2010 Week 5 in Review

Of course everyone heard how committed our president is to saving the antique diesels engines in his State of the Union address, right? Okay, I guess I didn’t, either – but keep sending those notes to him reminding him that good maintenance programs employ more people and for a longer period of time than issuing free engines to replace the heavy duties.

Needed: piston shaft and hub!

This week at OTM Inc, we pulled our hair out trying to find the piston shaft and hub for the Enterprise DMQ reversing mechanism. We’ve been calling everyone desperately, searching and going through miles of microfilm for drawings, but keep coming up empty.

Anyone reading have any information on a Westinghouse reversing mechanism? Please let us know!

Another research trip to Ederer

We went back to Ederer Crane Company (first time was back in Week 52) to look through their records from the Washington Iron Works, and spent a long afternoon looking at even more microfilm of technical drawings and blueprints.

We had a mission, thought: the Catalyst wants to fine-tune their fuel-valve motion and some of the inconsistencies are due to the cam nose so OTM Inc hit the books – or at least the research databases – to find the original specifications.

Washington Iron Works has a simple but hard-to-decipher way of keeping track of their records. Each engine has hundreds of components, each of which has a separate technical drawing or drawings to illustrate its specifications. In order to find the drawings of the cam nose, we looked at the Catalyst‘s original manufacturer card, which gave us a Key List number: 21649-AF. All the key lists are recorded in the microfilm now kept by Ederer, so we looked through the rolls of microfilm to find Key List 21649-AF, which is for 8-1/2″ x 10″ diesels. Each Key List is a list of all the technical drawing numbers for the parts used in that kind of engine, so among all the other drawings it listed, it had Fuel Pump valve motion Drawing #22525-AO, so I pulled that up and took a look. Drawing #22525-AO then said to look at Fuel Cam Nose part number DV-759 on Drawing #8892-AE. Unfortunately, we had to call it a day before I found Drawing #8892-AE.

Incidentally, owner Bill said that the part number on the fuel cam nose on the boat is #DV-2974. Huh. Another head-scratcher is that Drawing #22525-AO is dated June 7, 1933 – but the Catalyst‘s engine was delivered in May 1932. Well, part of research is finding more questions than you answer, so we’ll just keep working on it.

While searching, though, I found a fuel cam nose part #DV-3948 on Drawing number 19754-AH, dated 1930. This drawing also states that the cam nose is for a 10″ stroke diesel, sooo this might be close enough to work from. Also, let the record show I said the cam nose had two angles and the drawing clearly shows two angles.

The Pennsy Barge Collective

A friend in New York is planning on fixing up an antique barge out in New York. He and some friends have started the Pennsy Barge Collective to salvage and restore the old Pennsylvania Railroad barge #399. The group has managed to purchase this last and lovely specimen at its present location in the New York State Canal system dry dock on the Erie Canal, and according to them it’s the last wood-and-steel railroad barge.

If you dare contribute, send your monies to:

Pennsy Barge Collective, Inc.
PO Box 1055
Port Ewen, NY 12466-1055

The Ever

I talk about the Ready all the time here, but this week I was introduced to her sister ship Ever over the phone this week.

I was looking through the Boats and Harbors and saw a tugboat for sale that look just like the Ready, so I called. The tugs were built in 1941 for Gulf Marine, then both tugs were sold to a Bollenger company called Ever-Ready Towing, who did not like how tippy they were, so they got wing tanks welded on.

Ever-Ready Towing used the Ever and the Ready until the seventies, when the current owner bought the Ever. He gutted the whole boat to make a cruiser out of it, and the original Atlas-Imperial went to the Smithsonian in the early 80s.

Sounds like the Ever is a nice tugboat-turned-cruiser like the Ready, but sadly without the heavy duty. If you’re interested, call Fred at (252) 338-1001.

