Less Can Be More - Outstanding Support in Fort Lauderdale.

MV Hector, Blue Funnel Line (Ocean Fleets), spent four months on the coast of South America; heaven for a 17-year-old.

The subject today is "Less can be more." It was my first trip to sea, MV Hector, 200 odd miles up the Rio Plata into Rosario - Argentina. The Chief Engineer was retiring; we called him Skypsie, but I can't remember his given name. He pulled my naive self aside on the deck, "Son," he said, "sometimes less is more; remember that." the sentiment was always valued.  

Pan forward near on 50 years.

Before departing Turkey, we realigned the engines and hybrid drives and wrote about the subject in this blog linked below. The alignment seemed accurate, but now, with 2500 miles under our keel, I wanted it checked with a fresh pair of eyes. The engine and hybrid drive mounts sported an unexplainable amount of shims, from cut metal sheets to convenient washers. I should have spotted this earlier but was distracted by more pressing issues; there is no time like now. I'm not a fan of stacked shims; it reminds me of an accident waiting to happen, recalling C/E Skypsie's words. "Son - less can be more." It's time for the application of a little thought.

The engines and hybrid drive are a 4-point mount. The aft end drives through a Twin Disc gearbox and Bruntons Sigmadrive CV joint, allowing for up to 3 degrees of misalignment between the gearbox and the prop shaft. We used a laser to confirm that both engines were axially out by about 1-1.5 degrees, high at the forward end, and aligned at the aft end. This misalignment was resolved without issue by the Bruntons Sigmadrive but could be improved. So, we removed shims from the mounts, causing the forward end of the engines to drop slightly.  

The engine mounts are now cleaned of unnecessary shims, double-nutted, and the excess thread removed. "Walking stick ends" made handy grease cups to act as protectors.

Next, we attacked the braces we added between the hybrid drive and E-Motor mounts. As described in a previous blog, these prevented the E-Motor mount from acting as a hinge joint. By elongating the aft mounting holes on each brace, we could remove the four shim packs, locating the forward end of this bracket on each of the two drive trains. We also painted it properly before reassembly and replaced inaccessible through-bolts on the guard plates with simple captive nuts and machine screws. These are seemingly unavailable in Turkey.   

Braces are now hard-mounted against the PHT drive. Elongating the mounting holes on the corresponding motor support location made this possible. The added adjustment allowed these plates to fall flush, as shown.

The net result of this work was a stack of assorted unwanted Turkish shims, more robust drive lines, and less prone to random disassembly at inconvenient times. Shims went in the trash can, and it now looks rather easier on the eye. I hope Skpsie's Ghost is pleased with this work now that I am the age he was then.

This is the totality of what we removed. It was quite the haul over two drivelines. The alignment was not far off, but the implementation was pretty poor. Not now, though!

Skipsie - Chief Engineer, UK Merchant Navy 1977 - "Son - less can be more."

Our Yard for this work is Yacht Management in New River Marina, Fort Lauderdale, South Florida (https://www.myyachtmanagement.com). Super people, very helpful with excellent subcontractor support. A shout-out to Kyle Henry - Boat Mechanic, for his willing assistance and keen eye. T

Chris Leigh-Jones