Women and engines

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by bearkeley

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...now I.m wondering if there is another post about breaker bars and other essential tools and things like marine Tex, etc we should have on the boat?

As a new cruiser, I have found this forum to be invaluable.

Actually, there have been any number of them. On an almost regular basis, folks will post a "What essential tools and tips A& techniques..." question. Try a search on "essential."

One "builds" a "library" of tools that are necessary, as you go. As far as materials, MarineTex is very important. Others are rescue tape, Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure and Maine Sail's Bed-It-with-Butyl (it's not any old butyl).

One of the other important things I've learned is to find and bookmark trustworthy websites that have relevant and useful information. You do this as you progress, and save links that you find helpful. Two that I use repeatedly (one which I built) are:

Welcome To MarineHowTo.com Photo Gallery by Compass Marine How To at pbase.com

and

"101" Series - Quick Links to "Popular" Topics includes "Electrical Systems 101"

I was in the same boat you are now back in 1998 when we bought this boat. I had a Catalina 25 for 13 years before this boat, and had been overwhelmed with what a diesel engine would be for me, so I put off buying a bigger boat for too many years. It was too easy to drag the outboard engine off the boat and bring it to the shop for repairs! When we got this boat, the PO was honest enough and said it overheated when run at WOT. Remember, 1998 was waaaay before the internet and forums like this one. I did a lot of reading, and learned that the HX on my Universal (Kubota) M25 engine was marginal and needed to be perfectly clean. So I dove right in, removed it, and found the inlet port 3/4 clogged with salt precipitate!!! I banged that out, reinstalled it, and was a happy camper. I learned to to bleed my engine (which does not require touching the injectors - just turn a small knob and use the electric fuel pump!), change filters and oil, change transmission fluid, and the rest of basic maintenance.

Even with the internet, it is a PROCESS, not an overnight sensation. You know, kinda like the music group who becomes famous and are called an overnight sensation even though they've been playing roadside bars for 10 years before they were "discovered!!!"

Step-by-step, by doing a lot of reading, you'll amass bits & pieces that work for you and your boat.

Other examples: Boeshield T-9, PBBlaster, SuperLube, simple 3:1 machine oil, FSR, Simple Green, paint brush and roller cleaner for fenders, acetone for removing hull black streaks, Collinite Fleetwax, MacLube Sailkote.

Gee, you eventually end up with a toxic waste plant of supporting materials!

Good luck.

[JstaRebel]

Originally Posted by bearkeley

Thanks for all the encouragement...and the laughs! I do live in the south...where farmers and watermen are the locals and also where a lot of 'city folks' come for the weekends, so could be a bit behind the times. I'm all for gallantry and appreciate it when men open doors and stand to offer their seats, etc. but as a retired corporate exec, I guess my environment was a little different.

I called to find someone who can inspect and repair our oil cooler. I had no problems with the guy at American Diesel who was very helpful in encouraging us to find someone to repair the part (until the part he is ordering for us comes in). However, calling around the shops to Find someone to work on oil coolers (the pipe where the raw water hose leads to the heat exchanger has been crushed, causing a leak) was the challenge. It seems like we should be able to heat up the pipe and straighten it back up, if we had the right tools, but also concerned we might damage the oil hoses (connectors seem to have rusted and would prefer to not mess with it until we get replacement parts in so we can run the boat next weekend). An alternative solution we were considering would be to use rescue tape....any thoughts?

Yes I do have a thought for you. When American Diesel is ready to ship your parts, ask them to send you a service manual for your engine ($30.00) I would also ask for a spare parts list from them too. Lehman engines are very robust, simple engines. Keep them from overheating, keep proper oil pressure to them, and they will chug along forever. Which engine do you have? 90,120, or SP135?

[bearkeley]

Originally Posted by JstaRebel

Yes I do have a thought for you. When American Diesel is ready to ship your parts, ask them to send you a service manual for your engine ($30.00) I would also ask for a spare parts list from them too. Lehman engines are very robust, simple engines. Keep them from overheating, keep proper oil pressure to them, and they will chug along forever. Which engine do you have? 90,120, or SP135?

I'm actually very lucky to have a very active ownersforum....actually bought a boat that had most of her re-do documented on the forum, so I knew about all her warts and fixes before I even saw her. We have a Lehman Peugeot 4D61 and have downloaded the service manual. It definitely was very helpful and free! They also have a parts manual on the forum so that helps too. And yes, it is a very simple engine compared to those we worked on in the maintenance course, but it is still a bit of a challenge.....reading about things is one thing...actually doing it and in my case verbalizing is another. I was one of those girls who worried about nail polish and breaking a nail; school and corporate world was always pretty easy because I would learn pretty quickly...but working with your hands and troubleshooting machines and systems uses different brain cells....and I'm loving it!

