As a fellow gray haired man, I admire your ability to spend all that time crunched down on your knees like that. I could never do that, but I do enjoy your videos.
Yeah, I know what you mean. I find that a day in the Engine Room nearly always yields a day or two of sore back. I have knee pads for working in tight quarters and they are remarkably effective at solving that problem but the back doesn't seem to have an easy work around.
This is a compliment to You for the first, second and tirth part video of the description of changing the generator head. The incredible patience during the action amazes me. The love for explaining how and why things work is fascinating. The camera setups are fantastically located so that we can see every movement and effect of the captain's engineer. The questions and answers are specified for anyone who may not know anything about the subject, but still learns almost enough to try to do the same thing himself. Personally, when I screw around my engines, I always have leftover screws or parts. Regards and thank You for sharing.
1980's Alaska Crabbing shut down mid seasons with boats and crews stranded - banks owed Millions. I was on a Repo Crew picking up crab boats to drive to Seattle. Banks would only buy enough fuel for a Gulf crossing. Crew was captain, mate, cook and engineer (me). Advance news of our arrivals allowed time for angry, unpaid crews to sabotage the boats. Each time was a guns drawn situation. My job was to get two mains and one gen set running ASAP. Middle of the Gulf gen sets and mains would die. Done that job by flashlight in 10 foot seas. You have my respect.
If I did that I would be left with 30 shoulder bolts. James is so clinical I would gladly let him open me up and work on me. Great video and talk through cheers from the UK
i cant wait to hear the baby running it went well ,oh if you dont have dial guage, another way is sit a metal rule with flat edge on the piston and overhang it an inch or two over block use feeler gauges between edge of ruler and block to measure the height
I always find new videos with your interesting topics. Respect. If your new Dirona sailed again, it would be as sensational as the new movie of Avatar or Lord of the Rings. 👍
Oops, I forgot to add your tech videos are excellent, in-situ work of this nature is demanding at best. The only antidote to the difficulty is patience and you seem to have that in spades. Great video work as well.
For the manifolds that seat on the side of a motor, I’ve made a few rods of all thread that hold the gasket in place and let’s you seat the manifold and attach the first few bolts without having to hold your tongue just right :)
Great job again I like your fastidiousness in keeping things clean and checking everything. Very important I think to not to rush these jobs and take as long as is needed. Looking forwarding to that engine bursting into life again!!!!
Thanks for the feedback and, sneak preview, we're in Norway and I can just barely hear that generator running in the background. We'll get to work on that last video.
Thanks. These little engines are reliable and fairly easy to work on. I suspect it'll go another 8,000 to 10,000 hours without needing to be opened up.
Yes, probably true. It's been 11 years and 11,300 main engine hours. Generally everything has been pretty reliable but I've still spent some time down there.
great video folks! it is a RISCy procedure with lots of precision to prevent any runtime exceptions. tuning and data integrity without rolling back is key for safe sailing! greetings from an old 1150 dude!
I do the same, torque in stages up to the max, takes only a few minutes more. I would most certainly buy a used boat from you as I know any work done is done well!
There is some debate on this one. Some argue a single click and a single pass is all you need. I don't agree on either and prefer multiple clicks confirming target torque has been achieved on the belief that a torque wrench is a simple mechanical device with some error margin. I give it three checks. On higher torque parts, I like to do a staged torque where I first bring it up to 50% or 75% of the goal, and then do a final pass at 100%. I think it's a good approach but, as I said, some will debate it.
Hi all fantastic video footage and documentary information brilliant for people who have to carry out their own repairs. Pp I would have left the injectors out so making it easy to adjust the valve clearance thanks.
It's only a 1.5 liter engine so pretty easy to turn with full compression but, yes, you are right leaving the injectors out would make the valve adjustment even easier. Thanks for feedback on the video.
You are right, some service items on a boat can be challenging to access. This boat is actually far better than average and so I mostly feel lucky. It's not bad from a serviceability perspective but all boats have some jobs you just would rather avoid :-) Thanks for the feedback on the video.
31:58 I have the same Shibaura N843 in my 2005 TC33DA New Holland tractor as well. Its a good little 1.5L (1496 CCs) motor. Mine is rated at 33HP Gross @ 2800 RPMs. I see yours is rated at 20.1 HP (15KW) @ 1800 RPMs.
Good little motors. The generators are rated lower than propulsion engines. We have the 4 cylinder version as an auxiliary (emergency propulsion) engine and it's rated at 40 hp. About the same HP per cylinder as your tractor.
