Changing the starter motor on a Yanmar 2GM20

Whilst weather bound in Newlyn there were 2 days with no sun and insufficient wind to operate the wind generator (the harbour is well sheltered from the West) and I had been using power for the heater, cool box etc., so I decided to run the engine for a while. All I got was a click from the starter solenoid, having checked those connections I could and finding nothing the engine finally turned over after several dozen attempts. I stopped and started the engine several times without further problems but at the beginning of a long trip I was not inclined to take the risk of the fault re-occurring.

It was not practical to check every connection and switch but they did not appear to be the problem and the battery voltage was fine so the starter solenoid was the likely culprit. These cost £40 - £50 but there are two types and before I got the motor off I did not know if it was a Bosch or Hitachi. Checking further I found that a new Bosch starter motor and solenoid could be got for £125 (plus vat), as the motor was likely original and 25 years old I went for a complete unit and had it shipped to the harbour masters office at Newlyn.

Getting the old motor off was a challenge, the bolt heads were perfect but with an 8 inch lever on a socket I could not shift either, and I could not get a longer leaver (even if I had one) onto the lower bolt and a longer lever directly onto the top bolt would have risked the lever hitting the aft fuel injector and / or the fuel return union - not to be risked. Also I could not bring a lump hammer down on the leaver to free the bolt.

The original Hitachi starter motor, the alternator and air filter
removed, note how clean the retaining bolt is.

In the end I shifted the bolts by using a short extension, a UJ and the long extension to get the ratchet handle just clear of the front of the engine and with the extension rod resting on something solid. I then had to stand on the leaver and use my whole weight to jerk the bolts free, after moving the bolts about one flat the bolts came out easily just using finger pressure and are in perfect condition.

Without the starter motor.

The new Bosch motor and solenoid fitted.

Getting the alternator back on is a challenge, the standard loom
is short so you need to support it from underneath and hold it
in position with a knee whilst connecting the wires.
An added complication this time was a wire that had been
cut very short by whoever fitted the external regulator no longer
being securely fitted into the plug so I replaced the two wires
and the plug with a couple of connecters.

Tips:

It is tempting to take the solenoid off of the motor with the motor in place, as I did, that is not recommended, refitting is tricky with the motor off the engine and even now knowing how it is done I am not sure I could do it with the motor in place.

Try some penetrating oil (always ensure you have some aboard), unfortunately it didn't help in this case.

Make sure you have a decent socket set preferably hex rather than 12 point, long extensions, a good UJ and a long T Bar., my 3/8" set was barely long enough. I will be adding a long 1/2" extension and TBar to my tool kit (which already has a 1/2" to 3/8" converter).

2022 St Kilda Days 6 - 16 Stuck in Newlyn.

It is now Sunday, day 11 and I have been here 5 days and it looks like I will be here for a long time, I need a couple of days of clear weather and not much sea off of Lands End, at the moment there is no window apparent for at least a week. 

Todays the wind is light but its forecast to come in from the North West - dead on the nose going to the Irish coast and almost so going to Milford Haven. Increasing to Force 6 at times tomorrow and it is a very cold wind. Depending on which model you look at there could be gusts over 40 knots on Wednesday or Thursday and another band of high winds arriving next weekend.

The European Centre for Medium range Weather Forecasting
(ECMWF) forecast gust map for early Thursday.

And the ECMWF for next Sunday. 39 knots off Lands End
but 57 Knots off the coast of Ireland and that could easily
be further east.

The weather systems are complicated and the forecasts are constantly changing, even a day or two out so I can only hope they change for the better.

In the meantime, the list of odd jobs needed on the boat is already unusually short and soon there will be nothing left that I can do here, almost an unheard of situation on a boat.

Update Tuesday:

The UK Met Office inshore forecast…. here it comes.

Lyme Regis to Lands End including the Isles of Scilly - Strong wind warning

24 hour forecast: West 4 to 6 backing southwest 6 or 7. Slight or moderate, becoming moderate or rough, then very rough later in far west. Rain then showers. Good, occasionally moderate.

Outlook for the following 24 hours: Southwest 6 or 7, occasionally gale 8 at first, veering northwest 4 or 5, increasing 6 or 7 for a time. Moderate or rough, but very rough at first in west and slight later in lyme bay. Rain or showers. Good, occasionally poor. 

  

Lands End to St Davids Head including the Bristol Channel - Strong wind warning

24 hour forecast: Southwesterly 4 to 6, increasing 6 or 7, perhaps gale 8 later in west. Slight at first in east, otherwise moderate becoming moderate or rough, then very rough in west. Rain then showers. Good, occasionally moderate.

