I've been restoring this old
Gulfstar (1975,
hull #3) that I bought. We were able to take it out for a
family sail this last weekend and all went well until the return the next day.
The river is running over flood stage and I thought to
power it up to gett off the
dock only to hear the starter to clunk. Try the key a few times to be sure and then
head below to see about what was up and perhaps jumping the house
battery to the starting circuit.
Open the
engine room door and SMOKE. Not really a fire but full of smoke. To make the long story short the starter would not turn (more on that later) and the starter ground to starter
battery wire was undersized and over heated as it dissipated the full stall
current of the starter.
I had planned on replacing that wire and had the replacement on hand and was able to put it in place.
The first thought was that the starter was shot. Off it came (must weigh 30 pounds) and with a little creativity I was able to test it. It ran fine.
Digging around the flywheel ring
gear with a finger produced a piece of metal that was jammed between the ring
gear and the flywheel housing thus causing the failure to turn. Sadly, I knocked this back into the housing were it waits for a future day.... Not sure what it is, Any thoughts?
I'll be pulling the velvet drive
transmission off this coming
winter for a
rebuild. This is to fix an
oil leak out the front seal that ends up in the bell housing and drips out and into the
oil catchment pan that I installed. This will be the chance to find out what is loose in there.
--Ethan