Thanks for the feedback on the video. This morning the generator just past 445 hours since the head replacement so it's getting lots of use and it's running well.
Thanks for the feedback. On keeping the machinery spaces clean, we mostly just wipe up spills when they happen and ensure that nuisance leaks are corrected or at least contained. Surprisingly, the biggest source of dirt is actually the massive air flow through the engine room when the main engine is running. Air brings in dirt and so, over time, it will build up. Every month or two we'll vacuum that up or wipe it off to avoid accumulation.
I thought it would have been easier to adjust the valve setting before you put the glow plugs and the injector in so that you could turn the engine by hand!
Hi...great video as always. So did you decide on what had actually caused the damage to no3? Was it a one off ingress of water? I didnt see you show the damage to the valve seats on number 3..I presume that was the issue in the end? Sorry if I missed it in the videos..I have watched them all..promise...cheers.
This video was getting too long so we split off the bleeding of the fuel system, adjusting the valves, starting the engine, and investigate the damage and would might be done to avoid it in the future.
@@MVDirona ok thanks. I dont know about others but for me the video shot by ... it had a lovely natural flow about it. Great editing. Camera work and presentation...
few points James. a digital tyre tread gauge would of worked ideal for measuring the piston height. Blue Hylamar on the gasket will stop it sticking to the mating surfaces, if in the future the cylinder head has to come off. if you apply oil to threads and the spec does not say oil threads, then reduce torque by 25% when torqueing up. if no torque is specified, refer to standard torque values for the material
Thanks for the suggestions. Typically tire tread gauges are less well calibrated and less precise than a dial gauge but, if it can deliver thousands of an inch accuracy, then it likely be faster and simpler. On use of Blue Hylamar to avoid the gasket sticking, I kind of like it sticking. This interface needs to seal oil passages, water passages, and combustion so I like the gasket as sticky as the manufacturer specified. This particular engine doesn't have oil passages in the head but it's perhaps the only gasket that I installed without any other substances unless recommended by the manufacturer. On the oiling of threads, changing the torque specs you are right. On this engine, all but three of the bolts spend there lives in an oil bath so dry threads is more difficult to deliver on rebuild with oil already in the holes. If some are oiled already my thinking is the most important thing is even torque so I oil them all.#
Your videos are fantastic. I have the land based version of this gen set. It has run for 23 years as a major source of my hawaii farms power and I have never had to do anything but maintenance. I am now going to be rebuilding the head or buying a new one as you did. I will be using your video information a lot. Just one question..? Where did you download your shop manual or order it from? 😊 Thanks so much
Thanks for the feedback on the video and it's great to hear how well your Northern Lights generator is running. Music to my ears. You'll be pleased to know that, unlike much of the industry, Northern Lights doesn't treat there online manuals as yet another revenue source. They are up at; www.northern-lights.com/technicalinformation/manuals/
Thank you so much for your quick reply 👍🏼 I see the operator manual and the parts manual.. do you know if there is a actual shop manual or if there isn’t do you suppose the Perkins 403-15 manual would work for this generator. I would appreciate your insight also as to whether you think that the parts may be interchangeable between engines, especially concerning the head. Thank you again I really really appreciate it.
Great suggestion. Studs would make a massive difference. I did that on the Samsung 55" TV and it made a massive diffence where it just slips into place and I can hold it there and spin nuts on the back. Before that, it was a pain to get it aligned and then get the bolts engaged. Thanks for the suggestion.
Question about engine room access, I see there are access hatches in the deckhead above the engines and that you used one to access the engineroom. Did Nordhaven design into their boats a way to remove the main engine or a block replacement if that became necessary (Hopefully it does not for anyone) ?
The hatch above is a nice easy entrance to the engine room and I use it when Jennifer is asleep in the master state room or if I'm getting something that is close to that entrance but we mostly use the main entrance from the master stateroom. I would say our usage is roughly 75% on the main entrance door and about 25% through the hatch. Forward of the access hatch you where looking at is 4 large removable floor boards that can be lifted out leaving an X support below. The X support is removable as well leaving a very large opening in the Salon to allow access to hoist out large machinery such as the main engine, wing engine, or generator. Nordhavn does a pretty good job of making the boats serviceable. No builder is perfect but they do unusually well.
@@MVDirona Thanks for the explanation, nice to see that level of thoughtful planning. As the Nordhaven hulls are pretty tough and will be long lived, it is likley at some point they will require engine replacement.
