Waiting...

The last week has been a busy one on Play Actor.  The new engine is ordered, as is a new propeller, since the old one was left-handed and the new engine rotates in the opposite direction from the old one.  Besides that, the prop shaft speed and torque curve are different, requiring a different pitch for the propeller.  We settled on a final design for the engine bed modifications, and the drawings for the steel mounting rails are at a machine shop for fabrication.  We have aboard all of the components for the new exhaust, fuel, and cooling system plumbing.  The engine, prop, and rails should all be here at about the same time, so we're expecting to actually pull the old Volvo and start work in a week or ten days.

The drawing for the rails shows their configuration, which will minimize the amount of fiberglass work to be done on the engine beds.  The level of the old beds will be lowered for the aft half of their length, and the front end of the 4-inch wide plate will be through-bolted to the top of the bed, using the access hole in the inner side of the bed which is used for bolting down the front mounts of the Volvo.  A solid teak filler block will be glassed into place in the valley of the old bed to support the plate below the new front engine mount, which will be several inches farther aft than the Volvo front mount.  The aft part of the bed will be cut down to reduce the rake from 15 degrees to 8 degrees, and the remaining, hollow base of the bed will be filled with a custom cut, solid teak block, which will be fiber glassed in place.  The flange under the engine rail will then be through bolted to the bed at 90 degrees to the long axis of the bed.  Four 7/16" bolts will fasten each rail to the corresponding bed, transferring the thrust of the engine to the hull.  Two of the bolts will be oriented vertically, at the front end of the rail, and two will be horizontal and transverse to the long axis of the bed, through the flange in the aft half of the rail.