2009 Week 26 in Review

20Work continues on the Arthur Foss
This week, I continued to work on the Arthur Foss’s Washington, working with OTM’s mechanic Crystal. We started the week with two big challenges to work on 1) make a tool to drive out the very stuck air-start valve, and 2) put the very heavy cylinder head back onto [...]

2009 Week 24 in Review

OTM Inc spent most of this week working on the Arthur Foss’s Washington, but first:
Update on the Lightship #83
Following our successful preparation of a Preliminary Engineering Report two years ago, Northwest Seaport has asked OTM Inc to submit a bid to serve as project manager for the Lightship Rehabilitation. We assembled our project management [...]

2009 Week 23 in Review

Still scraping bearings
OTM Inc spent most of this week scraping and fitting rod bearings for the Indian Grave Drainage Pumphouse’s Fairbanks-Morse diesels, and making some fine adjustments to the main bearings. I did this with much relief, after getting satisfactory results when testing the main bearings.
Report on the MV Tuhoe
Old Tacoma Marine Inc’s intrepid [...]

Last Chance for Diesel Engine Theory ‘09

Hi Diesel Fans — we have one space left in our 2009 Diesel Engine Theory class and I know that one of you wants it.
We’ll be taking apart and servicing cylinder 4 on the Arthur Foss here in Seattle, starting this Saturday the 6th of June.  This is your chance to be a real diesel [...]

2009 Week 5 in Review

Work continues on the Catalyst
This week at OTM Inc, we cleaned all the cylinder heads and installed them on the Catalyst’s engine. We used compressed graphite head gaskets, which is what they were running on for the past 10 years. I haven’t seen these used on any other engines, but they sure sealed [...]

2009 Week 2 in Review

Work continues on the Catalyst
This week on the Catalyst, we finished up the main bearings. Last week I talked about fitting in bearings and strain testing them and how it takes a long time, but they’re finally done. Whew. Next up are the rod bearings, then the pistons.
An update on the David [...]

2008 Week Four In Review

Maris Pearl Work
The retired tugboat Maris Pearl and its Enterprise diesel engine is a long-time customer of OTM Inc. This week, I resealed the oil tube in the No 1 cylinder on the starboard side. Water is still dripping into the crank pit on No 1, and the easiest and most likely way [...]