Outlook for the following 24 hours: Southwesterly 6 to gale 8, veering westerly or northwesterly 4 to 6, increasing 7 or gale 8 for a time. Moderate or rough, but very rough at first in west and slight later in east. Showers. Good, occasionally moderate.

A rough sea is not normally something I will set out into, especially near Lands End. Very rough there does not bare thinking of in those waters.

There may be a window Friday/ Saturday to get to Milford but the models do not agree.

Update Friday 8th April

Finally I will be moving out, initially to anchor and save a days mooring fee that are now rather expensive summer rates. Then tomorrow I will head off to Milford Haven, ideally I would go on the morning tide at 02:30 but the wind is likely to be a cold northerly and it would be wind against tide going round Lands End. So, unless the forecasts change, I'll leave at lunch time when winds will either be lighter and / or hopefully favourable and the sea will have had some time to calm down. The downside will be a long night at sea.

I had been having occasional problems with the starter motor solenoid needing several pushes of the starter button to get the starter engaged so whilst weather bound, I took the opportunity to replace the engines starter motor as described here.

Click here for the trip to Milford Haven.

2022 St Kilda, Day 5 To Newlyn.

The forecast for later this week is not looking good so that even though there was no wind in the anchorage on Tuesday, but with the promise of some to come, I left at 07:45 to catch the tide, very light airs from the north set in as I passed St Anthony Head, so I tried to sail flying the cruising chute but essentially drifting on the tide too close to the Manacles. There was a danger of losing the favourable tide so on went the engine. 

With only a knot and a half of tide, a smooth sea and no wind I cut the corner and went fairly close into the Lizard. The wind stayed very light with visibility varying from less than a mile to greater than 6 miles. A few miles out of Newlyn some wind, up to F3 filled, in from the SW before veering to the NW as it was a head wind and variable and I was less than an hour out I continued under engine getting to Newlyn at 14:45.

33 miles in 7 hours.

When I arrived on Tuesday, the forecast had not been good, Force 7 coming in on Thursday night. As I write this bit (Friday lunch time) it is blowing a very cold F5 gusting to around F7 and the boat is rocking quite a bit in the harbour. The models disagree on what is going to happen from Sunday on, some show reasonable winds to get to the Scilly Isles, but this wind is likely to remain very cold so it is not an attractive option. The models diverge even more for next week with some suggesting strong winds but not agreeing when they will come, others showing reasonable conditions. There is no point in trying to guess what will happen at least until tomorrow and probably not for 2 or 3 days.

The view from Newlyn east on Friday morning, the sea relatively
calm in the offshore wind.

Slide show of pics from Portland to Newlyn:

Click here for stuck in Newlyn for some time!

2022 St Kilda Day 4 & 5 to St Mawes.

The Portland inshore route, normally I would
be a little closer in heading towards the Bill but
I was sailing off a Lee shore so stayed a bit further
out which on a neap tide still gave me a smooth
ride over the Ledge which can be a bit rough.

Day 4

I left Portland at 05:45, half an hour late as the alarm did not go off, perhaps fooled by the change to BST, I motored past the eastern entrance as there was a merchant ship heading for it and I wanted to be well clear, I was then able to sail in 12 - 20 knots of wind and rather more for about an hour, all the way to Plymouth, although there was rather less as I rounded the Bill. 

Sailing down the Bill somewhat reduces the risk from lobster pots but you need the wind to be from the NE through to SE to make this practical as winds from the west are disturbed or blocked by Portland.

It was close to a dead run from the Bill with the wind about 10 degrees on the starboard quarter and then from about 11:00 with it from 10 - 20 degrees off to port. The sea was unfortunately well off the port quarter so the boat was rolling a lot with the occasional broach, especially in the middle of Lyme Bay when the sea was moderately high for several hours as the tide turned to be against the wind.

Making 5 and often more than 6 knots it was a quick passage, I could have gone a bit quicker but frequently reefed the headsail to better control the boat in the steep, breaking sea.

The timing was quite good as the foul flooding tide eased as I passed Start Point which saved me some of the grief you often get from rough seas off of Salcombe and I had a fair tide past bolt tail to Plymouth.

Entering Plymouth harbour was rather entertaining, naturally the wind freshened and I was reaching quickly whilst trying to sort out the lights complicated by a large RFA and HMS Somerset at anchor changing the pattern of background lights and a warship departing without AIS getting between me and a couple of key marks.

I anchored in Jennycliff Bay just after 22:00  in 20 knots of wind which disappeared a few minutes later and I had a quite night.