It's pretty rare to replace a main engine in a diesel powered recreational boat due to wear. Many get replaced due to poor installation design, poor maintenance, or orverloading. I have seen generator and wing engine replacement in a Nordhavn but I don't know of a main engine replacement. Admitted, at our current 1,000 hour a year pace, it will happen but that number of annual hours is unusually high.
I pile related bolts together and remember when I'm taking them apart if they aren't all the same lengthy. For example, for head bolts, the service-side 3 are shorter.
if the spec is ~72-76 ft lbs, shouldn't you consider the accuracy of the torque wrench? If, for example, you set the wrench to 76, you might risk over torquing the bolt. Then the logical value would be dead center between the two spec values so the setting should be 74? Was your torque wrench certified recently? Does it matter?
In my experience, giving a range for torque rather than a single value is pretty unusual -- I can't think of a time where I've seen that approach before. Your suggestion to use the center of the range seems logical and makes sense. My thinking is even torque across the head is vital and we must be under the max torque for the fastener. I chose to use the upper end of the range but I don't have a strong belief that is a better choice than anywhere else in the range.
When you were cleaning your gasket surface on the block did you need to plug up the holes to ensure nothing went down into the engine? Will you need to do another oil + filter change after the work or is that necessary? Thanks.
It's impossible to completely avoid gasket debris falling into the engine. What I is used compressed air to clean out most of it. Compressed air is actually very good at this but there will be a far higher load of impurities in the oil and a short oil change is a good idea. The filter will catch the debris but a short change is still good insurance.
Love Stornoway! We ended up being there for a month, got fully provisioned, got lifted out of the water for a bottom paint and insurance survey. It was a very productive stop. We're now enjoying Norway (mvdirona.com). Edinburgh is another favorite of ours so you both good taste in where you chose to live and work.
As far as missing torques values go, often manufacturers have a chart in the manual of standard torques for different sized bolts, nuts,etc. If there is no indicated torque in the assembly instructions look for that chart. Often in the start of the book. Cheers
Yes, you are right Mike and I have used that approach for some large fasteners like the steering rudder arm bolt but, on this one, we used old mechanics judgement which isn't foolproof but generally isn't bad :-).
I figured you may already know. My background has provided me with “Calibrated hands” as well. Your technical expertise is a cut well above average. The comment was as much for your audience if they are not as experienced. I’m retired with 40+ years of helicopter maintenance experience and know with certainty I will learn something new every time I watch videos such as yours. Thanks again for all the effort in posting these experiences. Cheers Mike.
Your job was more challenging. A helicopter has far worse space limitations, is life critical, and with power-to-weight so important, they push the engines far harder. This little engine is only 20hp out of a 1.5 liter 3 cylinder. Thanks for the feedback on the video.
J & J, thank you both for the great videos and contributions to the Nordhavn Dreamers. My wife and I live in Mass. and frequent Newport, Ri. We loved your video prepping Dirona for an Atlantic crossing to Ireland. We are working with a local Nordy broker and are planning to purchase a used 47 in the next five years. My wife wanted to know what you do with the fuel bladders once you are done with them. She also wanted to know what wave height/sea conditions worry you and Jennifer the most? We realize that there is uncomfortable but what would you consider too much even for a Nordhavn? Best regards, John
The fuel bladders once empty are quite small. We fold them up and store them in the fly bridge brow area until we next need them again. Dirona has 2,500 nautical miles of range without bladders so, strictly speaking can get anywhere without bladders. They just give more flexibility on routing and speed. On the waves that make us uncomfortable, 20' is as much as we have seen and, at that point, they tower above the pilot house and smack the PH pretty hard if taking waves on the beam. These feel big but we have seen that magnitude 3 or 4 times so it's not really scary. We had one event where we had a mechanical problem that was allowing water onto the boat at the same time and that was fairly stressful: mvdirona.com/2017/05/alarms-at-115am/. But, in the absence of other problems like the water leak mentioned above, it's not scary and, since that is all we have seen, we don't know when the boat would truly be at risk. At somewhere in 25' to 30' range, the boat would would have to be brought into the wind. It's much more stable bow into the waves. We have never had do to this so when it would be required is a guess. We don't know the limit the boat can take but we would guess something above 30' would constitute survival conditions.
I suspect Northern Lights, the generator manufacturer, will contact me soon and ask if I'm blind :-). But, I couldn't find the exhaust manifold torque specs.
