalberts

A little update on some issues we have run across.

http://kingscrafthouseboat.blogspot.com/

Jamie,
Sounds like you may have a cracked exhaust manifold that is slowly leaking water into the crankcase. It's very unlikely you have a cracked block. It takes a lot to crack one of these blocks. When I first got my boat, I was out on the river and didn't notice the temperature gauge pegging the needle until someone noticed smoke coming out of the engine bay. The starboard engine had stopped pumping water. After replacing the pump impellors, ran the engine and of course there was water in the oil. Pulled the manifold (not easy...rusted) and it was cracked. So I replaced it, changed the oil and was still getting water in the oil. Pulled the head and found it was cracked, also. Replaced the head, changed the oil 3 or 4 times and it was good. I learned several lessons from this:

1) inspect the impellors in the spring and replace if dodgy
2) check to make sure water is pumping every time I run the engines
3) I bought an IR thermometer and check the temperature on all 4 manifolds occasionally.
4) it takes a lot to overheat the block to the point of damage
5) the boat has karma. If you spend time, effort and money on something other than systems maintenance (engine, drivetrain, electrical, plumbing), the boat gets upset and will demand payback. I've run into this so many times, it's not funny. Everytime, and I mean everytime I do something "cosmetic" on the boat, especially on the interior, something happens with one of the engines - won't start, no spark, no fuel, won't charge the battery, belt starts slipping, water pressure pump stops working, head gets clogged, etc.

Invest in one of those oil-suction-through-the-dipstick tools for changing the oil.

Good luck, and let us know what you find out.

Sorry for the lack of updates or progress.

Fish, I need to replace the manifolds as the drain plugs don't screw in tight anymore. That is on my to do list as well. The off season list is getting longer and longer as we go. I am a firm believer in Karma with everything. I thought we were finally to a point where everything was good with the boat. I came to find that we are still having electrolysis issues at our dock. I started digging into my 120 wiring and found it is a total mess. The Isolator is in the the wrong location and wired wrong. I have ordered a replacement panel and I am going to get it done correctly.

Updates are on the blog:

http://kingscrafthouseboat.blogspot.com/

Fish,

You either jinxed me or that Karma you spoke of came back to me. I could have had a really bad weekend if I didn't pay close attention.


http://kingscrafthouseboat.blogspot.com/

Ack, I hope not! I was reading about your manifolds leaking water. I'm surprised this could happen - aren't the manifolds above the water level?

I'm with you regarding the bilge pumps. Mine came with one pump in the engine bay, with the flipper style switch. Those things are junk. Sometimes mine would fail to come on, other times it would fail to shut off - either one is bad. I now have 2 pumps in the bay, a small Rule pump with built-in float switch, another one with an electronic switch. And they are on different batteries. The built in float switch on the Rule pump seems to work much better than the flipper switch.

A couple of years ago when I just had a single pump, the switch failed during the winter (boat in the water). I knew it had failed, and I ordered a new one through West Marine. I was so nervous during the time it took the new switch to arrive, I could hardly sleep. After 2 days I went to Home Depot and bought a 110v sump pump and stuck it in the engine bay, just in case. At the time the boat leaked a little water through the stuffing box. Not a lot, but I just kept imagining all the other things that could cause the boat to fill with water ;-(

I'm curious to hear what you find out with your electrical situation.

Luckily the water only came in when we were running the boat. I saw there wasn't a current in the water so I knew we weren't taking anymore on. I just put the plug back in and we are good to go now.

Why don't you tap the holes out bigger and put in larger plugs?

-------------------------
OLD HOUSEBOATER

Update!!

No progress on the Exhaust Manifolds just yet. I have a temporary fix in place for them.

http://kingscrafthouseboat.blogspot.com

Small status update

http://kingscrafthouseboat.blogspot.com

Do me a favor and click the link ads. I get paid if you do.

Edited: 07/06/2012 at 11:28:45 AM by jtalberts