Genset Stage Three

Heads ground off the bolts

As I mentioned previously, I intended to grind the heads off of the bolts.  I could not budge the two on the right with a wrench without risking twisting them off, and the two on the left had corroded to the point where their heads were just nubs.  The plan was to grind off the heads, remove the elbow, and then use ViceGrip pliers to grip the stubs and turn them out, if possible.  The only tool that I could get to bear on the bolts was a Dremel tool with a little 3/4" grinding head...  it took about an hour for each bolt.

It's off!

Amazingly, even with the bolt heads removed, I had to drive a screwdriver between the elbow and the exhaust manifold to free the elbow. Corrosion products completely filled up the space between the bolts and the holes in the elbow flange, bonding it tightly. This does not bode well for being able to remove the bolts...

The inner tube is loose

...And this tells part of the story. The inner pipe was loose and had been ejected part way down the hose that attaches to the exhaust elbow...

Warped flange

And this is the rest of the story: the near edge (the bottom) of the flange is significantly warped. Combined with the loose inner pipe (above), this meant that hot seawater would be leaking out of the bottom of the flange. That seawater was supposed to cascade down around the inner pipe and join the exhaust gases near the far end of the elbow. Instead it was right there at the warped flange.

New fuel pump installed

With the primary and time-limiting task out of the way and the old elbow shipped off to Ben at ExhaustElbow.com, I had more room to work and more time, so I installed the new fuel pump.

Shiny new exhaust elbow

Late breaking news: Ben has completed the new elbow and will be shipping it soon! Gotta get those bolt stubs out!

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Genset Stage Three

Genset Saga Continues

Well, there has been a little progress.

Kohler oil filter stand-in

I have removed the remote oil filter mount, the (rusted out) oil lines and the heavy iron casting that Kohler installed to replace the oil filter and provide attachment points for the oil lines.  Holy cow!  That was not trivial work.  The banjo fittings at the oil line ends used 25 mm bolts, and it was pretty much everything I could muster in the confined space to break them loose.

As another example of Salnick’s Law of Recursive Maintenance, it was not possible to actually separate the oil lines from the engine because they were behind the water feed line to the sea water pump.  Since I had then to drain and disconnect the pump, this provided a perfect opportunity to replace the pump impeller.  The old impeller looked like it was new.

And while the pump was out I got the oil lines out, tho even with the water fed line out of the way it was still a complex geometry problem to unthread the lines in the cramped operation space.

Oil filter in Yanmar factory location (oil lines still in place)

In order to ensure that I had no leaks, I installed a new filter, reconnected the sea water line and fired up the genset.  There were no leaks, oil or water!

Next on the agenda:

• Replace the corroded mess of a fuel lift pump
• Remove the exhaust elbow and send it to the fabricator who will make me a new one out of 316SS.  This will not be easy.  Two of the bolts that hold the elbow on are corroded to the point that the heads are just nubs.  And of course these are the ones that are nearly impossible to get at.  To add, I can’t budge the other two... without risk of snapping them off. 
  
  My next plan is to use a Dremel tool to tediously grind off the heads of the bolts, remove the elbow and then use vice grips to attempt to remove the remaining “studs”.  Two of the bolts go into thru-holes in a flange on the block, so the worst case scenario there would be that they get drilled out and replaced with bolts and nuts.  The other two, the hardest to get at (naturally), go into blind holes...

And so the saga continues...

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The Boaty Way of Things

As a normal part of pre-season maintenance, I change the oil in the generator.

No big deal, right?  Should take less than an hour.

Before I remove the oil via a suction tube shoved down the dipstick hole, I heat it up - this makes the process go much faster.  I heat it up by running the generator, naturally.  So I started the generator.

After a while, it shut itself down.  Not the slowly chugging of a fuel starvation issue, but sudden - like I had hit the kill switch.

I pulled up the floorboard and was rewarded with an oil-spattered view...  the generator had spat out all its oil and shut itself down on lack of oil pressure.  What a mess!  Thankfully there is a drip pan under the engine big enough to contain the entire oil charge...  and that's where it was.  The part not on the batteries, walls, floorboards, etc.

I had had this happen once before due to the failure of the oil filter gasket, so I presumed that was what had happened here.  Consequently, I purchased (dearly) a factory authorized oil filter, presuming that the aftermarket filter that I had installed last year was the culprit.  And installed it. and filled the generator with fresh oil (whew!  that was the original objective).

When I started it, I was greeted with a spray of clean oil, right in the face.

OK...  not the oil filter.

A close examination revealed that the leak was likely at the oil pipe...  "Oil pipe," you ask?  Yes.  Kohler, the manufacturer of the genset, used a Yanmar 2gmf diesel engine as a power source.  But the Yanmar design has the oil filter screwed into the block in a horizontal position.  This means that when it is removed, it dumps a cup of oil all over the place, and more particularly, it would dump it outside the drip pan under the engine.  Kohler's answer?  Relocate the oil filter to the other side of the engine where there is a tight spot where it could be mounted vertically, and over the drip pan.

