If you wonder who "Marcel" is ... well, we tend to give (or should I say, M. does that ???) important components names on our boat! It seems to keep "bad spirits" at bay! Or the "Klabautermann"!
It seems to work!
For example, we have: Felix (wind generator), Steinhaeger (wind vane, and don't ask me why this particular name!), and "Marcel", our diesel engine.
Before Marcel knew its/his identity, it/he was installed on our boat in 1981 and did perform very well for all the years to come! With our guidance, we had him down to Cuba, Bahamas, the Caribbean, and a couple of times back again. What can we say? No complaints on our part (most of the time!).
However, Marcel started to raise some issues. Some we did not hear very well, others were pretty loud and clear! Like giving us issues when we tried to negotiate the entrance to Bermuda in bad weather, or passing through Riviere Salee in Guadeloupe (at night, of course) to meet the bridge openings, and at some other times.
But Marcel (definition: reliably, trustworthy, hard working, follows order (?) ...) made it clear on our home bound journey that we had to give him some TLC. And we promised! And just to remind us on the last start-up in the season of 2011 of our promise, he waited a good 30 seconds before he agreed to fire up.
Ok, we got - definitely - the message.
I am (H. that is) not a diesel mechanic .. just in case anyone wonders!
But! I prepared myself. In addition to the Vovlo workshop manual (which assumes you can read a lot between the lines and instructions given), I also had a copy of Nigel Calder's "Marine Diesel Engines" book (2. Edition, 1992 - it uses the Volvo MD 11/17 series in a lot of images and descriptions; the newer one does not!). In addition, and I was very happy to come across an excellent website by a German sailor who offered information on a lot of the gaps I found in the other books, and who was also very helpful with his emails when I had questions. Thanks Manfred!
His Homepage: http://www.kavenga-segeln.de/
His engine repair details:
http://www.kavenga-segeln.de/media/2b574205c78c63f8ffff893aac144227.pdf
There are also many other boat related projects for studying. The pages are worth an extended visit.
I also found detailed drawings at this website (and some ideas about costs involved; however, pricewise I was doing better at French Creek; see below). All parts, from bolt to washers are listed here, together with part numbers. This helps!
http://www.marinepartseurope.com/en/e-volvo-penta-603-MD11D.aspx
Having said all this ... time to get "Marcel" his TLC.
In case, you may not have noticed, I live in Canada, and yes, we have winter. You know? Winter as in Europe right now?
Dressed like a Michelin person (you know, the heavy set guy will all these tires around him, that's me when I go to the boat), I try to squeeze myself into the engine compartment and around the engine. There are times I get cold feet - in every sense. But the results show, piece by piece the engine comes apart and is being moved into my workshop.
Taking things apart is the easy part ... I have been told. I hope they are (definitely!!!!) wrong!
The forecast if for nasty weather. That means, I can drop my Michelin outfit and work on cleaning the parts I removed. The valves are leaking and need to be grinded (or replaced, I don't know yet).
Fortunately, we have - "close by" in Clayton, NY (http://www.frenchcreekmarina.com/) - a major Volvo distribution and repair centre, and Wilburt (the owner) has always been very helpful to get parts to us and give us great advice while we were cruising in exotic places. My guess is, I will see him again shortly!
Stay tuned!
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