[Hudson Force]

I'm enlightened in reading this thread that I might as well be a woman! I never had any instruction from my father regarding engines or mechanics. When I was young I never had male friends that participated in working on cars or engines. I've had very little interaction with professional mechanics and never any organized diesel engine instruction or any class in mechanics. Man,- I feel like a woman!

Like some others above, I've gained my skills by reading manuals and books, and more recently, internet sources. Over the 45 years that I maintained my live aboard cruiser I had a mechanic aboard my boat five times and these were not learning experiences for me. Yes, I might as well be a woman!

[ValiantV]

Originally Posted by Hudson Force

I'm enlightened in reading this thread that I might as well be a woman! I never had any instruction from my father regarding engines or mechanics. When I was young I never had male friends that participated in working on cars or engines. I've had very little interaction with professional mechanics and never any organized diesel engine instruction or any class in mechanics. Man,- I feel like a woman!

Like some others above, I've gained my skills by reading manuals and books, and more recently, internet sources. Over the 45 years that I maintained my live aboard cruiser I had a mechanic aboard my boat five times and these were not learning experiences for me. Yes, I might as well be a woman!

Some boys learned what to do (or maybe learned what NOT to do) at their father's side, or under the family car. Other boys learned how to be great musicians or dancers or artists. Some, I suppose, did all of the above.

On the other hand, the technical (vocational) high school I attended broke from their previous all-male enrollment and went co-ed a few years before I got there. (MUCH to the chagrin of many alums!) However, rather than "distracting" the boys, the girls there likely helped make for more well-rounded male grads as well as telling girls it's "OK" to get greasy, know which direction to turn a bolt, or how to work a lathe. My favorite shop teacher would often say of some male students "doesn't know which end of screwdriver to hold". Stereotypes are often wrong about both who has ability and who doesn't.

There's no reason why women can't overhaul an engine just as there's no reason a guy can't cook, see, and iron. All useful skills!

[rognvald]

"Ok...don't want this to be controversial so trying hard not to vent...but....how can a woman learn about her boats engine when mechanics always ask for the husband!" Bearkeley


I would reply: How do you expect her to learn when YOU call a mechanic for all your maintenance needs? Learning is a process. And, if your wife/companion assists you when YOU are attempting to fix a problem, she will learn in turn. Are there those who possess a mechanical aptitude greater than others? Absolutely, but mechanical repair is not witchcraft. Any person with reasonable intelligence and a desire to learn can become proficient. Good luck and safe sailing.

[JstaRebel]

Originally Posted by bearkeley

I'm actually very lucky to have a very active ownersforum....actually bought a boat that had most of her re-do documented on the forum, so I knew about all her warts and fixes before I even saw her. We have a Lehman Peugeot 4D61 and have downloaded the service manual. It definitely was very helpful and free! They also have a parts manual on the forum so that helps too. And yes, it is a very simple engine compared to those we worked on in the maintenance course, but it is still a bit of a challenge.....reading about things is one thing...actually doing it and in my case verbalizing is another. I was one of those girls who worried about nail polish and breaking a nail; school and corporate world was always pretty easy because I would learn pretty quickly...but working with your hands and troubleshooting machines and systems uses different brain cells....and I'm loving it!

The service manual I spoke of is different that what I downloaded online (at least for my SP135) or 2725E 6cyl Dover engine. It is a rebuild manual outlining exactly how to overhaul and repair the complete engine. It also shows tools available, OEM part numbers, and gives very specific how to's for everything. Its a Service Technicians manual. That is why I suggested it. Now I have both manuals and highly recommend everyone else who owns a Ford Lehman (can't say for Peugeot) have both as well as the marinizing catalog too.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Would it be fair to say that since most of the males on CF grew up in a time before the internet, then they must have amused themselves with motorbikes, cars and outboards etc whilst girls will have been busy slapping on the lip gloss.

No, that wouldn't be fair to say. I have never had a motorbike and always had all the work on my cars and boats when young done by the dealers. Never have changed the oil in a car and changed a tire only once when there was no other choice.

As to any lip gloss slapped on, we guys were the principal driving force behind that. Of course in olden days it was just color, now more about flavor. I prefer she slap on strawberry flavored, although some exotic flavors like melon daiquiri are pretty good and I was surprised I liked kissing her with cotton candy flavored since I don't eat cotton candy. Very sweet. There are even skittles and starburst party packs. And Victoria's Secret has a flavor called Slice of Heaven.