Good question Billy Jay. I normally would just rebuild the head but I leaned to head replacement for this engine for the reasons outlined above by J. Walker, it takes time to get the machine work done, and at the time Scotland was in full Covid-19 lockdown so I may not have found an operating machine shop. However, once the head was off, the decision was even more clear. The valve seat is a mess and it has worn nearly 1/4" into the head. These heads don't have pressed in valve seats so I suspect this head is beyond saving. Fortunately, it's a less than $1500 so not too bad from a cost perspective.
We now in Norway in a wonderful area just north of Stavanger. The weather has been incredible and we're enjoying hiking, touring around in the tender, and really enjoying ourselves. You can always see the boats location on this web site: mvdirona.com. The generator is leaking but the leak has gone from quite large to annoying. We'll probably delay that work for a few months. I'm not exactly sure how we will lift the generator section off the back of the generator. We'll need some sufficiently secure anchor location above the gen and some way to lift it. Fortunately, it's not urgent at this point but it will need to be done and it may get more urgent again in the future.
Your right, I do work for Amazon Web Services so don't do a lot of top end engine overhauls :-). 30 years earlier, I did spend a few years working on Italian Exotic Cars. Never even thought of touching a diesel but my automotive background is definitely more useful in this context than my software background.
Anything that can accurately measure thousands of an inch is fine. I don't have a micrometer on the boat but I agree it's a fine tool. Dial gauges are a bit more versatile for my use case where they can measure shaft runout and other issues common on boats.
No sense horsing around when it’s your source of power on those crossings, a few thousand miles from anywhere. Take the time to be patient, double and triple check everything, and do it right. You’d rather be fussing with it for an extra day safely tied up on the dock with shore power and a chandlery just a walk or an Uber ride away, than trying to deal with a busted genset in 20 foot swells in the middle of an ocean cuz you got sloppy. Well done. :)
I actually appreciate the questions because I often forget to explain what I'm doing when working on an engine which makes the video less useful for less mechanical service-experienced viewers. Overall, I think the questions improve the video. It's true that the distraction of recording the video does lengthen the job.
As a fellow gray haired man, I admire your ability to spend all that time crunched down on your knees like that. I could never do that, but I do enjoy your videos.
Yeah, I know what you mean. I find that a day in the Engine Room nearly always yields a day or two of sore back. I have knee pads for working in tight quarters and they are remarkably effective at solving that problem but the back doesn't seem to have an easy work around.
This is a compliment to You for the first, second and tirth part video of the description of changing the generator head. The incredible patience during the action amazes me. The love for explaining how and why things work is fascinating. The camera setups are fantastically located so that we can see every movement and effect of the captain's engineer. The questions and answers are specified for anyone who may not know anything about the subject, but still learns almost enough to try to do the same thing himself. Personally, when I screw around my engines, I always have leftover screws or parts. Regards and thank You for sharing.
Thanks for the feedback -- we both appreciate it.
Who would have thought that watching a head replacement would be so interesting. Great video and explanation.
:-). Thanks for the feedback on the video.
1980's Alaska Crabbing shut down mid seasons with boats and crews stranded - banks owed Millions. I was on a Repo Crew picking up crab boats to drive to Seattle. Banks would only buy enough fuel for a Gulf crossing. Crew was captain, mate, cook and engineer (me). Advance news of our arrivals allowed time for angry, unpaid crews to sabotage the boats. Each time was a guns drawn situation. My job was to get two mains and one gen set running ASAP. Middle of the Gulf gen sets and mains would die. Done that job by flashlight in 10 foot seas. You have my respect.
That sounds like more excitement than I need at work :-). If you can do that, fixing engines in flat seas with good light like I do is child's play.
If I did that I would be left with 30 shoulder bolts. James is so clinical I would gladly let him open me up and work on me. Great video and talk through cheers from the UK
Thanks for the kind feedback and Cheers to you from Norway (mvdirona.com).
i cant wait to hear the baby running it went well ,oh if you dont have dial guage, another way is sit a metal rule with flat edge on the piston and overhang it an inch or two over block use feeler gauges between edge of ruler and block to measure the height
Good suggestion. That would probably produce a more accurate measurement. Certainly no less so and it's quicker to do. Thanks for the suggestion.
I always find new videos with your interesting topics. Respect. If your new Dirona sailed again, it would be as sensational as the new movie of Avatar or Lord of the Rings. 👍
I waited for this video longer than I care to admit... Thank you.
me too I kept checking to see when part 2 will be out fantastic video !!
Thank you both. We appreciate the feedback.
Excelent work from both of you! The Mrs is an excelent photographer, very well filmed!
Jen does a good job with the camera and is good at asking me questions when I'm not making it clear enough. Thanks from both of us.
