Danish double-ender project in Gloucester, MA

[Matt Billey]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to give you an update on my latest progress.

I think I've located a decent used engine for the boat. Actually, I have no idea if it's decent or not, yet. The engine was in a launch that caught fire inside a shed. The engine was just about the only thing left of the boat. It's all sooty and filthy, but appears to be okay. Soon, I hope to try to get it running to see what the deal is. It's a Yanmar 3gm. That's the 3 cylinder variety. 27 hp. I checked it out and it seems as though there will be enough room for it on the engine beds. Initially, I had wanted a 2gm, but haven't found one yet. I stumbled upon this one and I'm checking it out. It would be nice to have the extra horsies.

On other fronts, I nearly ready to fasten the cabin-trunk down. Yesterday and today, I've been drilling the LLLLOOOONNNGGG thru-holes. It was kind of nerve-wracking drilling through the 1 1/8- 1 1/4" thick cabin-sides. The last thing I wanted to do was blow a hole out through the side of the trunk. In the end, I decided to do it the Bud McIntosh way and drill half way from one side and half way from the other side. This actually worked out really well. I only had a few holes that were misaligned. Doing as Bud suggests, I made a reamer from a length of solid rod and opened up the holes up a little bit. This will make driving the bolts a little easier.

I've purchased some portholes and they should be arriving any day now. I decided on deadlights as the opening variety I had found were just too expensive right now. If I want to, I can change them out later. One thing I'll probably do is have some square opening glass windows in the companionway bulkhead. This may provide enough ventilation that I won't need opening portholes.

I'm thinking I'll bed the cabin-trunk in TDS Teak Decking System caulk. Has anyone ever used it in below freezing temperatures? I'm thinking I can put a heavy tarp over the cabin and heat it up with my oil-filled radiator prior to bedding. Maybe it will get warm enough for it to cure.

That's all for now,

Matt

[svaap]

Outstanding craftsmanship!

Love your boat

[botebum]

Did you bevel the top of the cabinsides before or after drilling? If before, I'd be interested to know/see how you did it. Even with a clamp-on drill guide it'd be a pretty scary job. With the number of holes you had to do, I'm amazed you didn't have a single blowout(whichever way you did it).

Great thread! Really enjoying it.

Doug

[Matt Billey]

Doug,

I drilled the thru-holes after I beveled the top edge of the trunk. I used a straight-edge (carpenter's level set to plumb) and just eye-balled the drill parallel in both directions.

Matt

[OEX]

Oh you're just killing me here. I feel good about that Koster Boat I designed, ---then has SOMEONE else build, ---then you come along every so often and just put me in my place! :-)

Keep it up, I need it ...I guess.

Damn that is amazing work!

[pipefitter]

Very nice.

[Matt Billey]

Hi Guys and Gals,

Well, I went and got a little bit impulsive. Remember from my last post that I had said I had found an engine for my boat; a 3 cylinder Yanmar. Well, as it turns out, it wasn't really for sale. So, by weird chance I happened to find an older Sabb G 10 on eBay and I won it at auction! It was down in North Carolina, several hundred miles away, but I decided I needed to get out of Dodge and have an adventure. So, I went and picked it up last week and I've been trying to get it running every since. The story is that it hasn't been run in 5 or 6 years. So, naturally, there are things that need attending to. So far, I've cleaned the fuel system, got the injector-pump pumping, removed the cylinder head, lapped the valves, inspected the cylinder liner and piston a done a little clean up. The injector nozzle doesn't seem to be spraying fuel. Might be clogged or what, I don't know. I'm really new to marine diesels, but I'm impressed with how simple this engine is. Apparently, they were designed simply enough for fishermen in the remote fjords of Norway to be able to rebuild them with simple tools, right in the boat! Last night, I had the engine stripped down and the cylinder head off in about half an hour.

I hope to have the engine fired up soon, so I can assess what further work I need to do get the old girl in tip-top shape.

Here's a few pics at the marina where I picked up the engine. Check out the bolt-on cylinder head temperature gauge!! Fool-proof. Dead simple.

