Doing the Charleston!

[tjsb]

3/8 inch is 9.53 mm or a smidge under 10mm

[Ben]

In was just thinking about this, be very careful with the design of the forward port engine mount, especially the port side one, access to get the raw water hose on the pump is tight, plus, when you are ready to lift them in, fit the hose on the raw water pump and tie it up in a loop to the engine, once they are in, untie it and feed it along to your strainer. (Unless of course your raw water is drawing through the gearbox cooler, in which case get all that sorted before you lift in.

You want to minimalise every last bit of work on the engines that has to be done upside down in situ with sweat dripping on your steamed up varifocals just before they slide off into the bilge.

[tjsb]

Sound advice Ben. I would also advise having as much of the electrics on multi way connectors so it is simple to connect up. I would have the alternators on separate connectors as they may need replacing at some point and you don't want to have to split their leads from your connectors. Alignment is obviously important. Note that the front of the shaft will droop a little unless supported in the right place. Being able to turn the shaft before final tightening should help you check alignment, not forgetting it is up and down, left and right and pitch and yaw alignment. Best to take your time, and understand the engines may be on the crane for a while before the crane can be released. Be prepared to have to lift again if you need shims. Note you are trying to align about 1/2 a ton to within fractions of an inch. Good luck

[PeterCharleston]

Top Tips as always, thank-you. the shafts and P brackets are due back from Mike Bellamy, bearings in for re-furb, ill tackle your recommend for the rubber.
We quite badly damaged the stern tubes getting them out, but struggling to get them tidied up and back to the shed, this *******g china 19 really hampers progress . Once that little lot is assembled we can get back to figuring out how much space is left for gearboxes.
Whats the difference , apart from cost , ZF68A and ZF220 ?
The fuel tanks were almost full of diesel and all sorts of sh 1 T.
They have now been soaking in Gunk for the last 18 months, the ali was completely black and crusted with crud, all lovely and shiny now, could do with the correct gauges so the fuel levels can be set up correctly, but plenty of other jobs. The Diesel and crud that came out is still powering the workshop heater !! 2 years, now that was a bonus!! The windows now dry fitted, how do they bend so much with out cracking !(yet!).
Are we still agreed on Arbo-mast for the window frame sealant ? Precision Units at Poole are making the windscreen perspex, they have a shed with Fairey windscreen former's in, stroke of luck, lovely people, again thanks for the tip.
Its looking like the next focus of attention is the windscreen aluminium frame again, I've contacted AALCO but nothing back as yet, Laura and Martin were keen last year to make a laminated timber frame for the perspex, but i want her to look like the pic in Charles superb book. A tip to all Fairey Owners look after the windscreen frame .
Oh another tip, i stamped my feet like a petulant child to get the paint finished before the damp autumn, now how hard to work around the boat and not scratch her !! perhaps one should listen to advice. Also looking at the Stainless cabin rails fitting, would that be Arbomast as well ?

[tjsb]

Worth considering a fuel dipstick or sight glass - infallible unlike electric (or even mechanical) gauges. If the fuel tank was full of crud, then well worth replacing all the fuel lines which will be likewise. Again, hydraulic hose is brilliant for abrasion and crush resistance, and not being braided it doesn't rust. Ensure the crimps and connectors are 316 - ordinary steel will quickly turn to British Racing Rust. As for the windscreen frame, use Duralac on any stainless screws into the ally to prevent differential metal corrosion and unsightly pitting. Be careful because it travels - ie you catch it on your sleeve which wipes on the boat which is picked up on your shoe and transferred to other bits of the boat etc. Ideally, using a non setting mastic is good as it is less likely to crack, but again, beware of it travelling.

[PeterCharleston]

Cheers Toby, Charleston came with very little mechanical bits, just the tanks , shafts and steering, so everything will be new/second-hand re-furb . We thought the tanks were full of dirty water but turned out to be dirty diesel ! There are no holes in the bottom of the tanks so reluctant to drill and fit sight tubes, probably a dipstick then !

[tjsb]

Peter,

The spearfish has a perspex window in the top of the tank. Hudson/Katrana has a dipstick in the window and mine will have when it is relaunched. This allows you to see if the tank is full of crud and give you a quick idea of levels. Dipstick highly desirable to monitor consumption. Can show you pictures of my window. Don't forget you also need a breather.

[Firefly]

Out of interest my Spearfish, no 15 has two stainless steel tanks, appear original, with the port engine exhaust between them.
Each has a dipstick, which screws in. I have now fitted in the access panel, which is SS, a dip pipe, with guages to the left of the dash above the locker door. The tanks are 45 gal each, and serve each engine.
David

[tjsb]

Mine is hull 16 with a single central 105 gallon tank. Pros and cons to both options.

[Phil62]

ZF 220 is a slightly different animal to the 63/68a but would be OK, however there's a pair of 63's on eBay atm, they are 2:1 but I reckon they'd be OK with slightly more pitch than for a 1.5:1, good price though.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zf-63-a-gear ... SwpqJfwnvf

If I was looking, they'd be mine and I'd calc' the extra pitch needed.

P

[PeterCharleston]

Hi Phil, fab tip, thank-you, just messaged the seller, only just up the road at Havant !!
2 questions , are they down angle ? are they able to be contra rotating ? can they handle 250 HP ? can you tell that i am out of my depth !! that wasn't 2 q's !

[PeterCharleston]

The ZF'S are straight not down angle, but I guess we can make them contra-rotating?

[Phil62]

Hi Pete,

Apologies, yes they can run either way no problem. I couldn't find that spreadsheet I put together for the prop pitch, but I might try and create it again.

They are great boxes, mine are down angle but I think straight will be OK, you might need to raise the cockpit floor a bit at the forward end as mine are almost touching.

That said, the Perkins might be lower than the FPT anyway (not sure) and I once stood in a "super" and felt much higher up than in mine, so the floor might be higher anyway, but just bear it in mind.

Phil

[Ben]

I think you'll find that to make the props handed with those gearboxes, what you do is assemble the morse control with the cables on different sides of the crank arms inside, so when you put both levers in fwd together, one cable is pushing and the other is pulling, both engines are running the same direction, so doing the above, causes the opposite rotations coming out of the gearboxes.

Next question is inwards or outwards, I never know!

[Phil62]

Correct on the Morses Ben.

For max paddlewheel "walk" you want the Stbd turning Clock and the Port anti-clock, (when ahead), makes them a doddle to handle in close quarters.