The day to align the engine was here. We thought we would be done in an hour and a half. Boy were we wrong. We started at 10 AM and finished at 7:30 PM. I met Tom Becker at the boat and we started the process. During the alignment we noticed that the fore motor mounts were hitting the engine brackets. I’m not sure if the manufacturer recently changed their brackets/mounts but this certainly wasn’t going to work. This defect meant we had to lift the engine again to remove the brackets and mounts, grind the brackets so there is proper clearance and then reinstall them.
Here you can see how we modified the bracket.
Here is the modified bracket installed.
Next we started the alignment process again. This time we determined the shaft must have not been centered properly on the old engine. This meant we needed to lower the engine about 3/16″ more. We could try to shinagal something or do it right.
Doing it right meant we had to again remove the dodger, hook the hoist to the boom, remove the engine, and shave the bed logs down 3/16″. And I thought the engine box was done and the engine didn’t ever have to be moved again. D$%#!!!
Messy again.
Third times a charm. Once we had the bed logs shaved down and the engine re-installed, we again had to start the re-aligning process. I am so happy I had Tom help with the alignment. I would have fought this for a month. His experience certainly came in handy and now I know it is right and got an education on engine alignment too.
Next up is to hook up all the fuel lines, battery cables, intake water, exhaust system, wiring harness, etc. Once all this is done we can start Smoothie and take here out of the slip. The build out of the engine room/compartment will come after that.
Smoothie now has an engine installed, anchored down, and properly aligned. Thank God.
CJ