Archive for December 9th, 2009
There wasn’t anything intrinsically wrong with the gearbox I bought. In fact, it had only just been overhauled by West Point Marine and so was in very good condition. No, the problem with the gearbox was the engine. More specifically, the problem with the gearbox was that, in order to fit it, the engine would have to be raised to a level which would leave it sticking through the wheelhouse floor. The ‘drop down’ (the vertical distance between the input shaft from the engine and the drive shaft to the propeller) was too big. This is my fault, precipitated by Mistake #2 (parking Ordu so far away that I couldn’t easily check things like this – see a previous post).
Bugger! I went back to boats and outboards and looked through the adverts to see if I could find anyone who might be able to help me. I ended up contacting Seahorse Power as they are specialists in Ford marine parts. They told me that my old Parsons gearbox was an in-line gearbox (i.e. the input shaft from the engine and the output to the drive shaft are co-axial) and that there are 2 suitable replacements: the Borg Warner, or the PRM750CB. They offered to sell me new versions of either of these gearboxes for a mere £2,300.00 (plus VAT, of course) – how nice of them. Alternatively, they might be able to pick up reconditioned ones for about £1,400.00. Despite evidence to the contrary I am starting to learn something, which is that you never buy from a specialist unless you have to (thank god for the internet).
Borg Warner Velvet Drive gearbox
So, it was back to boats and outboards. I have to admit that, without knowing any other distinguishing features, the name of the Borg Warner sold it to me (the model I required is called a ‘velvet drive’). Marketing works, it seems. That, and the fact that a search on the internet showed that Borg Warner gearboxes are actually quite good. Anyway, I ended up buying a second gearbox from a very nice, helpful man called Darren Ray of D-Ray marine in Bournemouth, for £650.00. OK, so two weeks after buying one gearbox I’ve bought another one. But I’ve got professional advice on this one so it can’t go wrong, right?
I call Nigel and tell him that I’ll be bring over another gearbox to replace the first one that he couldn’t fit because it would mean bringing the engine through the floor of the wheelhouse. I take the Borg Warner over and wait excitedly for the call that tells me my boat is ready. Two weeks later I get a call, but it is not the one I was hoping for! Nigel tells me that his engineers have removed the old gearbox and fitted the new Borg Warner only to find that it doesn’t line up with the prop shaft – the output from the gearbox was about 2 inches too high. In order to make it line up with the prop shaft the engine would have to be dropped through the hull. But hang on a second, I received advice from experts who told me I needed an in-line gearbox, so I got an in-line gearbox. What the…? Nigel insisted that the gearbox didn’t fit but suggested that we raise the prop shaft so that it could attach to the gearbox. Yes, you read that right – he was proposing cutting Ordu open and lifting the whole prop shaft by a couple of inches to solve an alignment problem!!
At this point, I’m slightly in shell-shock so I ask him to price the work up. Nigel calls me up a couple of days later to say that he’s costed the work (£1443.25, if you’re interested) but that there is another problem. In looking at what is involved in raising the prop shaft they have uncovered a rotten beam under the rear deck. He’s worried about what else they might uncover during the operation. He’s not the only one! I rush over to Shepperton and take a look. He’s right, there is a rotten wooden beam under the rear deck but I can’t worry about this too much right now (although this will rear its ugly head later in my story). OK, so I’ve bought a boat with a broken gearbox which is moored 25 miles away in the most expensive marina in the universe, I have two new gearboxes neither of which fit, I have rotten beams supporting the rear deck and the engineers want to cut open my boat and raise the prop shaft by two inches.
The rotten beam under the rear deck
A lesser man would have panicked. Fortunately, I’m made of sterner stuff. As soon as Nigel mentioned raising the prop shaft I knew it was a bad idea, but I needed time to think. Having thought, I realised that the only sensible thing to do was to buy the right gearbox. At least I now knew that I needed a drop-down of about 2 inches. I searched the internet and found out that what I needed was a ZF Hurth, so I bought a ZF 15M from Golden Arrow Marine in Southampton for £785.00 and had it delivered directly to Shepperton for immediate fitting.