A visit from Ms. Jack Tar

Kim from Jack Tar Magazine stopped by this week. She’s cooking on the Lady Washington during their winter engine refit and was in town for a bit. It was great to see Kim and catch up on some of the waterfront gossip that doesn’t make it to the various blogs.

2009 Week 53 in Review

“I’ll see U in B-U-N-A”

Well, the Viton packing we used in the Catalyst‘s injectors failed: it kept creeping in-between the stem and the packing follower, which made the stem and packing follower stick together like they were one solid piece. This in turn held the stem up and allowed fuel to pour out of the injector, which can lead to problems.

We might have been able to solve this by water-jet cutting the Viton to make a better fit, but there are too many other factors (the Viton might be squishier than Buna, it doesn’t use cloth like Buna does, etc) to really pin down the problem. So, it’s back to the drawing board, and Buna seals for now.

Enterprise for Sale

Nick wanted to remind everyone that there is an Enterprise for sale for those of you who need real power. The listing is here.

A WIW Re-Discovered!

I got a call this week from an engine collector who had been recently contacted by a fisherman with a Washington Iron Works diesel that had to move. Wow, what a find!

The engine is from 1935 and was removed in 1965 and put in a Bellingham net shed where it sat until last week. The fisherman’s family was helping to clean out the locker and thought that before scrapping the engine, they should spend some time finding out what it is.

Back at Old Tacoma Marine, we were able to pull the Washington Iron Works engine card and learn more about the engine: it’s from a fishboat called the New Zora, owned by Anton Zorich and later the Burke Canning Co.

This is all very exciting, since there are so few Washingtons left: this makes sixteen, according to our list. The family and the collector are still deciding on its fate, but for now it’s dodged the scrapper once again.

Please email me with suggestions on interesting ways to use this Washington, or if you want to give it a good home.

Cleaning up shop

Yup – it’s all tidied up to start ’10 with a clean slate.

2009 Week 47 in Review

A little more work on the Catalyst

The squishy gaskets I ordered for the Catalyst‘s valve cages came in – but they’re $20 each! I replaced just the two that were leaking, and put the others on the shelf until we need them.

I also found that the erratic injector was due to packing jammed between the packing follower and the stem. I cleared it and checked the others and test ran the engine and all is well.

Until… A few hours in to the trip back to Friday Harbor, Bill reported more injectors sticking. Damn! He’ll bring them back to the shop in a few weeks and we’ll put the old packing in and shelve the biodiesel idea for now.

A lot more work on the Maris Pearl

Other than that, I did plenty of cleaning and painting on the Maris Pearl this week.

2009 Week 46 in Review

It turns out you can’t take diesel injectors on a plane. I showed up to Kenmore Air on South Lake Union with three boxes of Washington parts to take with me to the Catalyst in Friday Harbor. I have flown these parts back and forth a few times already, but today the rule is interpreted to mean “any part that might have come in contact with oil is not allowed on the plane.” This would rule out my clothing and possibly parts of me, too, but rules are rules (today, at least), so a drive, a ferry ride, and about six hours later I finally got to the boat.

I installed the injectors first and timed them, so that I could easily clean out the cylinders through the valve cage holes. Then I reinstalled the valves, kerplunking them all for a tight fit.

Once I started up the engine and it was running nicely, I helped Bill deliver it to Jenson’s Boat Works in Seattle. It was a great trip, a beautiful night cruise, but one injector was erratic (sticking open) and the temperatures were going up and down – I’ll look into this next week. I also found two valves leaking around the cage; this will probably resolve itself once the new squishy gaskets I ordered come in.

Other than that, the engine ran great.

2009 Week 44 in Review

Work on the Catalyst parts

This week, I worked some more on the Catalyst‘s parts in my shop. To replace the bent valve, I called up Safety Seal in Texas, since they’ve made valves for the Catalyst before. They happened to have four valves on the shelf from when they first machined them up, five or so years ago. What a deal – I bought all four.

