Engine in and Running

And her name is "YannieNEW"....

WE DID IT! Along with our good friend and master mechanic, Don, we installed a new remanufactured Yanmar 3JH2e 38 hp diesel engine into our 1994 Island Packet 35. Day One, Monday, the crane lifted the engine from the crate to below decks, setting it onto the cabin floor. We took over from there to do the installation. This required us to gather up all the OLD engine parts, block, cylinder, mounts, brackets, clamps, exhaust elbow, etc, as the new engine did not have exactly the same connections for cables, mounts and various items. So, we used our IPY company car, the Ford Taurus named "Goldie" and drove to Chris Oliver's machine shop on Kent Island to pick up our old engine. Well.....the engine is still in the trunk of our car BECAUSE WE CAN'T LIFT IT OUT! So our car looks like a cool LOW RIDER now :-) See last photo.

Our poor car filled with the old engine parts

Monday, we spent the afternoon getting the old engine and taking off parts that we needed. We found a broken weld on one motor mount, so we had that repaired. Tuesday, Don worked with us and helped us finish the mounts, and together we used the mainsail halyard to lift the engine from the floor into the engine room. After that, we bolted it down and connected the propeller shaft, after diving under the boat to clean the shaft of barnacles so it would move forward! Yes, I hired a diver two days prior to clean up the shaft and the bottom, but the shaft would not move, so I dove it. By the end of the day Tuesday, we had the engine nearly finished. Wednesday, we worked on the cooling hoses, wiring harness, exhaust system, alternator, grounding wires, pilot solenoid for the starter, and a initial engine alignment. By 4 pm on Wednesday, WE FIRED IT UP. The new engine started in a nano-second and sounded fantastic. We are back up and running. What a job it has been!

Don our Master Mechanic and IP 420 owner

Our next step will be to complete the engine alignment with Don on Thursday, then on Friday we will shake it down as we power over to Baltimore for the Star Spangled Banner Event Weekend! After that, we need to gain confidence in all this re-installed work, and check and recheck all systems, bolts and mounts. One big advantage to this job is.....

We really KNOW the engine room NOW! Heck, we have installed EVERYTHING! No worries now, because if it breaks, we can fix it, that is for sure!

We lifted the engine with the halyard from the top of the mast

This has to go, a slotted engine mount. Not good. We used our old one.

We added a pilot solenoid under the starter, an optional upgrade

This flywheel dampening plate was one of the necessary parts from our old engine

Reinstalling our transmission from Ed L. Thank you, Ed!

Looking down from above as we lift the engine into the room and bolt it down

LOOK AT THAT, new mounts and a clean install

POP the GRUET Champagne, our favorite from NM

Ahhh, a day to celebrate on Island Spirit!

Side Note: We used Shell, DEX-COOL, the orange stuff

Our poor car, "GOLDIE" with about 500 lbs of old engine parts in the trunk

We are so happy to have Island Spirit back up and running, Now it is time to prepare for moving back aboard and our trip #4 south on the ICW to Miami, Biscayne Bay, The Keys, the West Coast of Florida, and the Bahamas. LIFE IS GOOD......

Check out our Celebration Video! Yahooooooo!