Oops, I forgot to add your tech videos are excellent, in-situ work of this nature is demanding at best. The only antidote to the difficulty is patience and you seem to have that in spades. Great video work as well.
Thanks. Both Jennifer and I appreciate the feedback.
Fantastic, love your attention to detail. This series is really helpful. Thanks for doing it.
Thanks for the feedback on the videos!
For the manifolds that seat on the side of a motor, I’ve made a few rods of all thread that hold the gasket in place and let’s you seat the manifold and attach the first few bolts without having to hold your tongue just right :)
Yeah, that would be a much nicer solution. I probably should pick up some threaded rod stock. Thanks for the suggestion.
Great job again I like your fastidiousness in keeping things clean and checking everything. Very important I think to not to rush these jobs and take as long as is needed. Looking forwarding to that engine bursting into life again!!!!
Thanks for the feedback and, sneak preview, we're in Norway and I can just barely hear that generator running in the background. We'll get to work on that last video.
MV Dirona Cool it’s great when a repair goes well very satisfying to hear the engine heartbeat ticking along. Have fun in Norway it’s a great place
Your are so right. Norway is really amazing.
I would have no problem trusting your work.
Thanks. These little engines are reliable and fairly easy to work on. I suspect it'll go another 8,000 to 10,000 hours without needing to be opened up.
Great informative video, And great way to save money doing it yourself. Looks like you're getting very familiar with the engine room.
Yes, probably true. It's been 11 years and 11,300 main engine hours. Generally everything has been pretty reliable but I've still spent some time down there.
great video folks! it is a RISCy procedure with lots of precision to prevent any runtime exceptions. tuning and data integrity without rolling back is key for safe sailing! greetings from an old 1150 dude!
Thanks. And it does sound like we did work together at IBM. All the best.
thumps up again :-) great Job done. I`ll stay tuned for your next video. Greets from Germany
Thanks for the feedback and greetings from Dirona in Norway (mvdirona.com).
I do the same, torque in stages up to the max, takes only a few minutes more. I would most certainly buy a used boat from you as I know any work done is done well!
Thanks for the feedback on the work done and the videos.
Learned something new today : this ( 2 or) 3 step torque applying.
Will keep that in mind as I believe it is a carefull and thorough method !
There is some debate on this one. Some argue a single click and a single pass is all you need. I don't agree on either and prefer multiple clicks confirming target torque has been achieved on the belief that a torque wrench is a simple mechanical device with some error margin. I give it three checks. On higher torque parts, I like to do a staged torque where I first bring it up to 50% or 75% of the goal, and then do a final pass at 100%. I think it's a good approach but, as I said, some will debate it.
@@MVDirona Indeed : a simple device brought up to a more refined level with the 50/75/100 method !
Thanks!
Great video, thank you.
We appreciate the feedback.
Another great video guys, really enjoyed it, never knew that about the head gasket, thank you.
Thanks, we appreciate the feedback.
Hi all fantastic video footage and documentary information brilliant for people who have to carry out their own repairs. Pp I would have left the injectors out so making it easy to adjust the valve clearance thanks.
It's only a 1.5 liter engine so pretty easy to turn with full compression but, yes, you are right leaving the injectors out would make the valve adjustment even easier.
Thanks for feedback on the video.
Awesome video! Thanks for documenting this, felt like I was there with you both. Love your cat as well :)
Thanks. Spitfire loves visiting the engine room. It's rare that I go down there and he doesn't visit during the job.
Great video, been waiting on this one odd as that sounds. Pelican makes great flashlights, I have several myself.
Thanks for the feedback on the video. I agree those Pelican lights are great. They work underwater and they are unusually bright.
Excellent video as always, thank you very much.
We appreciate the feedback. Thanks.
Thank you guys for a very informative and excellent video at times i think you have to be a Contortionist to work in those tight places.
You are right, some service items on a boat can be challenging to access. This boat is actually far better than average and so I mostly feel lucky. It's not bad from a serviceability perspective but all boats have some jobs you just would rather avoid :-)
Thanks for the feedback on the video.
31:58 I have the same Shibaura N843 in my 2005 TC33DA New Holland tractor as well. Its a good little 1.5L (1496 CCs) motor. Mine is rated at 33HP Gross @ 2800 RPMs. I see yours is rated at 20.1 HP (15KW) @ 1800 RPMs.
