The current threat on "non current engines and transmissions" begs the
question to be asked.  How many of the TWL members have had a diesel engine
or transmission failure?  I figure I have over 10,000 hours on marine diesel
engines and never had an outright failure.  I have had fuel problems, I have
had to replace impellers, filters, water strainers, heat exchangers, belts
and hoses, but never had an engine fail that could not be repaired within a
few minutes.  I have the transmission fail three times on the same boat--but
that was my own stupidity for not having found a broken engine mount.  Well
cared for marine diesels and transmissions are very reliable.

There is a thriving cottage industry rebuilding the old Perkins and various
B W transmissions.  There are many shops scattered all over the world that
still have new parts for these engines--the basic blocks are used in
industerial and tractor applications and parts are still available.
There are even a few new Perkins 6-354's out there with the marine
conversions.  A friend of mine found two about a year ago.  Any company that
claims that it will not support an engine whose distributership it took over
for an engine 30+ years old,  most likely will not have parts for its
current engines 30 years from now.

I would not reject a boat that was otherwise in good shape just because it
had Perkins 6-354 engines and B W CR2 transmissions.

Regards to all

Bob Austin

I had a failure on a Borg Warner 1014 at about 3000 hrs.
Bad clutch plates and corrosion on drive shaft that splines in to
damper...............$1100, I did the installation and removal.
.
Captain Al Pilvinis

"M/V Driftwood"--Prairie 47
2630 N.E. 41st Street
Lighthouse Point, Fl 33064-8064
Voice 954-941-2556 Fax 954 788-2666
Email  yourcaptain@earthlink.net
Website http://home.earthlink.net/~yourcaptain

Snip> Have any TWL members had an engine or Trans failure . . . ?Snip

I had a Detroit Diesel fail due to a leaking exhaust raiser. Leaked back to
the aft cylinders and bent the rods.
On my currenet boat, the BW 72c 2.97:1 trans failed due to extensive
corrosion and salt water intrusion 100 hours after purchase. No mechanical
servey but I was well aware that both trans were beyond keeping. I did hope
that I could run them to my home port and do the work myself. One didn't
make it and I had a yard in Palm Beach replace them both for about the cost
of a small BMW. Both trans were so bad they had no core value. Both trans
were in stock in Fla.
David Stahl

           Beacon Technologies Inc.
          Serving The Delaware Valley
   Business and Residential Internet Services

All:

For a variety of reasons, I have decided to build my own SSB ground
plane.

I bought 60' of 24" wide, 5 mils pure copper sheeting ($144.20 from
Alaskan Copper & Brass in Seattle) and am planning to put it under the
carpet in the main saloon. I'll be running a single 14' piece of 3"
wide, 21 mils copper to the antenna coupler.

My question is, how should I make the connections? Specifically, how
should I connect the 2' wide strips of copper under the carpet? I'm
wondering if just overlapping them by an inch or so would keep them in
contact? Perhaps squirting some of anti-oxidant compound - used for
electrical fittings - at the joints? The idea of soldering/brazing all
these strips together doesn't sound very appealing.

Advice?

Thanks,
Keith

For what it's worth, I have very successfully used HF SSB on my boat for the
past 10 years. It is a wooden hull and all that I have done is ground the
radio and antenna tuner to the keel cooler and engine / shaft / prop. Both
connections are via a large ceramic capacitor (to keep the whole thing
isolated DC voltage wise)and I use a standard 23' commercial whip antenna.
The radio is an Icom c/w its matching tuner and while this is used primarily
for "ham" radio work I also hold a commercial licence and use this set up on
the commercial channels.
Using it on the 40 and 20 metre Ham bands I have talked to other hams in
most parts of the world from the Pacific Northwest so I know it works but it
also seems to get out just great on the lower frequency commercial channels.
Point is - I have added essentially nothing to the boat that was not there
already and ended up with a very serviceable installation.
My motto is "keep it simple" and I think I accomplished that here.
Give it a try before you go to all the work creating a copper ground plane
in your cabin and cause yourself all manner of grief with RF radiation
getting into the fixtures and equipment in your boat. Even if you don't have
the keel cooler the engine / prop and shaft are a lot of metal.
Just my Canuck $0.02 worth ( and given the exchange rate these days that's
not much)

John Tones MV Penta
Victoria, BC

Bob:
We had the borg warner transmission in our 1981 44-Marine Trader fail at
about 500 hours, in 1999 on the way down the coast to San Diego.
Fortunately, it was not the reduction gear, but an internal planetary gear
that failed (broken tooth) and parts were available. No explanation as to
why the failure as they had low hours and certainly no abuse.
Russ

Subject: TWL: Diesel Engine and Transmission failures

The current threat on "non current engines and transmissions" begs the
question to be asked.  How many of the TWL members have had a diesel engine
or transmission failure?

Kieth:
I doubt that putting the copper in the salon will do much except create
massive RFI into everything in the boat. You have to get the ground down
close to the water. Lining the inside of the hull below the water line will
work, as will putting on a dynaplate or even using a group of thru hulls.
But it must make at least capacitive coupling with the water.
Russ

All:

For a variety of reasons, I have decided to build my own SSB ground
plane.