2009 Week 2 in Review
January 4 to January 10, 2009
Work continues on the Catalyst
This week on the Catalyst, we finished up the main bearings. Last week I talked about fitting in bearings and strain testing them and how it takes a long time, but they're finally done. Whew. Next up are the rod bearings, then the pistons.
An update on the David B
As some of you may know, the David B suffered some damage in last month's big winter freeze. I've been on the phone with owner Jeffery a lot, since he's trying to figure out how to best fix it.
One of the fixes that Jeffery already did was to replace a chunk that blew out of the cylinder head. The cylinder head is curved, so the replacement had to be on that same curve to be effective. He could have hammered a flat piece of steel to the right shape, but that would have taken forever to get it the right shape and curve. Instead, Jeffrey took a 16-inch pipe that had the same radius as the cracked head and cut a piece out of it that matched the hole in the cylinder head, and stitched it together with a bunch of screws.
He did a really good job - I hope that the rest of the repairs go as well, and that the David B is cruising again soon.
Old Tacoma Marine Art Show at Caprice Kitchen
At the end of the week, I spent an evening at Caprice Kitchen helping set up an old engine art show. We put up ten art-quality prints of some of our favorite engines, including the Catalyst, the Arthur Foss, and the David B.
Stop by and check it out!