Good little motors. The generators are rated lower than propulsion engines. We have the 4 cylinder version as an auxiliary (emergency propulsion) engine and it's rated at 40 hp. About the same HP per cylinder as your tractor.
interesting video interesting conversation
Thanks for the feedback on the video. This morning the generator just past 445 hours since the head replacement so it's getting lots of use and it's running well.
Thanks for the reply how do you both manage to keep dirona so clean and tidy happy adventures xx
Thanks for the feedback.
On keeping the machinery spaces clean, we mostly just wipe up spills when they happen and ensure that nuisance leaks are corrected or at least contained. Surprisingly, the biggest source of dirt is actually the massive air flow through the engine room when the main engine is running. Air brings in dirt and so, over time, it will build up. Every month or two we'll vacuum that up or wipe it off to avoid accumulation.
I thought it would have been easier to adjust the valve setting before you put the glow plugs and the injector in so that you could turn the engine by hand!
That's true but it's pretty easy to turn a 1.5 liter engine but, yes you are right, without compression is always easier.
Hi...great video as always. So did you decide on what had actually caused the damage to no3? Was it a one off ingress of water? I didnt see you show the damage to the valve seats on number 3..I presume that was the issue in the end? Sorry if I missed it in the videos..I have watched them all..promise...cheers.
This video was getting too long so we split off the bleeding of the fuel system, adjusting the valves, starting the engine, and investigate the damage and would might be done to avoid it in the future.
@@MVDirona ok thanks. I dont know about others but for me the video shot by ... it had a lovely natural flow about it. Great editing. Camera work and presentation...
That's all Jennifer's fine work. We appreciate the feedback.
@@MVDirona ah your too modest ...looked like a pretty good team effort to me..
Yup, it's a great team and it's a fun place to work.
Your wife is very smart and catches on fast. What was her profession?
We are both in technology. Jen was a software developer and I do hardware and software as well.
few points James. a digital tyre tread gauge would of worked ideal for measuring the piston height. Blue Hylamar on the gasket will stop it sticking to the mating surfaces, if in the future the cylinder head has to come off. if you apply oil to threads and the spec does not say oil threads, then reduce torque by 25% when torqueing up. if no torque is specified, refer to standard torque values for the material
Thanks for the suggestions. Typically tire tread gauges are less well calibrated and less precise than a dial gauge but, if it can deliver thousands of an inch accuracy, then it likely be faster and simpler.
On use of Blue Hylamar to avoid the gasket sticking, I kind of like it sticking. This interface needs to seal oil passages, water passages, and combustion so I like the gasket as sticky as the manufacturer specified. This particular engine doesn't have oil passages in the head but it's perhaps the only gasket that I installed without any other substances unless recommended by the manufacturer.
On the oiling of threads, changing the torque specs you are right. On this engine, all but three of the bolts spend there lives in an oil bath so dry threads is more difficult to deliver on rebuild with oil already in the holes. If some are oiled already my thinking is the most important thing is even torque so I oil them all.#
Your videos are fantastic. I have the land based version of this gen set. It has run for 23 years as a major source of my hawaii farms power and I have never had to do anything but maintenance. I am now going to be rebuilding the head or buying a new one as you did. I will be using your video information a lot. Just one question..? Where did you download your shop manual or order it from? 😊 Thanks so much
Thanks for the feedback on the video and it's great to hear how well your Northern Lights generator is running. Music to my ears.
You'll be pleased to know that, unlike much of the industry, Northern Lights doesn't treat there online manuals as yet another revenue source. They are up at; www.northern-lights.com/technicalinformation/manuals/
Thank you so much for your quick reply 👍🏼 I see the operator manual and the parts manual.. do you know if there is a actual shop manual or if there isn’t do you suppose the Perkins 403-15 manual would work for this generator. I would appreciate your insight also as to whether you think that the parts may be interchangeable between engines, especially concerning the head. Thank you again I really really appreciate it.
Drop me an email to jrh@mvdirona.com and I'll send you an electronic copy of the Northern Lights Manual I use.
If you ever have to take that exhaust off again, maybe installing a couple studs would be worth it. Would certainly help with reinstallation
Great suggestion. Studs would make a massive difference. I did that on the Samsung 55" TV and it made a massive diffence where it just slips into place and I can hold it there and spin nuts on the back. Before that, it was a pain to get it aligned and then get the bolts engaged. Thanks for the suggestion.
You could try your feeler gauge’s next time? Might work better.
I know of no way to adjust valves without using feeler gauges and wouldn't dream of doing it without them.
