Installing the Electric Engine
Of all the tasks I’ve had to do on the boat this spring/summer, installing the engine has got to have been the most straightforward – and the most nerve wracking!
Three things worry me when I do repairs or put something new on: one is that I’ll do it wrong and have to do it over again; two: that I’ll mess it up badly enough that the boat will sink; and three, that the next owner of the boat will look at what I’ve done, shake their heads and say, “What was she thinking?”
I guess the last one shouldn’t bother me that much. But I was office mate to a guy buying his first sailboat. He’d done quite a bit of research, and he was pretty handy in his own right. So he would regale me with tales of poorly done installations and repairs on the boats that he looked at as he search for something he’d want to own. And I guess I don’t want to be ‘that’ person.
So, installing the engine became almost the last thing I’m doing before I put the boat back in the water. I don’t want to sink the boat. I don’t want to get it done, find it’s wrong and have to do it all over again. And I don’t want the next owner to look at what I installed and feel the first thing they’ll have to do is redo what I’ve done.
But, although time consuming because of my own limitations, installing the engine has proved to be very easy. The Electric Yacht folks have built something that is easy to work with and provided detailed enough instructions to quell many of my fears. On top of that, Scott McMillan, the owner of the company, has quickly answered my numerous emails asking for clarifications or more information.
I must admit, I didn’t do things quite in the order suggested. The instructions say to put the batteries in place first, then put the engine in. But I was laying the batteries in the engine compartment in such a way as to make them easy to access, which meant getting the engine placed first, to make sure that everything would fit.
First thing, I moved the house batteries. Those are smaller and shorter than the 4 AGM batteries I was installing. So it was easier to put two of the AGMs where the house batteries were, and move the house batteries to a locker beside the engine compartment. So, I cut a piece of oak large enough for each battery, and treated 2×4 to help make the surface level. I covered each piece of wood with West Systems (where would the modern day sailor be without it?), fiberglassed the 2×4 in place, and screwed the oak shelf onto the 2×4. I left the other side free, since I didn’t want to put holes in the bottom of the boat. We rewired the house batteries in their new location and moved onto the engine batteries.
I planned on putting two of the engine batteries where the two house batteries had been. One of the remaining engine batteries would go on the aft end of one of the mounting rails, with another 2×4 support attached to the side of the engine compartment. The last battery would go between the rails, raised slightly with some oak supports to ensure that I wasn’t blocking anything from flowing into the bilge.
First, however, I put the engine in place. The engine is much narrower than a diesel or gas engine. So mounting feet are provided to hold it in place. Spacers are included, in case the distance to traverse is longer than the feet will alow. In my case, the spacers were a necessity. I assembled the feet as instructed and slid everything onto the rails.
The coupler provided by the company is much easier to use than the one normally used. No feeler gauge necessary! The coupler is a 4″ sleeve that goes over the shaft from the prop and the shaft from the engine. The bottom half is a solid piece, with a slot for the key. The top is two halves: one to fit over the prop shaft and one to fit over the engine shaft. When alignment is right, the two halves bolt easily in place.
We aligned the engine, using a mirror underneath the shaft to confirm placement. We then checked the spacing of engine in terms of where I wanted to place the two unseated batteries. Everything looked like it would work. So we pulled the engine out again.
I cut two more platforms out of oat for the last two batteries. Like the house batteries, I put plastic battery holders in place to keep them from shifting. Note on those plastic holderes: those things are tough! Moving 100 lbs isnt easy. So when I put one holder under a battery to see if it fit right, I should have crushed the thing with my handling. But not a tear appeared on it. That made me feel alot more confident about my choice to use them.
More West Systems epoxy on these platforms, the 2×4 support for the ‘upper’ battery, and for the two thinner oak supports for the ‘lower’ battery. I also used West Systems and fiberglass matting to hold the oak supports in place, again so I wouldn’t have to screw anything into the bottom of the boat.
While the engine was out, and before I put the last two batteries in, I also installed the charger, since it would be on the wall of the engine compartment, forward of the ‘upper’ battery, and beside the engine. I also installed the battery cutoff switch, the fuse and the relay required by the engine.
Once all this was in place, I reinstalled the engine. I didn’t connect it with the couple yet. I want to test it out once we have it all wired up, and I don’t want to ruin my new cutless bearing when we do. I then put other two batteries in place. Tomorrow, we wire everything up.
Replacing the Cutless Bearing
So. Most of the online catalogs spell it ‘cutlass’ (as in the sword?). But I was assured it was ‘cutless’, as in doesn’t cut. Most of the searches I tried turned up the former. But when the device arrived, the package was using the latter.
Dave, one of my resident experts, suggested I might want to change it out before replacing the prop shaft in the boat. He recommended cutting it out with a hacksaw, being careful not to slice through the strut. Steve, another expert, suggested that, once the old one was out, I could take the strut to a local mechanic who, when I mentioned a mutual friend, would use their hydraulic to insert the new bearing. A third friend, Dan, said he had a bench press and thought we could use that to both remove the old bearing and insert the new one. So I headed over to Dan’s place one sunny Friday afternoon with the prop shaft and the old cutless bearing. He had the bench press set up and ready to go.
The bench press is a small hydraulic, like you might use to change the tires on your car, mounted on a steel structure about 2-1/2 feet tall. The object to be pressed is placed on the shelf below the hydraulic. The stickers showed that it was indeed a commercial item, but I had never seen one before.
Dan found a socket that was about the outer diameter of the cutless bearing. We stood the strut up in the press and placed the socket in position on top. Then Dan slowly turned the control on the hydraulic. He stopped turning to check the progress. It seemed to be working. So he set it up again and turned again. The second time, however, it appears that things weren’t quite straight, and the device seemed to be curling the ends rather than pushing the bearing through.
A couple more times of repositioning and re-turning only seemed to make matters worse. So Dan took the strut out, put cardboard on the sides, and placed it in a bench vise. He then took a hacksaw, removed the blade, placed the blade inside the bearing, then reattached the blade to the handle. He sawed for awhile, then took the blade out. He took a hammer and a narrow chisel and started detaching the bearing from the strut at the cut. More cutting, turning the strut and chiseling on the other side. More cutting and chiseling, back and forth for probably about 1/2 an hour. The hard part seemed to be the very center, which didn’t want to detach, or was so far away (2 inches?) that it was difficult to reach with the chisel.
Finally, there was a breakthrough. Dan carefully chiseled a bit more to get the rest to curl in, making it easier to remove, and took the old bearing out. When we looked inside, we saw a small groove where his chisel had been. Interestingly enough, there was a much larger groove where the last person had removed the bearing.
We aligned the new bearing over the hole then placed a small piece of wood on the top. Dan then hammered the new bearing in.
It’s in there tight. It’s definitely not going anywhere! But the new one is slightly longer than the old one, and sticks out about 1/2 inch. Since that doesn’t change the line, it shouldn’t make a difference.