Then, I reassembled the valve cages. Each cage has nine parts (not counting the removable nose that we never take off), and once all the parts are cleaned, assembling is fun and goes really quick.

Then I reassembled the injectors. Each injector has 24 parts, plus an extra packing ring if desired. This time, I installed Viton packing, which will allow biodiesel to be run through the engine. I hope it works.

My River Chronicles: A good read

I finished Jessica’s new book, My River Chronicles. It’s a good read – you should pick it up for yourself.

The book has several stories that take place while running old boats up and down the Hudson River. It’s got great descriptions of how Jessica got to know boats, boatmen (boatwomen), the river, and history, all from the engine control station while watching the dials. Reading it makes me feel like I’m hiding out in the engine room, bullshitting with Jessica and other engineers so we don’t have to hang around deckhands.

2009 Week 42 in Review

New gaskets for the Catalyst

First up this week at Old Tacoma Marine Inc, we ordered gaskets for the Catalyst‘s valve cages from Omni Packing & Seal Co. They don’t many take orders for the “sandwich gaskets,” which were originally asbestos with thin copper shielding surrounding the asbestos, because it takes a long time to make them and they’re expensive and one-time-use only. They are true to the Washington design, though, and they seal really well, so it was worth the extra time and money.

Sending out the guides

The Catalyst‘s engine was originally rated to run at 450 rpm. It’s been overloaded for many years, but now the new owners are committed to returning it to the 1932 specifications. This means unloading the engine to the point where it can be run at 450 rpm without overloading the engine.

To achieve this, it’s best to ease into it by catching up on the maintenance: as the engine is sped up, problems that go unnoticed at 350 rpm become critical at 450. A common problem is too much clearance in the cam follower guides, due from wear. The signal for service due is a knock, made by the follower hitting the guide at cruising speed.

To service the cam follower guides, you send them out to be honed straight and round. Then you have the cam follower (not the roller, but the crosshead like part) built up using flamespray, then ground down to leave .0015″ clearance. Then you put it all back together and start testing.

Suck, Squeeze, Pop, Blow

We got a funny shirt from Whitworth Marine, reminding everyone that all four-stroke diesels need to do is suck, squeeze, pop, and blow.

Check out Whitworth Marine Services, you East Coasters.

Grinding Catalyst Valves

The Shop’s valve grinder machine can handle any valve from Washingon, Atlas, or Enterprise, and seven boring hours later, we have 13 out of 14 Catalyst valves ready to go.

Unfortunately, one valve was bent, which lead to lots of investigative inquiry. It turns out that the valve seat depths vary on the Catalyst from cage to cage. Without getting into blueprints, we chose to make all the cages extend the same length as the shortest one, which was .425″ from the gasket surface to the bottom.

2009 Week 41 in Review

This week at Old Tacoma Marine, we cleaned all the Catalyst parts we pulled off last week. We broke them all down, then put the oily parts in the hot tank with a heated lye solution and an agitator for a few hour. Then we washed the parts off with water and then with solvent, and then some of them got blasted with glass beads until clean and others got wire-wheeled and the brass got polished.

2009 Week 40 in Review

Field Trip to Friday Harbor and Lopez Island

This week, I drove and ferried up to Friday Harbor to pull the valves and injectors from the Catalyst to bring back to The Shop for servicing. Bill and I pulled them all in about three hours, and the next morning I headed for home – with a few stops.

Ferrying between islands is free, so I stopped off at Lopez Island to visit Keith and Stewart, who are busy rebuilding steam engines. They have an impressive foundry setup, and are working on some neat projects for boss Alex in Louisiana.

They’ve got a Type-G used in a 33-foot Navy boat, a Type E-2 from 1901 with a new crankshaft, and a Type-N that replaced the E-2 in 1907. It makes 48hp at 320 rpm.

The most amazing project, though, was the Ward three-cylinder radial engine:

I really like the interesting, compact design, the neat shifting mechanism, and the floating bronze shims in the thrust bearing. West Virginia University has lots of Ward Stuff, including many boiler designs and the first water tube boiler design.

