HOW TO HONE YOUR CYLINDERS
by Robin


Our Merc Outboard (Opti-Max) left us 20 miles offshore last month. In short (see previous posts), we determined that we needed to replace the crankshaft on our engine; BUT, before putting all the parts back together, we need to hone our 6 cylinders.

Hopefully, you can see the diamond-shaped etchings inside the cylinder sleeve. These "scratches" were put there intentionally and their purposes is to hold oil so that the pistons stay well-lubricated as they pump up & down to make horsepower.



We want to clean up the inside and put fresh "scratch" marks inside the cylinder sleever. (Disclaimer: I am not a mechanic. I'm just married to one and take lots of pictures.) Anyhow, we take this tool (sorry - no name) and insert it into the sleeve.


It can move until you tighten it down. It will measure the exact diameter of the cylinder.



Then, Jack laid the first tool down and measured it with another devise. This told him exactly how big (down to thousanths) the cylinder is. This measurement will help him get the correct fitting for some rings that go around the piston but also to remeasure afterwards to make sure he isn't shaving away too much metal.


This is a honing tool on the end of Jack's drill. Those 3 pieces have very hard etching surfaces and they can be spring loaded into the cylinder and then turn on the drill.


Here is Jack using the honing tool.



Here are two completely honed cylinders. The one on the left still needs to be honed.



Be sure to keep your tool centered and don't take off too much on one side.

Jack was kind enough to allow me to video him honing the cylinders. Enjoy.

Untitled from Robins Reports on Vimeo.

TWINS
by Robin

On the left is the new, used engine that we bought on Thursday. On the right is our original engine. Time to pull parts and build up one good engine.

ENGINE OFF & STRIPPED
by Robin

Many times, my blog is found via googling so I'm going to throw out some basic facts first. This is our 225 hp Mercury Opti-Max Outboard engine that we have takien the cowling and harness off of.

Rear view. (We take pictures of all our disassembling so we can use them for referencing upon reassembling.) For the non-mechanic, those 6 round holes are the 6 piston openings.


Left view. Taking pic of the oil casing, etc.


Label, label, label. Make painter's tape your best friend. Here Jack is examining the front side. The big silver thing is the air intake compartment.


Here is a view from the top. These are flywheels, belts and compressors. Even engines accessorize, ladies.


The next night, we found a friend with an engine hoist and pulled the engine off the boat. The guys are looking at what is are the reeds comparment, which were under that air intake case. (If I have my bearings right.)


What they were trying to do when I got home from church last Wed was to remove that section and expose the crankshaft and pistons (& housing). Like always, we had one stinkin' bolt that was stripped and so Jack drilled down the center of it, increasing bit size until it was finally able to be worked out of the hole.



Here, the engine is on it's side (if you're a boat). This is the more appropriate sitting for an engine when it is in a car. Can you visualize it??


My guys have popped off the upper case and are looking down into the crankshaft area. Pistons are still attached at this point in the picture, but not any more. As it turned out, the 6th piston had its needle bearing at the crank side shaved down and they were most likely pooped out the exhaust. We couldn't find them anywhere. The piston-side needle bearing were still intact.



This same night, Jack's car had a burning smell and it was parked until the weekend. The air on my tire was leaking. I was hitting my breaking point of things breaking down on us. God kept giving me the same Scripture over and over and comfort us that we were in the midst of a trial. When God disciplines you like that, the best place to be is in His Word and on your knees in prayer.

Sunday morning, I received Heb 12: 1-11 again. Sunday afternoon, I worked with Jack on fixing his car and got all greasy. (His AC compressor is shot and so we put on a belt that by-passed the compressor, for the meantime. A 2nd belt was in the process of shredding, so God was good in getting Jack home before it all let loose.)

As part of my Project 365, I thought it poignant to take a picture of the grease under my fingernails as I put my finger on Heb 12:11. "Now no chastising for the present seems joyous but grievous; nevertheless, afterwards, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."


No, I don't love working on engines any more than Jack does. Yes, I know a lot more about engines than I should; but, I'm raising boys with excellent mechanical abilities. Being disciplined by God and with God by my side, standing through this trial with my hubby..... priceless.

And, God has provided the sacrificial 'lamb' during this trial. Yesterday, we bought another used powerhead off of somebody else to use as spare parts for rebuilding one good powerhead. Yeah! God is good, don't ever doubt that. He's good ALL THE TIME. This one has a good crank shaft that we can replace our bad one with.

Happy Fishing!
Robin

DECEMBER FISHING
by Robin

Where do I even begin after being off of here for so long???

We had a very, very rough month. Everything from grieving two lost ones, to ER visits to preparing for a vacation which changed on a daily basis, seemed to consume our entire month. It seems to me like on the 18th, we were invited out on Mike & Helen's boat. We were just coming off a full moon, current was nil for the longest time and storms were predicted, but Mike had radar to help us avoid the worst of them.

So, we headed offshore with a cooler full of bait. Passed by many other sea regulars like this shrimp boat.


We found our ledge quite easily and as Helen and I began tossing squid over the side, we were bringing up fish after fish.

As it turned out, Helen brought in the most and I caught the biggest trigger. A whopping 7 lbs!



(Ladies, don't be jealous of my seafarer's vogue look.)


We split the catch up and went home for the day. Cleaned a lot of fish the next day though.




Then, we went on vacation for a while and came back home in time to fish again on the 29th. Many folks were out trying to get their limit of grouper before the season closed Jan - April.

Not us, we headed back to the ledge. Only small black sea bass were biting. Oh, I should also state that we were on our own boat this time, but Mike & Helen were out there on their boat as well. I did not bring my camera with me this trip. What a shame since on the way to our 2nd spot, we saw beautiful manta rays gone airborne. We tried to track a couple down and did happen to see some cobia on their backs but they sounded down to the bottom as soon as we caught up to them.

So, off to the 2nd spot and that's when we heard ker-plunk. Our engine was dead. So, we did the appropriate calls for friends to come join us in our misery, then a call to be towed and then a long anchor wait while waiting for the rescue tow boat. That was 1.5 hrs alone; however, we were good with food, fair weather and entertainment. A big thanks to Mike & Helen who never left our sight while we were "dead" in the water.

We pulled in croaker after croaker. It was fun and something to do. They were fat and we figured they ate about as good as whiting from the beach.





We celebrated the New Year by doing our best to stay awake 'til midnight. That Sunday, we celebrated our 18th anniversary. Enjoyed a nice date eating seafood at Rusty's, then danced a little to some live music.

BUT, the next week would end up creating lots of work for Jack each evening as he did his best to diagnose what was wrong with our engine.



We are amazingly blessed that Jack is a brilliant mechanic on top of his other job. Yesterday, the powerhead of the engine was on a table in the garage and the crank-shaft & pistons were exposed. Amazing and scary all at the same time.



I suppose the saga will continue as we pull it all apart and start replacing what broke. I know many people's faith is tested through health and finance issues. For me, it is when I see hundreds of pieces of engine parts in my garage and keep believing that God has given Jack the ability to fix and put it all back together.

I'm sure there will be more pictures and stories in the future. Unfortunately, there will be less fishing through the winter months; but that is ok. There is very little in the way of fishing that is still open season and biting. Now is as good as any time to overhaul our engine.

Blessings & Happy Fishing,
Robin