Sorry I was thinking about the head gasket, maybe feeler gauge’s may be easier then a dial indacater?@@MVDirona
Good point. A high quality metal straight edge and feeler gauges would probably be a better choice for that operation.
Question about engine room access, I see there are access hatches in the deckhead above the engines and that you used one to access the engineroom. Did Nordhaven design into their boats a way to remove the main engine or a block replacement if that became necessary (Hopefully it does not for anyone) ?
The hatch above is a nice easy entrance to the engine room and I use it when Jennifer is asleep in the master state room or if I'm getting something that is close to that entrance but we mostly use the main entrance from the master stateroom. I would say our usage is roughly 75% on the main entrance door and about 25% through the hatch.
Forward of the access hatch you where looking at is 4 large removable floor boards that can be lifted out leaving an X support below. The X support is removable as well leaving a very large opening in the Salon to allow access to hoist out large machinery such as the main engine, wing engine, or generator. Nordhavn does a pretty good job of making the boats serviceable. No builder is perfect but they do unusually well.
@@MVDirona Thanks for the explanation, nice to see that level of thoughtful planning. As the Nordhaven hulls are pretty tough and will be long lived, it is likley at some point they will require engine replacement.
It's pretty rare to replace a main engine in a diesel powered recreational boat due to wear. Many get replaced due to poor installation design, poor maintenance, or orverloading. I have seen generator and wing engine replacement in a Nordhavn but I don't know of a main engine replacement. Admitted, at our current 1,000 hour a year pace, it will happen but that number of annual hours is unusually high.
How do you keep the different bolts organized? Just by memory?
I pile related bolts together and remember when I'm taking them apart if they aren't all the same lengthy. For example, for head bolts, the service-side 3 are shorter.
if the spec is ~72-76 ft lbs, shouldn't you consider the accuracy of the torque wrench? If, for example, you set the wrench to 76, you might risk over torquing the bolt. Then the logical value would be dead center between the two spec values so the setting should be 74? Was your torque wrench certified recently? Does it matter?
In my experience, giving a range for torque rather than a single value is pretty unusual -- I can't think of a time where I've seen that approach before. Your suggestion to use the center of the range seems logical and makes sense. My thinking is even torque across the head is vital and we must be under the max torque for the fastener. I chose to use the upper end of the range but I don't have a strong belief that is a better choice than anywhere else in the range.
When you were cleaning your gasket surface on the block did you need to plug up the holes to ensure nothing went down into the engine?
Will you need to do another oil + filter change after the work or is that necessary?
Thanks.
It's impossible to completely avoid gasket debris falling into the engine. What I is used compressed air to clean out most of it. Compressed air is actually very good at this but there will be a far higher load of impurities in the oil and a short oil change is a good idea. The filter will catch the debris but a short change is still good insurance.
No torque spec? Tighten it till it strips back it off a quarter turn
I've definitely seen that done!
By the way are you still in Stornoway or have you moved on. I used to do shop deliveries in Stornoway over 40 years ago. Greetings from Edinburgh.
Love Stornoway! We ended up being there for a month, got fully provisioned, got lifted out of the water for a bottom paint and insurance survey. It was a very productive stop. We're now enjoying Norway (mvdirona.com).
Edinburgh is another favorite of ours so you both good taste in where you chose to live and work.
As far as missing torques values go, often manufacturers have a chart in the manual of standard torques for different sized bolts, nuts,etc. If there is no indicated torque in the assembly instructions look for that chart. Often in the start of the book. Cheers
Yes, you are right Mike and I have used that approach for some large fasteners like the steering rudder arm bolt but, on this one, we used old mechanics judgement which isn't foolproof but generally isn't bad :-).
I figured you may already know. My background has provided me with “Calibrated hands” as well. Your technical expertise is a cut well above average. The comment was as much for your audience if they are not as experienced. I’m retired with 40+ years of helicopter maintenance experience and know with certainty I will learn something new every time I watch videos such as yours. Thanks again for all the effort in posting these experiences. Cheers Mike.
Your job was more challenging. A helicopter has far worse space limitations, is life critical, and with power-to-weight so important, they push the engines far harder. This little engine is only 20hp out of a 1.5 liter 3 cylinder. Thanks for the feedback on the video.
J & J, thank you both for the great videos and contributions to the Nordhavn Dreamers. My wife and I live in Mass. and frequent Newport, Ri. We loved your video prepping Dirona for an Atlantic crossing to Ireland. We are working with a local Nordy broker and are planning to purchase a used 47 in the next five years. My wife wanted to know what you do with the fuel bladders once you are done with them. She also wanted to know what wave height/sea conditions worry you and Jennifer the most? We realize that there is uncomfortable but what would you consider too much even for a Nordhavn?