[OEX]

If you came across or come across a yanmar of 10-18hp I am looking for one. Thanks, Bruce

Hi Guys and Gals,

Well, I went and got a little bit impulsive. Remember from my last post that I had said I had found an engine for my boat; a 3 cylinder Yanmar. Well, as it turns out, it wasn't really for sale. So, by weird chance I happened to find an older Sabb G 10 on eBay and I won it at auction! It was down in North Carolina, several hundred miles away, but I decided I needed to get out of Dodge and have an adventure. So, I went and picked it up last week and I've been trying to get it running every since. The story is that it hasn't been run in 5 or 6 years. So, naturally, there are things that need attending to. So far, I've cleaned the fuel system, got the injector-pump pumping, removed the cylinder head, lapped the valves, inspected the cylinder liner and piston a done a little clean up. The injector nozzle doesn't seem to be spraying fuel. Might be clogged or what, I don't know. I'm really new to marine diesels, but I'm impressed with how simple this engine is. Apparently, they were designed simply enough for fishermen in the remote fjords of Norway to be able to rebuild them with simple tools, right in the boat! Last night, I had the engine stripped down and the cylinder head off in about half an hour.

I hope to have the engine fired up soon, so I can assess what further work I need to do get the old girl in tip-top shape.

Here's a few pics at the marina where I picked up the engine. Check out the bolt-on cylinder head temperature gauge!! Fool-proof. Dead simple.

[chuckt]

Does the bottom pic in post 101 mean you are cutting that curve with the saw pictured? How are you cutting curves in those long pieces? THey look very fair.

[Matt Billey]

Hi Chuck,

Yes, I cut those cabin-top beams with my circular saw. It's way easier than it sounds. As long as the curve isn't to tight, it works just fine. Just take your time. I do the same thing when I cut hull planks. Sometimes you hardly have to fair them up with a hand-plane.

Matt

[Matt Billey]

Hi everyone,

So, when I bought the Sabb G, it didn't come with the variable pitch propeller gear. I recently purchased some propeller blades on eBay. Now, I'm trying to piece together the rest of the driveline. I do have the 1" stainless propeller shaft, but no stern tube, inner stuffing box, outer stern bearing, grease cups, or propeller boss. Does anyone know where I might lay my hands on this gear? I'm sure I can get it from SabbAmerica East down in Florida, but I shudder at the prices for some of the new parts. I inquired about buying a new fuel injector assembly, complete. They want $908!! I can only imagine what they might want for new propeller unit parts.

Any guidance in this realm will be greatly appreciated.

Matt

[Jim Ledger]

Matt, I've been watching your project with great interest.

Congratulations on the engine score. I am also looking for a few Sabb parts, propeller blades and a coupling and a couple of other pieces. Here's an injector in the UK...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tchlink:top:en

[Jim Ledger]

Matt, some quick thoughts about the Sabb greasers.

I installed a G10 in my catboat, along with the factory greasers. The greaser for the inside shaft seal is nothing more than a grease cup, doesn't hold much grease and is difficult to get to. You have to get some water pump pliers on it to give it a turn as it's too hard to grab and turn with your fingers. A handle welded onto the cup would help.

The stern tube greaser is a larger bulkhead-mounted affair with a copper tube leading back to the bearing.

In my new boat I might forgo the greasers entirely and keep a dedicated grease gun on board. Both greasse points could be piped with copper tubing to a single, handy location. The copper tube could be terminated into brass pipe and Zerk fittings installed. It should be simple to give each fitting a couple of pumps of grease with the gun. this would pump the grease much better than turning a cup. You cannot over-grease the propeller, but you want to watch the inside bearing as the grease splooges onto the keel if you give it too much.

[Matt Billey]

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the info on the injector pump. What I'm after, though, is the injector nozzle, not the pump. I do have a question about the pump, however. When I bought the engine, the pump was not installed. It came with about 6 or 7 shims of varying thicknesses. I've read what they say about shims in the manual, but still can't figure out how many I need. I don't think I need all 7 of them, but I don't know. Have you ever dealt with this before?

And good idea regarding the stern tube grease cups. Would you recommend switching to a new, off the shelf, non-Sabb stuffing box, for the sake of saving some money?

How did you find that injector pump on eBay? I usually go to eBay Motors. Then from there I go to boat parts. I just tried and couldn't find it there.

Matt

[Jim Ledger]

Type in "Sabb diesel" in the all ebay categories box.

You could definitely use off-the-shelf propeller gear with the G-10. The drawback is losing the ability to adjust the pitch and worse, no reversing. I don't know about you, but I use reverse a LOT, docking, turning in tight spaces, avoiding hitting things and so on. Your choice, but I'd put off that decision as long as possible.

I'm sorry, but I know little about injectors, so I can't help you there.

There's some stuff in my catboat thread that deals with the stern tube, bearings and grease line, shaft log, might be helpful, somewhere around here...

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthre...-catboat/page6

[Matt Billey]

Jim,

What I meant was, do you think it would work to use non-Sabb stuffing boxes, stern tubes, etc and still have a workable variable pitch propeller setup? I'm just wondering if it is going to be too difficult to find good used Sabb parts. Obviously, I will still need to use a Sabb stern bearing and variable pitch prop, but maybe I could piece together the other parts from off the shelf items.

Matt

[Matt Billey]

Hi Everyone,

Here's today's pics from the boat shed. I cut the holes for the deadlights. I spent a lot of time hemming and hawing over their placement and made a couple practice cuts in some scrap wood first.

[Duncan Gibbs]

Such a terrific build Matt! Truly inspiring!

I hope to follow in your footsteps sooner rather than later.

[Gerarddm]

I spent a lot of time hemming and hawing over their placement and made a couple practice cuts in some scrap wood first.

At boatbuilding school one of the first things our first quarter instructor told us was "without scrap, it's crap".

And boy has time proven the wisdom of his words. :-)

Always test your cuts on scrap first, mates.

[OEX]

Matt I think you asked for pix of Elly. If not sorry, but here they are.






I think your build will last as long, or longer! What you have done with the cabin is much more in keeping with the hull than Elly's, yours better shows off the sheer and lines. Don't get me wrong, I love Elly ( I have the WoodenBoat print of the painting Glikerson (sp?) did of her), but....... This boat of yours, ....man oh man!

Cheers, Bruce

[Matt Billey]

On Saturday, the cabin-trunk bending jig came out for good. Here are a few pics.

[Gerard]

Wow. Looking darn good. Thanks for sharing.

[Matt Billey]

Hi Guys and Gals,

I thought you might be interested in seeing this link that was sent along by "Svaap" from Norway. These are pictures of various old Danish fishing boats. Many of these pictures show the type of boats that get launched from the beach with the help of winches.

Matt

http://www.havbaade.dk/billeder.html

[Allison]

Matt, what a great link, thanks for posting it. I've only just started working my way through it but it's really good stuff, lots of high quality pics!!

Thanks

[Matt Billey]

Hello again,

Here's the latest round of pics. Lately, I've bolted down the foredeck hatch coaming, built the hatch cover, worked on the cockpit coamings, glued-up and fit the companionway bulkhead, started prepping for mounting the rub-rails and continued trying to get the Sabb diesel to run. I did discover it fires up on a few squirts of motor oil and will run for a few seconds, blowing out clouds of blue smoke! Scared the heck out of me when it first fired. I wasn't expecting it at all. And it was a bit unnerving, as it wouldn't respond to the governor handle at all. It acted like one of those runaway diesels you hear about. I'm still having no luck trying to get the injector to fire. I've fitted a rebuilt unit and still no spray. Nothing. Not even drips. I'm thinking it might be the injector pump or perhaps varnish clogging the injector.

A day ago, I had a nice visit from Forum member "OEX". He was in the area and decided to stop by for a look-see. It's always nice to meet people who are into the same things as you. We could have talked for hours, but he had to get home. I have to mention, OEX has the sweetest couple of dogs. One of them knows how to honk the car horn and turn the lights on when she's getting impatient and wants to leave!!

[Matt Billey]

So, big news on the engine front. I finally received the used fuel injection pump from the eBay auction. It seems to have done the trick, as I was able to get the engine running just as soon as I bled the fuel system. It starts very easily and idles very slowly, like a sewing machine. After letting it warm up slowly for many minutes, I was struck by how much oil it was burning. I'll post a video soon of the first start up, which shows it belching out huge clouds of blue smoke. In reading the manual, I thought it may have been a clogged breather valve that ventilates the crankcase. Apparently, if this is blocked, it can push oil up past the piston rings. So, today I cleaned the valve along with the internal parts of the hand-crank pedestal and clutch housing. The clutch housing was full of thick gray, goopy "oil", if you want to call it that. I sloshed the whole thing down with liberal quantities of diesel and got everything looking alright in there. I refilled the housing with clean lube oil. Hoping this solved the blow-by issue, I started the engine up again. Alas, still burning oil. After pacing around, thinking for a while, I bit the bullet and tore the head off and disconnected the piston and connecting rod from the crankshaft. There is an access port on the side of the crankcase. The piston and con-rod comes out from the top. On first inspection, I only saw some minor scuffing on the piston. Later, I was monkeying around with the rings and one, the lower oil control ring came apart into two pieces in my hand! Ahhh. I see now. That would explain a lot, now wouldn't it? I have a motor-mack coming by tomorrow to measure the bore and piston and possibly do some honing of the cylinder. Hopefully I can get away with putting a new set of rings in it. Apparently, Sabb pistons and liners are rather expensive. Here are some pics.

[JayInOz]

Looks like water mixed with the lube there Matt. And a hone would be a good idea- if needed can you rebore and get hold of oversize piston and rings? It's going to be a lovely boat mate- do you have a tentative launch date in mind? JayInOz

[Matt Billey]

Hi JayInOz,

Yes indeed, water in the oil. My motor-mack friend said it could have been from condensation. Apparently, some engines create a lot of condensation. This engine sat for 5 or 6 years under this old guy's porch, so I'm told. Who knows how much foul weather it saw under there. Hopefully the engine wasn't submerged in seawater. From what I could see, the internals weren't rusted or corroded. They were just covered with this gloppy gray oil.

The motor-mack came today checked out the condition of the piston and cylinder-liner. Measuring everything, he said it all looked pretty darn good, as if the liner had been replaced fairly recently. There was no ridge at the top of the piston-ring travel, like on older worn engines. So, we replaced the rings and honed the bore lightly. Hopefully, this will cure the oil consumption issue. One strong word of advice the motor-mack gave me was to not run the engine much until the boat goes in the water. He said, "When you're ready to run her, take her out past Ten Pound Island and put the boots right to her!" This will burn the rings in, seat them good.

Launch date, you ask? ...... The most accurate way to answer this is to say I'll launch her when she's done. Eight years ago, I said she'd be done in the spring. I never said WHICH spring, though!!

Matt

[chainyank]

Eight Years! And I thought I was patient! It's a good thing the right guys are born with the attention spans huh?!

[Matt Billey]

Yes, Chainyank

If I didn't have patience when I started, I certainly have it now.

I painted the cabin-trunk, the back-side of the rub-rails, and underside of the hatch cover today.

[svaap]

Love the contrast between your painted cabin-sides towards the bare deck!

Did you need to protect the inside of the cabin-sides when cutting for the deadlights, or will the cut be protected/hidden by the bronze hardware.
I'm soon to follow the same routine and would appreciate your insight.

Hope you get your SABB running like it should, without burning oil. Hopefully condensation is the reason for water in the oil. I guess you will probably find the sound of the engine better than the sweatest music!...

Looking forward to every update!

[Matt Billey]

March 21st, 2011

Since last time, I've run the engine with the new set of rings and it seems to have cured the Sabbs drinking problem. I have a squealing noise I'm trying to diagnose and fix, but other than that, I'm moving on towards cleaning and painting the engine in preparation for installing it. Today I pulled the flywheel for two reasons. One to get behind the flywheel where all kinds of grease and grime has gathered and Two to get at the vibration damper housing. Inside this are a couple of bearings that I suspect are dry and/or worn. This could the cause of the squealing noise.

