Engine Install Update...Day One.

Here's what's happening.... I picked up a low hours 3GMF from a friend in the Keys, complete with transmission. It also comes with a Balmar alternator and smart regulator worth nearly what I paid for the engine.
The engine's mounts are in good shape, so that's $500 I won't need to spend.
An instrument panel came with the engine, but not the proper wire harness, so I'm looking for that - the same harness is used on these engines: 2GM, 3GM, 3GM30, 3GM30F, 3GMF, 4JH2-DTE, 4JH2-E, 4JH2-HTE, 4JH2-TE, 4JH3DTE, 4JH3-HTE, 4JH3-TE, 4JH-DTE, 4JH-E, 4JH-HTE, 4JH-TE, 4LH-DTE, 4LH-HTE,4LH-STE,4LH-TE. If you have one, please get in touch with me, thanks! 
This is a fresh water cooled engine - the old 2QM20 was a raw water engine, so hooking it up will be a little different, but not a lot as the inlet is in the same position on both engines. Same with the exhaust.
I will change impeller, oil filter and thermostat before putting the engine in the boat, since it's much easier done on a bench. Fresh oil in the engine and transmission. The antifreeze is clean and doesn't need replacement. The oil filter looks new, but for $8.72, what the heck. Live large!
Yesterday, I started on removing the old 2QM. The toughest part was getting started as I don't really like greasy, dirty work - note the look on my face
Two of the four engine mount bolts came off with minimal issues. The third is proving to be a problem - I needed a second 15/16th wrench or a 15/16 socket and a swivel. I'll be on the hunt for those shortly. The fourth mounting nut came off today as easily as the others. And naturally, it's that third one that's hardest to get at.
What's left after all this is unhooking the throttle and shift cables, water and exhaust hoses, and the electrical connections. All easy stuff and all done except for the alternator and the shaft coupling, which I've loosened but not fully removed yet. (Note to self: take lots of photos so you know what goes where later.)
The old mounting system I built 20 years ago will come out to be replaced by a new one. I made a few mistakes with the old one that I now have a chance to correct, simplifying engine alignment.
Next, remove the old engine, clean out the engine bay, install new soundproofing, tidy up wiring and remove old wires that aren't needed. 
I'm looking forward to the install, since it won't be all grease and dirt, the engine space will be clean, the bolts will be fresh and new, not rusted - and coated liberally with anti seize against future work. Being a smaller engine, the new one won't be as difficult to work with for tightening up bolts and attaching cables, etc. All in all, other than cleaning up, the worst is over with. I hope!
I'll share photos of Yanni once I get him out of the boat. If anyone is interested, I'll send him to a new home for you to rebuild. He comes with a nearly new alternator and starter, stainless steel exhaust elbow, new oil filter and fresh oil, new alternator belt, new impeller and if you want new mounts, I've got brand new aftermarket mounts as well at a wholesale price. I can also include a spare starter and an 80 amp alternator that I've got in storage. 
Now, back at it. Enough playing around!

Announcing the Passing of Yanni the Yanmar...

Hi everyone - it's been a couple of years since I blogged here, and sometimes, as any writer will tell you, you need to break away, get a fresh vision, and that's something I've been working on.
Now that I've got that, I've been looking for a good place, a suitable "event", to start writing this blog again. This current event ought to get us off and running!   

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All good things must come to an end... now before anyone panics, I'm not buying a trawler! Relax, let me tell you what's going on.

My unstoppable, tough little Yanmar 2QM20 that has been powering me between four countries and over 40 trips on the ICW, has passed on. Bit the dust, made its last passage, thumped its last thump. History, done for, fini. After well over 50,000 miles, it has sipped its last ounce of diesel.

And of course, it failed in the worst possible location, halfway between Beaufort SC and Charleston SC - with NO marina for miles. Heck, there was no human life for miles.
Fortunately, there was a cell signal, so I call my insurance company to send out a towboat. Because of the distance to the nearest marina, they asked me to sail further north to meet the towboat .... leaving me to explain the realities of sailing on the ICW on a completely wind-less day.
Let me check with management about that, Anna (the gal on the phone with me) says. Ten minutes later, it's organized.
The problem now is to find a marina. Every Charleston marina is full up, and even if they weren't, they won't accept a boat arriving under tow.
At this point, I actually thought my problem was with the starter. I didn't realize until yesterday that the engine had seized up. So I explained to the dockmaster at Bohicket Marina, about 14 miles away, that I would only be there for one to two days depending on how fast the new starter arrived.
"Nope", says he, not a chance. So - although I've actually been to Bohicket Marina before and it's nice, they are off my list of recommended stops because they showed no courtesy to a boater in need.
Another marina, one who was more polite about things, suggested checking with Ross Marine (https://www.rossmarine.com/), a boatyard a few miles to the south of Charleston, and that's where we went, to my great good fortune. It's a boatyard, and they've just decided to accept DIY boaters at their facility. More about this later, but if you need to know now, contact them and ask for Tom.
So the lovely lady at the other end of the phone at DB Electrical, who I admit I sweet-talked something awful, got my starter to me the next day, despite taking the order at 4:30. Astounding service!
I installed the starter, and got the same problem - CLUNK-click - but no "whirrrr" and then the sound of the diesel firing up. Clearly, something else was wrong.... I went below, cleaned up the grounds and connections, hit the button - CLUNK-click again.
Went below, had a wild thought, pushed the decompression levers down and tried to spin the engine, which should have been easily done by hand.
Nothing. Wouldn't budge. That meant my problem was much worse than I had thought. That clanking noise I heard when the engine shut down was not the starter self destructing at all. I wasn't leaving this place in the immediate future, at least, not in Gypsy Wind.
So, to fast forward to now, I've put out feelers for a new engine and have several good possibilities turn up in the last 24 hours.
I plan to remove this engine over the next few days while I decide on the new one, clean up the engine bay, tidy up wires and plumbing, install new soundproofing, redo the engine mounts to correct mistakes I made on the original installation and then fit in the new engine.
Shouldn't take more than a few hours, maybe a day? Sure, that sounds good.
So stay tuned here, I'll keep everyone up to date on this latest adventure.
In the meantime, one of the engines I came across, which won't work for me because I want to go to a more modern, lighter and smaller engine, belongs to Kimberly House, in central Florida.
It's a Yanmar 2QM20 and it's too big for her boat's engine space. She needs to sell this engine before she can get a different one, so if you can help her out here, please do so.
I will say this for the 2QM20 - they are a fabulous engine and as long as you're ok with the size and weight of it compared to a more modern engine, they will go virtually forever. Mine has easily over 15,000 hours on it and has only ever needed to have a fuel line repaired in 16 years.
That's because they were originally built as a tractor and industrial engine, so they were built to be bulletproof. Someone will buy my old engine to rebuild it and likely get another 15k hours of adventuring out of it.
There's a part of me that says, yes, just put in another one, and that's tempting because it would be so easy to do it that way. But getting more space in the engine room and losing about 100 pounds from the back of the boat is a strong incentive to switch. Besides, as anyone who knows me will tell you, I never do things the easy way! That would be, well... too easy!
Stay tuned to this space for updates on the new Yanni  Jr. installation. And someone please buy Kim's engine from her! Contact me via email or messenger for details.