2008 Week 4 in Review
January 20 to January 26, 2008
Maris Pearl Work
The retired tugboat Maris Pearl and its Enterprise diesel engine is a long-time customer of OTM Inc. This week, I resealed the oil tube in the No 1 cylinder on the starboard side. Water is still dripping into the crank pit on No 1, and the easiest and most likely way to fix it is to reseal the oil tube. Let's hope it works. Here's the Maris Pearl's engine with the starboard access panel removed from No 1 cylinder:
Later in the week, I met with Bob Shildwalker to see about replacing the control head in the Maris Pearl's Enterprise. It currently has an Ingersoll-Rand control head, which uses a teeny little air control motor to shift the camshaft. Since it's so small, there's a small possibility that it could hang up and cause the tug to get stuck in forward or reverse. It probably won't, but I want the engine to be as perfect as it can be. I heard that Bob has a spare control head manufactured by Westinghouse that uses a big air ram to shift the cam:
This makes it more reliable, as well as easy to use. I met with Bob to ask first if all the control head pieces are there and second if he would sell it.
The answer to both questions was no. Not only is the control head missing many pieces, but Bob said that he already sold the Red Cloud and everything on it to Rick Hamborg. This is unfortunate, since I think that with a little research I can make the missing parts and get the control head working again. Last year I installed the same device on a DMG-6 Enterprise and had a lot of fun learning about it while restoring it. I'll try again soon. For now, though, it remains with the Red Cloud in Everett.
Cylinder head for Arcturus
Dan and I were cleaning out the storage locker and came across a 9" x 12" cylinder head, which would fit the yacht Arcturus's Atlas-Imperial. Since his engine is still sea-water cooled (and subject to the corrosion damage that can destroy an engine if not kept under control) we thought we'll offer the head for sale to him first.
Cylinder heads for Catalyst
I've been meaning to hunt down the extra cylinder heads for the Washington in the Catalyst for a while now, as I know that the former owners had some made a few years back. This week, I spotted an advertisement in the Boats and Harbors rag for "Washington Engine Parts". I immediately thought "Wait, there's Washington parts out there that I don't know about?" Since Washington Iron Works stopped manufacturing parts around 1980, they are hard to find and most of the collectors have already contacted Dan or I.
I called the foundry and machine shop at Texas Empire Motors Inc that placed the ad, which was for 8" x 10" cylinder heads. He said he has one old head, three new ones, and all the patterns needed for casting more. He was very anxious to sell the whole lot and sounded disappointed when I told him that there is only one potential customer in the world (as the Catalyst is the last remaining 8" x 10" Washington engine that we know of) and they may never need the spare heads. But, I wanted to see what he would let them go for, so I should see an offer in the mail soon.
Meanwhile, the Catalyst's current cylinder heads are looking great:
