Miscellaneous maintenance tasks

WEASEL WORDS. This document was written by Jeremy Bell based on notes taken during Kurt Dilworth’s Maintenance presentation at the 2006 American Tug rendezvous at the factory in La Conner.  Any errors are the responsibility of the author and not Tomco/American Tug. All information is presented on an ‘as-is’ basis… blah, blah,blah … you know how this goes in a land with more Lawyers than Engineers...

This document has all the ‘Miscellaneous’ stuff from Kurts talk. All the underwater or haulout-related stuff has been summarized in the ‘Haulout Maintenance’ document, also on this website.

Water Pump:

The pressure water pump (and also the washdown pump) used to be Shurflo - model 2088 on older AT34s and model 3901/3902 on the later ones. These have now been superseded with Whale Universal UP1815 pumps because of numerous reported problems.

All the pressure water pumps have a prefilter between the water tank and the pump that needs to be periodically cleaned. Comes apart 2 ways:

Either push-in and twist the clear plastic body apart or unscrew the winged black plastic connector.

Shower Sump:

This is the rectangular plastic box under the head floor. Contains a coarse plastic strainer, a bilge pump and a float switch. The shower and sink drains ‘Tee’ together and drain in here. The other inlet is the anchor locker drain – a nice bit of engineering, huh ? ( or maybe I just need to get out more often…).

(My 2003 AT34 has a Rule 800 and a Rule Superswitch, but I think that has been superseded).

The Bad News is that it’ll be gross in there. The Good News is that this gross crud would be in the bilge of a lesser boat.

This all needs to be cleaned with Softscrub and hot water. Remove the pump and inspect the underside for entangling hair. The outlet hose has a check-valve – remove and inspect that as well as the float switch.

Run a zip-tie up the inlet manifold to clean it – it tends to clog.

Reassemble (making sure the check valve is positioned to allow water out only) then flush with clean water thru the sink. You’ll probably lose the ‘prime’ so it may be necessary to manually operate the float switch a few times until the pump drains the sump. May take a few tries, but be sure that the pump does actually drain the sump.

Inlet Water Strainers:

The strainers on the Engine, Generator and AC (if fitted) have Monel baskets that eventually wear-out – usually at the welds).

Plastic or metal replacements available from Groco or Perko - generator and AC strainers are Groco model ARG750.

Engine Alignment:

When the boat is moving, all the engine thrust is transmitted from the propeller back to the engine, and then to the mounts. This means that the mounts take a large strain….

Periodically check the tightness of ALL the bolts holding the mounts to the engine, the mounts to the ‘L’ bracket and the bracket to the stringer. (Note that the bracket is ‘glued’ to the stringer and the bolts are a secondary method of securing).

Someone at the seminar suggested drawing ‘Index Lines’ (marks across the bolts and mounts) so you can see at a glance if anything has moved.

The Factory aligns the propshaft/engine coupling to less than 2 thousands of an inch (0.002”) in the water before the sea-trial, and this alignment should be re-checked every year.

Alignment should be done in-water ONLY because the hull flexes a miniscule amount when supported on land.

Kurt suggested a boatyard pro be used for this job – he did not give instructions to do this job.

Refrigerator:

If the fridge needs defrosting often, check the door seal and the latch. If the bottom corner has a small gap, adjust the latch receiver on the frame.

Remove heavy objects from the door – it tends to distort the seal.

 Condensation under bunk:

This happens on all boats, due the warming and cooling of air. The factory now installs Hypervent – a ¼” mat of coiled plastic that separates the colder surface of the bunk from the mattress. This can be ordered by the roll from:

http://www.hyperventmarine.com/

Also try putting one of the plastic toolboxes (from the pilothouse steps) under the bunk every morning to air it out.

 (Note: Don’t blame Kurt for this part - we added matching shades to our AT34 and several people have asked about them).

These are made by United Shade, who won’t sell direct but will suggest a dealer. We used Rainbow Shades (574-262-0954). They make all sizes – the 24” wide by 30” drop model fits the rear pilothouse window of an AT34.

The color/pattern is on a label on the top of the shade. Remove one by pushing back (towards the window) on the silver clips behind the shade, while tilting the shade towards you. Reassembly (as they say) is the reverse of dissasembly, except you say ‘bugger’ in different places….

 Window Bug Screens:

Can’t figure-out how to remove and clean these things ?? Me either – until Kurt handed-out some instructions. I guess he’s been asked before…..

OK, stare intently at the bug screen track. One side is a brush-like material, and the other is a smooth black plastic ‘L shaped’ piece. On either the top OR the bottom, the smooth side is composed of several pieces. That is the side to use: pry these out carefully, starting with the smallest. Then the screen can be slid back and tilted-out. On reassembly, the L shaped pieces snap into a tiny groove on the top of the track.