Some of you may know, I recently posted a new thread inquiring where I might find a propeller driveline for my Sabb. My engine didn't come with the variable pitch prop and shaft, etc when I brought it up from North Carolina. I had previously been looking all over the country for sources of used components, as the new parts are out of sight. WB Forum member "Svaap" (who is rebuilding a BEAUTIFUL and ancient double-ended Pilot cutter in Norway) sent a message saying that he had a used one sitting in his barn he would be willing to part with. It gets better. "Svaap" informed me I could HAVE it for the cost of shipping! So, naturally, I jumped on it and today, after much leg-work on Svaap's part, the boxed up driveline arrived, on my birthday, no less. This is one generous fellow! I can't say enough good things about the guy and his eagerness to help me out with my project. The shipping process has been one long fezzle from beginning to end. Svaap has doggedly carted the propeller unit all over the Norwegian countryside looking for a shipper willing to deliver the thing. Finally, FedEx came through with a good deal and now this incredible piece of machinery sits in my boat shed waiting to start its second life in my boat. Thank you very very much, Svaap!! Here are some pics.





[IMG][/IMG]

[chainyank]

Oh what a birthday gift, congrats! And three cheers for SVAAP!!

[Matt Billey]

Hopefully you people aren't getting sick of seeing engine pictures on this wooden boat site. I did some cleaning and painting today. Tomorrow, I'll get heavy with the vibration damper assembly, hoping to find the source of the squeal.

[OEX]

I don't think anyone can get tired of pictures. Just makes us all see how little progress we are making on our own boats :-)

Cheers, Bruce

[Matt Billey]

Here are the videos of the first run of the Sabb. In the first video, you can clearly hear the squealing noise as I crank-start the engine. In the second vid, the noise had already quieted down and the engine was running slowly and quietly. Note the heavy burning of oil. Since then, the new piston rings have cured that issue.

[Matt Billey]

Cockpit coamings, steam-bent cabin-top beam rail, and two cabin-top beams.

[chainyank]

I'd love to see a detail of how you made the connection between the cockpit combing and the cabin side, it is always a troublesome area. I'd love to see how you went about it.

[Peerie Maa]

I'd love to see a detail of how you made the connection between the cockpit combing and the cabin side, it is always a troublesome area. I'd love to see how you went about it.

Halving joint?

[Matt Billey]

Hi Guys and Gals,

Yeah, that cabin-trunk to coaming joint is a simple half-lap. I cut them with the circular saw set to half the thickness of the cabin-trunk. I will use epoxy to glue them together.

Matt

[PeterSibley]

Well done SVAAP ,a very generous action !

and isn't that little Sabb a beautiful little thing ! Perfection !

[Matt Billey]

cabin-top beams and the first of the planking......

[SMARTINSEN]

Awesome work, Matt.

Is that sapele for the cabin top planking? I like the ribbon stripe, and it will look great with a bright finish, at least on the inside. Is that your plan?

[Matt Billey]

Hi there, Smartinsen

The cabin-top planking is made from wana. It's kind of a medium-density mahogany-esque wood. It came from Surinam (Northeastern South America). I plan to keep it bright on the inside and canvas the top. It does look good oiled or varnished.

Matt

[Matt Billey]

Cabin-top 2/3 planked. Drilled the initial hole for the stern-tube (1" diameter). I'm going to set up a boring-bar rig to open up the hole to the required 1 1/4" diameter.






first coats of light and darker green paint on the hatch-cover and rub-rail

[A.Greever]

Looks beautiful!

[OEX]

holy cow!!!!!!!

I will tell you one thing.... Matt is one modest guy. I dropped by a few weeks ago to take a look at her. To put it mildly Matt is a master and has a very good eye for beauty. The work is just top notch and the choices he is making for cabin, etc are, to me, just perfect. Doesn't hurt hes a good guy as well!

My only issue with the whole project is that I need to be rich and she needs to be for sale.

Cheers, Bruce

[Matt Billey]

Starboard-side rub-rail

[Matt Billey]

A quick walk-around video I just made the other day and posted to YouTube.

[svaap]

Hi Matt!

Your little ship is really a beauty, and will probably be a thrill to sail.
I notice that the propeller-head has received a bit of love and care....looks nice.

I was wondering about the wedges around the stanchions. Are they glued in any way? Will the seam be caulked?

Your work is of very high quality and really inspirational to follow!