Start to Finish: Building Our 50' Skater
06-27-2018, 02:53 PM
#1763
Registered
How much down time expected or did the Turbo Gaskets survive to run again?
06-27-2018, 09:07 PM
#1764
Registered
I was not alone? There were four of us onboard, me, my two other personalities myself and I, then my invisible friend Luke was in there also, but you probably couldn’t see him because, well, he’s invisible.
I also had my Dory stuffed animal in there, it reminds me of Tristan enough that I forget that she’s not in there with me. (Some of you know Tristan, you get it right?) (look..a boat... I like boats...etc).
Some of you were worried about my safety by doing this alone but keep in mind I’m responsible for anyone I take and have to think about there safety and well being. If I took someone with me and they freaked out and jumped overboard when they saw the fire then I would have to be saving them instead of the boat. Most people are not as calm and composed as me in extreme situations.
Just like when we do endurance runs there is only a few rare circumstances that having more then the two of us would be better then worse. If we are broke down and floating past an island then maybe more people to paddle to it would be better, or if we are stranded in the middle of the ocean for weeks we could start eating them?
In reality there was a poker run up there that weekend and most of the people that I would have ask to go with me were in the run or going out to watch it and I was not sure when I would have my boat ready to run, or if it would even start so I did not want to waste anyone’s time for it to run for 15 min then have to idle back for hours after it breaks and them miss the run.
There are a few guys up there that I usually call when I’m going out to test my boat or other boats and they take there time to meet me at the ramp and move truck/trailer around and go with me to help.
With all that being said, I think I’m pretty good at being a one man show.
07-01-2018, 04:19 PM
#1766
Registered
Tyson was looking good today in the race boat. One more lap, bet could of reeled in a 3rd place finish.
07-04-2018, 03:50 PM
#1767
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
I'd be in the back shooting the temp gun at 60mph with no one driving and run over someone in a water colored kayak, or a mermaid, or some submarine would pop up in front of me.
Charter Member
07-05-2018, 08:55 PM
#1769
Skater Brother
Platinum Member
Sorry it took so long for the update on running it. I was trying to get the new tilt trailer for the race boat done.
https://youtu.be/swTX4qIi5Tc
https://youtu.be/swTX4qIi5Tc
07-12-2018, 06:19 PM
#1770
Registered
Things I did not mention in the last post.
The time the boat caught on fire and I was with myself there were some other things that had happened. The night before when I was finishing putting the engines in I could not get the starboard side alternator control plug in because the intake pipe was less then 1/8" from the opening for the plug, but that is fine because the port engine will be charging (this will come into play when you have to idle on the one with no charging for several hours). I started them on the hose and the starboard side oil cooler was leaking water into the bilge. I could not tell where the water was coming from on it but it looked like a dent in the side of it next to a weld. I decided the bilge pump should be able to keep up with it and it would take to long to try to get it out to fix it. I ran it for awhile to make sure it was not leaking oil out or water into the transmission. I head to the water knowing the boat is going to be trying to sink. (not much stops me from trying to go boating) When I first got on plane and started running the boat I was checking the engine temp to see if the thermostat circuit I put in would work and keep the temp around 180-200 where the engine builder wanted it and it was working but the bilge pump was not keeping up and the water was starting to get deep in the bilge so I closed off the valve about 80% that lets water into the sea strainer on that engine and tried again. It was still getting too much water in the bilge because the crossover tube was big enough from the other engine that they had almost the same water pressure at the engine. So I close the valve to the other engine also about 50% and that lowered the water pressure to both where the bilge pump could keep up. Then not long after that is when enough oil was on the turbo and it had heated up enough to self light the oil.
While I was idling back to the dock which was going to take hours, I had opened the valve for the engine to get enough cooling but there was still a garden hose worth of water going into the bilge and the pump was keeping up but I do not have any charging on that engine. I check the voltage several times over the next hour and its slowly going down but not sure at what point the engine will quit running from low voltage and the bilge pump not be able to keep up, so while I'm idling back and the engine is running (because I do not want to shut it off) I take the intake pipe off and hook up the alternator so it will start charging. I notice while I'm idling back that the engine temperature is holding really steady at the front of the engine but that the back of the engine is about 30 degrees hotter.
