Tenders

Most of our time was consumed by moving tenders.  Getting the old tenders off the Fir proved to be more difficult than expected. The weight of both boats were at the limits of our chain falls.  The gantries could move the boats out from Fir,  but did not get them close to the water.  We had to lower each boat, hold it in place, reset the chains, and lower the boat again. In the end, our old inflatable fell the last 10 feet.  

The drama was just beginning.  Our inflatable landed on the dock and had to be pulled off.  Once both boats were floating they began to take on water.  We were now concerned with the possibility of our two boats sinking before we could get them to the neighboring marina.  

SInce our newly acquired tender did not have the tube installed, it was also taking on water during the tow.  Once we got our tender to Fir we needed hoist her out of the water with a crane so that she would not sink overnight, 

The next day, Joe cut the old tender cradles from the boat deck and we dragged them to the buoy deck. Each cradle weighed over 300lbs as it was 1/2 inch steel. Joe welded the cradles to the buoy deck creating the new home for the Willard.  We then collected the tube, loaded it onto the bow of Joe's Whaler, then onto the buoy deck.

The Willard without its tube.

Circa 1940 Crew Boat

Joe lowers the old inflatable to the water.

New Generators

Our electrical plan is to add one or two new generators, with current technology, in place of one of the Detroit Diesel generators.  This would give us a modest sized system that is both fuel efficient, and far less noisy after all the conservation measures are adopted.

The goal is to supply the Fir's native current of 440 volt, 3 phase, 60 cycle alternating current. This will allow us to upgrade our generators without drastically rewiring the boat.  The voltage is a common option on larger generators. Our challenge will be to have the same current on a much smaller generator.

After some study, we have narrowed the vendors to Northern Lights and Kohler.  Both are top of the line systems.  Northern Lights is a company out of Seattle, Washington that began in the workboat industry. Kohler is a large and diversified company out of Wisconsin.  Both have great products as well as reputations, and are essentially equivalent in terms of energy production, fuel consumption, and noise.

Northern Lights have some reliability features. The seawater pumps are direct drive, fuel pumps are mechanical, and the DC side of the system is by relay.  In addition, the Northern Lights system is notably heavier per KW.  A positive in this instance since more steel is better.  Northern Lights also has options like a PTO that may be useful in developing an emergency bilge pump. 

Kohler's generator is nearly equivalent to Northern Lights on the mechanical side.  The Kohler advantage is that their systems include an automatic paralleling bus that allows two generators to be tied together.  This could make a huge difference because it allows us to scale the system and run one small generator (16KW) at night with only crew onboard.  We could choose to run two generators (32KW) in order to handle larger, more precarious loads.

This week, we will work with each company to see how we can modify their systems to best meet our needs.   

Detroit Diesel Generators

The large hatch to the engine room is how we plan to get the generator sets in and out.

During the 1950s Fir was refit with two 671 Detroit Diesel generators producing 100 KW of AC electricity at 440 volts, 3 phase, 60 cycle. Our plan is to rebuild one unit, and use the other for parts.  In place of the "parts" generator will be two new 16KW generators running in parallel.  See our Generator page for more detail.

We started working with our Detroit Diesels in the Fall of 2017.  A shipyard could simply cut a hole in the side of the boat, and using a forklift remove the old generator.  We don't have this luxury.  With each generator set weighing close to 5,000 lbs we will need to disassemble each unit, bring the parts to the second deck of the engine room, then hire a crane to manipulate the parts up through an opening designed for ventilation.  We will reassemble the motor to seal it, and move our "parts" generator to the old buoy deck so it can be lowered to the hold.

We chose to keep generator #1. For the following reasons: First, because it was recently fitted with a new cylinder head.  Second, and possibly most important, generator #2 will be easier to move.

There were no plans for an extensive rebuild, However, all wear parts external to the engine were replaced, along with the injectors, seawater pump, fresh water pump, blower, starter, fuel pump, all hoses and gaskets.  The strainer, and heat exchanger were cleaned, and all the local gauges replaced with appropriate liquid filled industrial gauges. We replaced the lubricants, all the filters, painted the engine, polished the brass water pipes, and reapplied original decals.  

Detroit Diesels are known for their reliability. With the above modifications, a complete set of replacement parts from generator #2, we expect this generator to service FIr well into the future.  This generator that will probably not run more than a couple of hours a month, and is not our primary system but we feel it is a great backup.

The two Detroit Diesel generators on the port side of the lower level of the engine room. Generator #1 is in the foreground.

Generator #1 after refit.  

Joe disassembling generator #2.

The engine block for generator #2 has been moved to the center of the engine room. The catwalk has been cut out and we are moving it up to deck #2. The block probably weighs 1,000 lbs

Lifting the Detroit Diesel. It has to be "walked" down the corridor then up to the second floor of the engine room.