Odalisque - October 8, 2004 Log

Log 2004 – October 8th

Friday October 8, 2004 – “The Final Oil”

One more oil change to do, the last one due to salt water intrusion into the Atomic 4. I arrived at Steppingstone at 1545 and decided to bring my fiber glassing kit so I could augment the fillets on our aft chain plate spine. Today would have been a day for sailing as there was some wind out of the south around 10 knots. I had a fantasy about changing the oil and then motoring around solo with a fishing rod set up for trolling but I decided to do some fiber glassing instead. Since I am not well versed in soloing this boat I have little confidence about doing it. Casting off the mooring is no problem but catching the stick by myself (in windy conditions) worries me more. I should try it and build up my confidence, as I know that many owners of this same boat do sail solo quite often. The last oil change is complete and the engine is purring nicely.

The Atomic 4 is a great workhorse of an engine and ours is nearly as old as I am but it needs more babying than I do. Sparkman & Stephens discontinued the use of the gas engine in its Tartan line for diesel engines sometime back in the 1970s. I have no familiarity with diesel engines except for the smell that trucks make on the highway, but I have had plenty of interaction with various gasoline powered chain saws, lawn mowers, and power sprayers. I have learned that the judicious use of ether (usually sold as starter fluid in a spray can) will cajole the most recalcitrant (and badly treated) engine to turn over. My uncle was a fly boy in WW II and he taught me about the ether. He said that the pilots, back then, all used a little ether to burn off the varnish left by incomplete combustion of gasoline. This is true with the Atomic 4 as well and I occasionally spray a little ether on the air intake.

Another thing about the Atomic 4 that deserves mention is that since it is a gasoline engine it has gasoline exhaust which, while it does not smell as bad (in my humble opinion) as the diesel’s exhaust it can be deadlier than the diesel. Carbon monoxide is a by product of the combustion process and this is why we are ALWAYS supposed to run the fan while running the engine – to vent the stuff outside the cabin. When I was flushing out the engine oil, I had the engine compartment open and the forward hatch open as well. Once I had filled the engine with new oil I ran the engine for a bit and during this time I would run the extracted oil out of the pump into the quart bottles. The pump would work harder with the engine running and it’s alternator giving considerable strength to the battery. This is why it only took 5 – 10 minutes to empty the extracted oil when it took nearly 30 minutes to extract the oil by battery alone. During these 5 – 10 minutes I would be crouching down in the cabin, trying to fill each quart bottle. I believe I may have become a little light headed from carbon monoxide but evidently it did not kill me. So be very conscious of the exhaust from this engine, it is deadly serious.
Another thing to be aware of is the water hose that helps the engine cool itself. In the Spring I changed the entire water pump assembly and some of the original hose. I would like to change all the old water hose on the engine but some of it is quite awkward to get at and at that time I just wanted to get the engine working so I could go sailing. While observing the engine running I noticed a slow drip on the outbound side of the water pump. A hose clamp had come loose! A hose clamp I had tightened, only months earlier. The engine’s vibrations (or gremlins) had undone my good intentions but a few turns of a screwdriver would remedy this situation.

One more observation about the A4’s quirkiness involves how the oil behaves inside the engine. If you operate the engine without the oil fill cap (or the dip stick for that matter) on, there will be droplets of oil shooting out of these holes, and it will get all over the engine compartment. There are gears in there that turn (even in neutral and at idle on our engine) inside this compartment and they fling the oil all around the inside. This is normal and possibly obvious, but if you forget to replace the fill cap and run the engine for a while, do not be surprised if your oil level drops and your engine compartment and bilge will be slick with oil.

I do not consider myself some great communicator or for that matter an astounding intellect, so I do not profess to know half of what Don Moyer knows about this engine. My intent is to share my observations with my owner/partners in Odalisque and anyone who has recently acquired one of these boats that don’t come with a manual. I know how frustrated and sad I was as these various problems cropped up for me when I thought I would have to pay a so called professional to remedy each issue. I have found that I could handle most of this myself (sometimes with assistance) once I had a better idea of how to do it. Finding out how to do it may require talking to other boat owners (especially at tartan27owners.com), or Don Moyer, or your neighbor who happens to be a motor head. Sometimes you just need to go out and buy the right tool for the job. It is our fears that slow us from accomplishing things that we have never done before. Fear is useless on a sailboat but a healthy respect for the sea and your knowledge will help you with the challenges that may arise.

— Caleb Davison