Arcturus didn’t make it

The Atlas yacht Arcturus made it only 15 miles before the fuel filters plugged and their trip to San Francisco Bay was canceled. Instead, the crew was treated to a ride back to Eureka via Coast Guard tow.

Discovery for sale

The most beautifully modernized yacht out there, the Discovery is for sale. While the owners love the boat, they have another one and since they can’t ride on both at the same time, one must go.

Newt stuck!

Our friends on the tug Newt spent a scary tide exchange on the bottom of the Duwamish River. Everything turned out okay, but it was very scary at the time. See, it’s easy to get caught by the tide — be careful!

Looking for a G Enterprise head

Our friend Sean is looking for a cylinder head for the G Enterprise on the tug Mighty. Drop me a line if you have one, and I’ll forward it along to Sean.

Another Washington!

We found out the Timber Heritage Association in Eureka, California has a Washington-Estep!! Stay tuned for some pictures, and we hope to visit soon.

Another two bite the dust

The guys at the Fabius River Drainage Pumphouse are breaking up their two great 32E14 Fairbanks-Morse engines that we saw back in May:

They got a government grant that was intended to reduce global warming, but instead of overhauling the old fuel-efficient heavy-duties, they’re pulling them out and replacing them with big gas-guzzling Caterpillars.

If you need spare Fairbanks parts, contact B & W Truck & Auto Specialists in West Quincy, Missouri. Their phone number is 1-800-338-9797; ask for AJ.

2009 Week 36 in Review

This week was my last cruise aboard the MV Catalyst and was a short hop from Petersburg to Ketchikan. We left Petersburg early Sunday, and sounded the siren in front of Doug’s house (he owns the Katahdin). After a 12-hour run, we anchored in Myers Chuck, a neat little place looking out to Chatham Strait.

We arrived in Ketchikan on Monday at about noon and I cleaning the engine room really before handing it off to Eric who will be the engineer for the rest of the season. Then I flew back to Seattle, ending another great season aboard a great boat, the MV Catalyst. Thanks everyone for a wonderful summer!

Remains of the Vashon

On the way to Ketchikan, I called several float plane services to see if I could get an affordable ride out to Johnson Bay to see the Vashon.

It’s a great old state ferry powered by the biggest Washington diesel ever made. I’ve known the boat was there forever (it ran aground in the early 1990s, another victim of the Tugboat Dream), but have never had the chance to go out and take a look. This seemed like my chance, but I couldn’t find a flight for less than $400 and even though the weather was nice in Ketchikan, there was enough wind to rule out just taking the Catalyst‘s skiff over.

Damn. I hope I can visit next year – I want to take pictures of the ferry and document how much is showing at what tide, so I can judge how much will show at a super low tide to possibly salvage some parts.

Nick scanned and sent me an article from the year it sank: Old Ferries Never Die. We’ve archived it here on Old Tacoma Marine Inc, along with the original photos published with the article; go check it out.

Back to Business

Even though it was a great summer, it was really great to get back to Seattle. The work never ends here at Old Tacoma Marine Inc, and the next big job is to get ready for the Lightship #83 Rehabilitation job. This means a lot of reading government manuals and filling out government forms since most of the project is funded by government grants, but we’re really excited despite all that.

2009 Week 35 in Review

This week’s cruise aboard the MV Catalyst was from Juneau to Petersburg, stopping at Wood Spit, North Dawes, Fords Terror, Sheldon Cove, West Brother, and Scenery Cove along the way.

We got underway on Sunday and it was just a little bumpy, so we pulled in to Snettisham bay for dinner, then continued on our way toward Endicott Arm. Night running is so fun – the boat sounds and feels different. No one was awake and luckily the wind calmed way down.