The fuel pump is in that corrosion... somewhere...

But sadly, this location is exactly under the location where the exhaust elbow will drip, if it is failing (uh oh...).  Yeah.  And so add the fuel lift pump.

So far, it seems that I need to replace the feed pipe to the oil filter, the lift pump, and the exhaust elbow.  Here are the costs:

Item	Cost
Lift Pump	$86
Oil Pipe	$209
Exhaust Elbow	$767

Now I want to put this into perspective...  A fuel pump for a big block Chevrolet engine costs less than $20.  And $209 for a 12" piece of 1/4" steel tubing??  But HOLY COW!  The exhaust elbow is breathtakingly expensive for an 8" long fabricated mild steel item.  I would have to bet that if I just bought the parts to build this generator from scratch it would cost as much as the entire boat!

In the boaty way of things, the perforated oil pipe cannot be removed without disconnecting and draining the sea water feed to the generator.  And a BIG wrench.  So, since I will have the feed disconnected from the sea water pump, I might just as well change the impeller there too, right?  Add another $40 and a big hassle.  And this presumes that I can get it apart without stripping any screws...

So, the current status is this:

• I have a new fuel pump on order.  
• I have a water pump impeller on order.  
• I will order the oil feed pipe once I have everything apart and haven't (hopefully) broken anything else in the process.  I don't see any alternative to this yet.

And as for the exhaust elbow?  I have a query out there with an individual who will build me one out of 316 stainless for far less than the factory mild steel one...

Salnick's Law of Recursive Maintenance

Whatever you want to do, you have to do something else first...

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The Boaty Way of Things

Panang Curry, ala Eolian

Panang Curry has forever been the benchmark by which I have judged Thai restaurants.  And I have been struggling for years to come up with my own perfect Panang Curry recipe.  Until now, I have come close, but have missed the mark in one gustatorial dimension or another.

Not any more.

Magic

I have found the magic.

Now mind you, this doesn't get you all the way there, but it is close.  Still needed are a little more peanut flavor, some sweetness, and (perhaps the most magic ingredient of all) some ginger.

Here's my recipe (makes 4 very generous servings).  If there are only two of you, make the full recipe, but only half the rice.  Use the rest on a second batch of rice another day.

Ingredients - serves 4

• 2 cups Basmati/Jasmine rice
• 4 cups water
• 2 tsp salt

•  2 Tbsp Olive oil
• 1/2 large onion, diced into 1/4" pieces
• 3 large cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 green Bell pepper, diced into 1/4"pieces
• 1/2 cup of carrots sliced into 1/4" pieces
• 1 large stem broccoli, sliced thinly, including the entire stem.
• 1 8 oz can pineapple chunks in water, drained
• 1 to 1-1/2 cups cooked chicken (left overs work best!), cut into chopstick-sized pieces
• 1 12 oz can of coconut milk.  Do not use "light".
• Mae Ploy Panang Curry Paste
• 1 Tbsp peanut butter
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar 
• 4 Tbsp Thai basel, chopped with scissors
• 1 cubic inch of fresh ginger, sliced thinly and diced
• Zest and juice of one lime

The Rice

1. Start the rice - this always takes the longest and can tolerate waiting the best...  Bring 4 cups of water to a boil.  Add 2 tsp salt.
2. Once boiling, add the rice.  Stir immediately to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pan and cover.  When the water again comes to a boil stir again, lower the heat to low, crack the lid and start on the curry.

 The Curry

1. Stir fry the onions and carrots in a couple of Tbsp of olive oil in a 2-qt saucepan until just beginning to get tender.  
2. Add the pepper and continue to stir fry.
3. Add the garlic and continue to stir fry.
4. When the garlic just begins to stick to the pan and/or the pepper is just getting tender, add the broccoli.  Note that Asian cooks don't discard the stems of the broccoli - just cut off the dried out end and slice the rest thin.
5. Stir fry the broccoli until the color changes to bright green.
6. Add the coconut milk, sugar, pineapple, and peanut butter.
7. The Mae Ploy paste comes in a plastic bag inside the container.  Cut off a corner of the bag to make an opening about 3/4" diameter.  Extrude a log of curry paste about 3" long and 3/4" diameter into the pan (more if you are a 4-5 star kind of person, a little less if 2 stars is more to your liking).
8. Mix well.  Add the chicken. 
9. Once everything has come to a simmer, turn off the heat and add the aromatics (ginger, basil, lime zest and juice).  Stir.  You should have enough curry to nearly fill a 2--quart saucepot - 4 generous servings.
10. Reserve enough basil to garnish the servings

Meanwhile, you have been checking the rice all along, right?  When there is no more water visible and there are a bunch of holes in the surface, turn off the heat.  Wait another 5-10 minutes, until the last of the water has been absorbed and you have "sticky rice".

Divide the rice onto 4 plates, divide the curry onto the rice, and garnish generously with the chopped Thai basil.

Present with chopsticks (naturally!)

Panang Curry, ala Eolian