Of course, when I say ‘immediate’ I am referring to conditions in the space-time continuum occupied by all things nautical which, as you will know, does not obey the rules we have come to rely upon in the ‘real’ world. To make things worse, Mistake #2 had led me to moor Ordu at an unfortunate confluence of the ‘nautical’ space-time continuum and the ‘wealthy owner’ continuum with Ordu apparently forming a direct worm-hole between the two. This appeared to mean that because I owned neither a plastic gin palace nor half of Surrey (unlike, it appears, a significant number of the other berth-holders at Shepperton) I failed to register significantly on the consciousness of the LL operatives occupying both these continuums.
I lurched through this distant reality like some kind of telephonic ghost, moaning and groaning, with the staff at Shepperton seeming to be sufficieltly aware of my presence to register some annoyance at the noise, but not enough to want to perform an exorcism and get rid of me for good by doing the work I wanted to pay them for. The abortive gearbox replacement took place at the end of January 2006 but by the time I had bought the third (and final) gearbox it would appear that the oligarchs had awoken from hibernation and, by requiring their vessels to be prepared for the forthcoming boating season, had sent me squarely to the bottom of the maintenance ‘waiting’ list (I put this in inverted commas since it would appear that only some of us needed to wait at all – but, then again, maybe I am just jealous or confused).
Ordu in Shepperton
I arranged with Molly for her to deliver Ordu to Shepperton in January 2006. Once she was there I’d look for a gearbox and then get Linden Lewis to fit it. Since Ordu didn’t have a functioning gearbox it was necessary to get her towed to Shepperton from Thames Ditton, and Molly arranged for one of her ‘boating’ friends to make the delivery. Ordu arrived a day later than arranged, sparking a considerable degree of panic from me, but at last she was there. Of course, I went to Shepperton as fast as the train could carry me and I tracked her down, only to find that Molly’s friend had not only delivered her but had decided to use her as a floating rubbish dump. It looked like he had literally emptied his dustbin onto her rear deck. I had to remove 6 full bin liners of assorted household junk (including several unwrapped, used, nappies – thank you so much Molly’s friend). Once I had – literally – cleared the crap away I had time to gaze on her proudly, which is when I noticed that ‘friend’ had managed to bend the pullpit out of shape during her passage from Thames Ditton.
Whatever, she was ours now. The next thing to do was find a gearbox and get LL to fit it. Simple, right? I’m guessing that you have some idea by now of where I might be going with this? Molly had told me that the engine was a Ford 4D, pre 1955, and that the gearbox was a Paragon with a 2:1 ratio. The gearbox information was correct and the engine is a Ford 4D, but not pre 1955 (more details about the engine will appear in future posts). I’m a mechanical engineer by training, but I haven’t had a car for many years and being trained as a mechanical engineer is very different from being a mechanic. I had some idea of what I was looking for, but with the boat 25 miles away it was pretty difficult to easily check up on details. Besides which, at this point I wasn’t sure which details I was supposed to be checking.
My new Parsons gearbox
The first place to look was boats and outboards and it didn’t let me down. Someone near Southampton was selling a Parson’s gearbox with a bell housing that fitted a Ford engine. This gearbox had a 2:1 ratio and was available immediately for collection for £600. I was pretty much shooting in the dark, but the point of getting Ordu in the first place was to learn so I went for it. Selena and I travelled down to pick up the gearbox on Saturday morning and drove back to meet friends at Shepperton who helped me unload it in the afternoon (it weighed a ridiculous amount).
With the help of my friends we transferred the gearbox to a trolley and left it there for the engineers at Linden Lewis to fit. I met with their new customer service manager who, for the sake of this story, I’ll call Nigel. Nigel had just joined LL and was very helpful and courteous (which is nice, as I spent a lot of time communicating with Nigel over the next six months). Now, as I’ve already said, I’m not a mechanic. If I were, I wouldn’t have made Mistake #4 and bought the wrong gearbox.