72 NM over the ground in 17 hours.

Day 5

I left at 07:40 with a favourable tide but the brisk northerly died as I was weighing anchor and was light and variable until I got just past Rame Head under engine, then it was again a run under headsail only all the way to St Mawes.

After the quite night the sea was smooth as I left and with winds generally at the upper end of Force 4 or a light Force 5 the sea never got to the heights I had the previous day but it was still tiring. Video of the SeaFeather working on a broad reach with a quartering sea, best viewed full screen

Entering the St Mawes anchorage and only 1 boat at anchor,
one on a visitors buoy and a few local boats up the river, come
Easter it will start to get busy with visitors and from 1st May
when many of the local boats launch it will likely be heaving.

A fairly quick trip, 39 mile in less than 9 hours at an average speed of 4.7 knots over the ground.

Click here for the trip round the Lizard to Newlyn.

2022 St Kilda Day 3. Crows and wind instruments don’t mix.

Today I learned not to write that it’s been a smooth 2 days before the day has ended.

Just after finishing I heard some loud squawking from the top of the mast. The crow flew off but not before doing some damage. Fortunately I checked and found the wind instruments were not working although the sensor is turning and pointing. Presumably it disturbed the connection or damaged the cable.

I am now in the marina waiting for a rigger to help fix it, apart from my arthritis and general decrepitude it’s really a 2 man job, one fiddling and one checking to see if it’s working. Hopefully it can be fixed otherwise I could be here for a while.

Fixed this morning (Saturday), off again tomorrow. The forecast is reasonable although it could be a bit blower at times, and F6 further west and east so I’ll need to keep an eye on the forecast. 

There is some seriously nasty weather coming in on Thursday with some models showing northerly gust of 50 knots so I’ll have to make sure I am somewhere very safe by then, Newlyn would be favourite and possible if the weather behaves itself, with Fowey or the Fal as back ups.

Click here for the trip to St Mawes

2022 St Kilda Days 1 & 2 to Portland

Day 1

Two days that went very smoothly, apart from finding that I had put one mainsail slide in upside down! 

The train was on time and I opted to take the Bus from Southampton rather than train to Netley then picking up the same bus service, I was fortunate to cover the half mile walk in time to catch the bus with about 2 minutes to spare and I was in Hamble an hour or two earlier than would have been the case if I had continued by train.

One thing that puzzled me, I got to Southampton with one change of train and it cost c £25, the alternate service (2 out of every 3 trains during the day) involved three changes, tales longer and costs £42!

A very short hop on the water taxi out to the boat and I was underway at 14:20 more than an hour ahead of scheduled with the boat fully prepared for sea, to make the tide I had expected to have to put on the sheets etc whilst underway. It was a pleasantly warm afternoon with about 10 knots of wind a little east of south.

Hamble to the anchorage behind Hurst.

Entering Southampton water there was some commercial traffic so I continued under engine on the east side until it was past then headed towards Hurst, sailing from Calshot point and making good progress on the ebb tide. The wind started to veer when I was halfway and then died, I gave it an hour then motored the last few miles arriving at 17:35 for a quite but short night. 15 miles in five and a half hours.

The Hurst anchorage, I was much closer in then when I stopped
off here last year.

Day 2

A very early start was needed and I woke up an hour before the alarm and thought I might as well get started and was underway at 03:00. I have compensated a little by changing ships time to BST a couple of days early, partly to make tomorrows early start seem better but mainly because the instruments are still on BST from last year.

Leaving early turned out to be a good move. Going down the Needles channel the wind was only 4 or 5 knots from the north but with 3 knots and more of following tide there was not enough to maintain steerage in the strong tides of the channel so I motored out to SW Shambles when I got there and turned towards Anvil Point the wind piped up to c 10 knots and I had a Force 4 N - NE breeze  all the way to Portland vs the forecast E or NE, that was good news as I was going much faster and covered the 35 miles in 7 hours on one tide.

It was a bit chilly but not really cold and it warmed up quickly from about 9:30 and by lunch time it was 28 degrees.

Dawn off of St Alban's Head.

I was the only one in the main anchorage, not even a single
resident boat on the moorings, and just one boat on the moorings
outside of the marina.

Tomorrow is likely to be interesting, a breezy day is promised and I'll be using the inshore route rather later in the "gate" than I have done before, with a N or NE wind forecast I should even be able to sail round which at least will reduce the risk from Lobster pot floats. However the forecast wind strength for Saturday has been increasing over the last couple of days and if that trend continues it could make the inshore route iffy and I could be delayed,

Slide show of photos so far:

Click here for the next post.