Fast forward to last weekend and I fix the oil leaks, took the transmission oil cooler out and brazed the cracks in it, and I put a water drain out of the head at the back of the engine to try to get more even water flow through the engine so the back cylinders will not get so hot and go try it again. We put the boat in and were on plane for about a minute and lost boost on one of the engines. The weld on the intercooler flange on the starboard engine where the air comes in from the turbo had broke. We tried to get back on plane to get back to the dock but it would not get on plane on one and a half engines. It was blowing back smoke like a tractor puller since it was full fuel but no air which made a huge mess with the water mist from the exhaust. I took it back to Skater that night and took it apart to weld it. I put big nasty welds all around the flange inside and out so it does not look like a nice little tig weld anymore but my weld will not break. Pete came in the next morning and said you should take the other one out and weld it too because if one broke the other one will also. I wanted to get to the water because I had a flight the next morning so I did not take the other one out (yet). We head back to the water and make it about another minute on plane and the other engines inter-cooler flange breaks off. Guess I should have listened to Pete. So we idle back to the dock next to the ramp and tie the boat up and start taking the engine apart to get the intercooler out so we will not have to take the time to get the trailer and boat loaded and hauled to Skater ect. While were unbolting the intercooler the guy helping me has his girl go get there Cadillac (with keyless push button start, this will come into play in a little bit) and bring it down to the ramp. Me and him put the intercooler in the trunk to drive to skater to fix it and she stays with the boat to video it sinking or catching fire if it does. We drive to Skater and weld the flanges on the intercooler and then go to leave and do not have a key to the car (remember the keyless push button start that she had key in her purse). Luckily he had a truck sitting at Skater also and keys to it in his tool box so we had a way back to the boat. Get back to the boat and put intercooler back in and try it again. This time we run for more then a min but about two min in there is smoke in the bilge and the oil breather tank is blowing oil out the little filters on it onto the turbo. We stop and look at it and check oil level ect. drain the catch can and take off again. Same thing in a few min, stop and check again to make sure everything else is ok, then do it again about five more times going back and forth a few miles each way from the inlet (do not want to get to far so it will not take as long to idle back when it breaks, not if). After several more times we have been running back and forth at anywhere from 85-95 mph and the oil mess is getting worse and the other engines has started doing it too. Each time we stop to check it we look like were on fire from oil burning on the turbos so we head back. As were going back to the ramp on plane (never get to do that) we come up on lake patrol and they pull us over and say that we went through a narrow spot that if your over 40' long you have to come off plane. I told them its only 39', needless to say it does not look like its only 39' long, but they were the guys from a couple weeks ago that came out when I was on fire and it was smoking so much this time they thought I was on fire again so they felt bad for me and let me go with a warning.
I'm going back up there for a day or two next week before I have to leave for the mentor ohio race and I will make something to be a breather tank that will drain back into the valve cover and see if that stops the oil mess problem. Still have not given up.
The time the boat caught on fire and I was with myself there were some other things that had happened. The night before when I was finishing putting the engines in I could not get the starboard side alternator control plug in because the intake pipe was less then 1/8" from the opening for the plug, but that is fine because the port engine will be charging (this will come into play when you have to idle on the one with no charging for several hours). I started them on the hose and the starboard side oil cooler was leaking water into the bilge. I could not tell where the water was coming from on it but it looked like a dent in the side of it next to a weld. I decided the bilge pump should be able to keep up with it and it would take to long to try to get it out to fix it. I ran it for awhile to make sure it was not leaking oil out or water into the transmission. I head to the water knowing the boat is going to be trying to sink. (not much stops me from trying to go boating) When I first got on plane and started running the boat I was checking the engine temp to see if the thermostat circuit I put in would work and keep the temp around 180-200 where the engine builder wanted it and it was working but the bilge pump was not keeping up and the water was starting to get deep in the bilge so I closed off the valve about 80% that lets water into the sea strainer on that engine and tried again. It was still getting too much water in the bilge because the crossover tube was big enough from the other engine that they had almost the same water pressure at the engine. So I close the valve to the other engine also about 50% and that lowered the water pressure to both where the bilge pump could keep up. Then not long after that is when enough oil was on the turbo and it had heated up enough to self light the oil.