Never know what flavor I might find she's wearing but always fun finding out.

[hellosailor]

Flavors of lip glass...Kind of like doing belly button shots and eating sushi off bellies, isn't it? Maybe it is my loss but I can't see confusing food and, ah, pleasure that way. But as those clever French would say, chacun a son gout.

Although I never heard if belly shots were a craze in any part of France?

[BandB]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Flavors of lip glass...Kind of like doing belly button shots and eating sushi off bellies, isn't it? Maybe it is my loss but I can't see confusing food and, ah, pleasure that way. But as those clever French would say, chacun a son gout.

Although I never heard if belly shots were a craze in any part of France?

You don't eat it but when you kiss you get a touch of the flavor. It's a huge fad with younger girls. Also, for the girl wearing it, tastes better to her than plain lip gloss.

[bearkeley]

It worked! JB weld to fill the gap worked well....now it's even better than when we first got her! Now it's time to do my nails and have a shot of fireball to celebrate!

[JPA Cate]

Bear,

There are some threads about what tools are essential on boats, here. Use the CF Google Custom Search, under the Search menu, and see what you come up with. We are somewhat tool happy, and kept on buying tools as needed along the way. A note, though, Jim left his Snap-On tools in the States, because he didn't want them to get all rusty, and there they have stayed, all these years. He would rather have brought them, but that was retrospective. So, I'd say, spend the money to buy good tools, with an eye to making your own tools what you prefer to work with, and don't loan them out, take 'em with you when you go to help someone else. You will be needing a good multi-meter, too, at some point.

Ann

[a64pilot]

Good tools if properly cared for are Heirlooms, they will outlive you.
Cheap tools however will cause you harm as the wrench slips off a nut and you bust your knuckles, and will cause damage to what your working on.
On the cheater bar, you can put a pipe extension on any good breaker bar to increase leverage, this is why you want a good set of .5" drive sockets though and not 3/8". For putting real toque on something I prefer 6 point sockets over 12 point, they are less likely to slip and round a bolt head.
Get some good anti-seize too, there is a special type that won't cause corrosion, I think it's graphite you want to avoid.
Put everything together with this anti-seize, next time you have to take it apart you will be glad you did.

I left most of my good tools for my kid as he is trying to go down the aircraft mechanic road. I have not given them to him yet, but will if he succeeds.
Snap ons are about the best there is, when you see them, most likely the owner knows what they are doing, and often were at one time in their life a gear head.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Good tools if properly cared for are Heirlooms, they will outlive you.
Cheap tools however will cause you harm as the wrench slips off a nut and you bust your knuckles, and will cause damage to what your working on.
On the cheater bar, you can put a pipe extension on any good breaker bar to increase leverage, this is why you want a good set of .5" drive sockets though and not 3/8". For putting real toque on something I prefer 6 point sockets over 12 point, they are less likely to slip and round a bolt head.
Get some good anti-seize too, there is a special type that won't cause corrosion, I think it's graphite you want to avoid.
Put everything together with this anti-seize, next time you have to take it apart you will be glad you did.

I left most of my good tools for my kid as he is trying to go down the aircraft mechanic road. I have not given them to him yet, but will if he succeeds.
Snap ons are about the best there is, when you see them, most likely the owner knows what they are doing, and often were at one time in their life a gear head.

Funny thing, that, A64, the only one of my SnapOn sockets that I ever broke was the 3/8" drive 10 mm. It got replaced by a Craftsman one on a weekend, and is still on the socket bar. I agree about the 6 pt. sockets, the 1/2" drive aspect, and my only comment about the antiseize is that if the application is somewhere subject to a lot of vibration, then you might want to double nut that nut.

Ann

[ValiantV]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

On the cheater bar, you can put a pipe extension on any good breaker bar to increase leverage, this is why you want a good set of .5" drive sockets though and not 3/8"..

A good mechanic, and one who cherishes his fine tools, would NEVER put a "cheater bar" on them! That's assuming that you know more and better than the engineers who designed those tools and you may as well say it fine to run your engine rated for 3,600 rpm Max at 5,000 rpm. You should EXPECT something to break.

If you have to use a "cheater", then you're doing something wrong. Period.

If you need more torque, then you need a larger drive size, or a longer breaker bar.

Sure, if you're stranded in the middle of the ocean and have no options - then do what it takes. Otherwise, use the right tool for the job. Always.