The lawn's dry now, so I hauled out the original main to get the sail number off of it. When I bought the boat, I'm told it was a 1974. I'm the fourth owner now, so along the line things may have become convoluted. The sail number is 79, and after looking at "the Fleet" and the registry in the forum, I see that there are 1974 JJT's with sail numbers ranging 77 to 93, 114, and 125. Did they really make this many boats that year? Or are we with double digit sail numbers the proud owners of more experienced boats? Now, if only a sail number was enough for the Canadian government...... The bureaucratic hoops for something so simple as registering (documenting) a production sailboat that doesn't have a hull number are unbelieveable. BTW, does anyone know if Taylor still has any builder's certificates on file??? I'd assume not likely, but it'd come in handy to get through this damn circus act of a government.
352 2005-03-28 16:20:42
Re: Cockpit Floor Panels MOD (11 replies, posted in Repairs/Modifications/Upgrades)
Just wondering if anyone out there has come up with a better system to hold down the cockpit floor panels ("engine room" access....). I don't particularly like the idea of using wood screws and stringers, as the screw holes will eventually open up. That and it takes a hell of a long time to get into the "engine room". I was just wondering if anyone has tried using Camlocks or "hood pin" style fasteners. I want to be able to get in there with a minimun of fuss and effort. And I don't want it to leak. I was also thinking of just replacing the wood stringers with some aluminum stringers. Drill and tap. And then use machine screws. That would solve the issue of the screw holes opening up, but not so much the issue of me wanting to be able to get in easier. On another note, the neighbors must have thought I was nuts, playing with my newly rebuilt Yanmar on the front lawn - pulling into some tropical anchorage. Sure sounds nice this time of year. The little one lunger sounds nice too. And this is probably the only time that I actually want to run the thing. It is a sailboat after all..... At least it didn't go BANG STOP, after all those hours this winter in the garage......
353 2005-03-12 22:24:55
Re: Raw water cooled diesel (8 replies, posted in Technical)
The engine is designed to be raw water cooled, and as such runs quite cold in terms of operating temperatures. The overheat switch energizes the warning circuit somewhere around 160F. This is pretty cold, the idea being that salt will precipitate on the walls of the water jacket at elevated temperatures, which is what you dont want. The 1GM10 in my 1974 JJT had seen 2 1/2 years of saltwater use, and when I pulled the head and inspected the water jacket I was actaully surprised as to the minimal buildup of crap. I just used gun cleaning type wire brush to loosen up the junk that I could, and I intend to run the engine and flush the cooling system with a chemical flush before I reinstall it in the boat. The downside to such a cold running engine is the carbon buildup on the exhaust valve, exhaust elbow, and precombustion chamber and injector. Best I can say is regularly service the injector, and what should almost be a regular maintenance item is the removal of the exhaust elbow and having it 'dipped' to remove all the buildup. As for the head, nothing you can do until it has to come apart for a valve job. Well maintained, theyre a great little devil of an engine. Reliability is directly linked to maintenance standards.....