While I was idling back to the dock which was going to take hours, I had opened the valve for the engine to get enough cooling but there was still a garden hose worth of water going into the bilge and the pump was keeping up but I do not have any charging on that engine. I check the voltage several times over the next hour and its slowly going down but not sure at what point the engine will quit running from low voltage and the bilge pump not be able to keep up, so while I'm idling back and the engine is running (because I do not want to shut it off) I take the intake pipe off and hook up the alternator so it will start charging. I notice while I'm idling back that the engine temperature is holding really steady at the front of the engine but that the back of the engine is about 30 degrees hotter.
Fast forward to last weekend and I fix the oil leaks, took the transmission oil cooler out and brazed the cracks in it, and I put a water drain out of the head at the back of the engine to try to get more even water flow through the engine so the back cylinders will not get so hot and go try it again. We put the boat in and were on plane for about a minute and lost boost on one of the engines. The weld on the intercooler flange on the starboard engine where the air comes in from the turbo had broke. We tried to get back on plane to get back to the dock but it would not get on plane on one and a half engines. It was blowing back smoke like a tractor puller since it was full fuel but no air which made a huge mess with the water mist from the exhaust. I took it back to Skater that night and took it apart to weld it. I put big nasty welds all around the flange inside and out so it does not look like a nice little tig weld anymore but my weld will not break. Pete came in the next morning and said you should take the other one out and weld it too because if one broke the other one will also. I wanted to get to the water because I had a flight the next morning so I did not take the other one out (yet). We head back to the water and make it about another minute on plane and the other engines inter-cooler flange breaks off. Guess I should have listened to Pete. So we idle back to the dock next to the ramp and tie the boat up and start taking the engine apart to get the intercooler out so we will not have to take the time to get the trailer and boat loaded and hauled to Skater ect. While were unbolting the intercooler the guy helping me has his girl go get there Cadillac (with keyless push button start, this will come into play in a little bit) and bring it down to the ramp. Me and him put the intercooler in the trunk to drive to skater to fix it and she stays with the boat to video it sinking or catching fire if it does. We drive to Skater and weld the flanges on the intercooler and then go to leave and do not have a key to the car (remember the keyless push button start that she had key in her purse). Luckily he had a truck sitting at Skater also and keys to it in his tool box so we had a way back to the boat. Get back to the boat and put intercooler back in and try it again. This time we run for more then a min but about two min in there is smoke in the bilge and the oil breather tank is blowing oil out the little filters on it onto the turbo. We stop and look at it and check oil level ect. drain the catch can and take off again. Same thing in a few min, stop and check again to make sure everything else is ok, then do it again about five more times going back and forth a few miles each way from the inlet (do not want to get to far so it will not take as long to idle back when it breaks, not if). After several more times we have been running back and forth at anywhere from 85-95 mph and the oil mess is getting worse and the other engines has started doing it too. Each time we stop to check it we look like were on fire from oil burning on the turbos so we head back. As were going back to the ramp on plane (never get to do that) we come up on lake patrol and they pull us over and say that we went through a narrow spot that if your over 40' long you have to come off plane. I told them its only 39', needless to say it does not look like its only 39' long, but they were the guys from a couple weeks ago that came out when I was on fire and it was smoking so much this time they thought I was on fire again so they felt bad for me and let me go with a warning.
I'm going back up there for a day or two next week before I have to leave for the mentor ohio race and I will make something to be a breather tank that will drain back into the valve cover and see if that stops the oil mess problem. Still have not given up.
Last edited by BigSilverCat; 07-12-2018 at 06:55 PM.