Best regards,
John
The fuel bladders once empty are quite small. We fold them up and store them in the fly bridge brow area until we next need them again. Dirona has 2,500 nautical miles of range without bladders so, strictly speaking can get anywhere without bladders. They just give more flexibility on routing and speed.
On the waves that make us uncomfortable, 20' is as much as we have seen and, at that point, they tower above the pilot house and smack the PH pretty hard if taking waves on the beam. These feel big but we have seen that magnitude 3 or 4 times so it's not really scary. We had one event where we had a mechanical problem that was allowing water onto the boat at the same time and that was fairly stressful: mvdirona.com/2017/05/alarms-at-115am/.
But, in the absence of other problems like the water leak mentioned above, it's not scary and, since that is all we have seen, we don't know when the boat would truly be at risk. At somewhere in 25' to 30' range, the boat would would have to be brought into the wind. It's much more stable bow into the waves. We have never had do to this so when it would be required is a guess. We don't know the limit the boat can take but we would guess something above 30' would constitute survival conditions.
I cant believe the exhaust manifold didnt have torque specs either
I suspect Northern Lights, the generator manufacturer, will contact me soon and ask if I'm blind :-). But, I couldn't find the exhaust manifold torque specs.
Would it be cheaper to refurbish the cylinder head or is it cheaper to buy a new one. ?
take off head, send to machine shop. rebuild ship back. sometimes time is cheaper than money. genset down and open entire time.
Good question Billy Jay. I normally would just rebuild the head but I leaned to head replacement for this engine for the reasons outlined above by J. Walker, it takes time to get the machine work done, and at the time Scotland was in full Covid-19 lockdown so I may not have found an operating machine shop.
However, once the head was off, the decision was even more clear. The valve seat is a mess and it has worn nearly 1/4" into the head. These heads don't have pressed in valve seats so I suspect this head is beyond saving. Fortunately, it's a less than $1500 so not too bad from a cost perspective.
@@MVDirona cant wait for rear main. still on the hook?
We now in Norway in a wonderful area just north of Stavanger. The weather has been incredible and we're enjoying hiking, touring around in the tender, and really enjoying ourselves. You can always see the boats location on this web site: mvdirona.com.
The generator is leaking but the leak has gone from quite large to annoying. We'll probably delay that work for a few months. I'm not exactly sure how we will lift the generator section off the back of the generator. We'll need some sufficiently secure anchor location above the gen and some way to lift it. Fortunately, it's not urgent at this point but it will need to be done and it may get more urgent again in the future.
@@MVDirona small handheld hydraulic body kit sounds like it might be handy. can you jury rig a track over head with blocks and tackle?
Not too shabby for a software engineer, you could have been a diesel fitter in a former life.
Your right, I do work for Amazon Web Services so don't do a lot of top end engine overhauls :-). 30 years earlier, I did spend a few years working on Italian Exotic Cars. Never even thought of touching a diesel but my automotive background is definitely more useful in this context than my software background.
@@MVDirona That's definitely an understatement. You're basically the brain behind amazons success.
Safe travels.
Not true. I'm just lucky to work with a very talented and committed group of people. Thanks for the feedback on the video.
Man! I thought you were going call me
This one is easy. I'm saving the rear main oil seal change for you! :-)
MV Dirona haha ok sounds good
:-). But first some fun in Norway since the leak is currently down from massive to only annoying.
Wrong tool for the job. You need a depth micrometer for accurate measurement.
Anything that can accurately measure thousands of an inch is fine. I don't have a micrometer on the boat but I agree it's a fine tool. Dial gauges are a bit more versatile for my use case where they can measure shaft runout and other issues common on boats.
No sense horsing around when it’s your source of power on those crossings, a few thousand miles from anywhere. Take the time to be patient, double and triple check everything, and do it right. You’d rather be fussing with it for an extra day safely tied up on the dock with shore power and a chandlery just a walk or an Uber ride away, than trying to deal with a busted genset in 20 foot swells in the middle of an ocean cuz you got sloppy. Well done. :)
I agree. Keeping the systems reliable is important to us.
She asks way to many questions, let them man work and get it done. You are distracting him.
I actually appreciate the questions because I often forget to explain what I'm doing when working on an engine which makes the video less useful for less mechanical service-experienced viewers. Overall, I think the questions improve the video. It's true that the distraction of recording the video does lengthen the job.