Bill and I were enjoying the beautiful night and remarking on every calm night running memory from working boat years – then almost at the same time we both realized that we were in iceberg country. We started staring at the radar and flashing the spotlight around; it seemed like they were all around us. Our depth perception was really screwy because we would spot one with the light and it would seem to be right on us, yet it would take a long time to reach us. It was nerve-wracking, but we made it through just fine.

We also overheard an amusing exchange on channel 16: one of those damn cruise ships hailed “the fishing vessel in Stevens Passage with the bright fishing lights: please extinguish while we pass.” A few minutes later, this groggy old fisherman’s voice came back really slow “Okay, so you’re drivin’ a whole city past me and you want me to put out my two 500-watt bulbs? Go [expletive] yourself.” Ha ha.

The next day, we changed our plan a little and went to North Dawes, which was great because we got to spend more time at the glacier. Then we took a short paddle, mostly for instructional purposes. Debby would only paddle every once in a while, and I held firm my orders to follow the pace of the front paddler, even if they don’t paddle. We just meandered around for a while, and it was really nice.

Our last stop before Petersburg was Scenery Cove, a very scenic cove near Baird Glacier. Every week, we anchor here and skiff to the tide flats below the glacier to hike up to the ice (and sometimes onto the ice). The tide flats and glacier make an amazing sight: it’s like a moonscape. The few trees that sprout and the rock piles left by the glacier get wiped out regularly by giant floods when ice dams break – or so I’ve been told. Well, after this week I am a firm believer of the ice dam theory.

On the way into a huge bay called Thomas Bay, the captain noticed the sea water temperature drop from 44˚ to 29˚. He figured that the gauge was busted and didn’t think much about it. At the same time, I was in the engine room checking gauges and watched the product gauge on the watermaker spike past the upper limit of our element’s capacity, so I turned down the pressure. I’m always adjusting the pressure so I don’t really think about it, and I always want to make more water with less pressure so I’m thinking this is just fine. These were just hints that something had changed.

So, we dropped the anchor, used the skiff to run everyone out for the glacier hike. The captain noticed more current than normal – another hint, but it still didn’t register as anything really unusual.

We have a carefully plotted course on the skiff’s GPS for getting into Baird Glacier, a course with little margin for deviation. The tide flats have many sandbars and big rocks and the drop-off point is about a mile up the fast moving right-side river. The skiff operator needs to run fairly quick to overcome the current and follow the GPS course exactly to make the landing.

This trip, we followed the procedure like usual – until we came to an awful halt on a sandbar. The guests all grabbed onto each other and the boat, and I really worried that we removed the lower end of our outboard motor (we didn’t).

Only then did all the hints add up: the cold water, the current, even the high product flow from the watermaker.

The captain and I exchanged a look that we have never had to use before. It was the “oh my god, is the outboard okay, are we the right spot, holy crap, would the chef be able to save us, can you believe something let go up on beard glacier, I knew something was different” look.

This is all we talked about while we were in Petersburg, and we learned that three-and-a-half days before we got there, there was a huge flood, which created a ten-foot standing wave as the contents of a lake formed somewhere up on Baird Glacier spilled out into Thomas bay. It was enough water to make the entire tidal seawater bay completely fresh and cold.

I wish I could have seen it when it let go, but I’m really glad I wasn’t there when it did.

Engineer’s Log

Here’s the numbers for trip #17:

hours underway: 39
hours on main: 40.8
hours on the generator: 34
hours on the water maker: 27
miles traveled: 208
gallons of fuel used: 211
gallons of water made: 810
gallons of gas used: 8
gallons of propane: 7
gallons of lube oil: 6

And here’s a fun recipe from the Catalyst‘s galley:

Mini Pecan Pies

Base
1 1/2 stick butter
2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Mix together and press into a 9″ x 13″ baking pan

Top
2 cups pecans
1 sticks butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
2 tbsp cream
Mix together and spread over the base. Bake until bubbling, about 20 minutes; cool and cut into squares.