Do it Yourself Boatwork: One Year Later

It has been roughly a year since I undertaken a major overhaul on Jean-du-Sud. The key piece of the overhaul was the installation of a new engine. That install was influenced by some of may sailing experiences and other DIY videos or write-ups availlable.

Is it Worth It?

Projects of this magnitude take a lot of time. The engine install itself took three months while I had planned for one. Someone from the Alberg 30 facebook page told me to have look at Dan Gardner’s book How Big Things Get Done. I read the book. Most of the project management ideas do not pertain to boatwork (e.g. how politics affect big projects), but I found two ideas to be applicable in an overhaul. The first idea is to plan slow and to act fast. Planning costs very little (but your time) and it can be done during the winter. Assembling should be done swiftly, with proper preparation.

Second (and so obvious), projects become easier with experience. I overall found that the projects this year were much easier to plan than last year’s engine install. They were obviously less difficult per se, but I was also much less hesitant in doing things that took me (what felt like) ages last year. I wrapped three big projects in 1.5 months. You learn a lot by doing stuff yourself. I did, and I still do, and it feels that I am slowly getting on the better side of the learning curve.

But this is Not the Biggest Plus

In the spring of 2024, I delivered a sailboat from the Bahamas all the way up to Canada. It was a 20 days trip, with 6 days completely offshore.

The boat to be delivered changed owners five times, and stayed in the Bahamas, each time « one more season », milking every ounce that the boat could offer. In having us bringing the boat back to Canada, the intent of the owner was to begin a long due overhaul.

Just after doubling Cap Hatteras, 75 nautical miles away from the coast, the wind died and we had to use the engine. It is at that moment that a fatigued waterlock exploded. We noticed because water was slowly going over the floors when the boat heeled. It then took a minute to make an educated guess as to where the water ingress came from (hot and dark water = exhaust), but the bilge pump chose that exact moment to disconnect from its exhaust, shifting our priorities. It took a good ten minutes to fix the pump, stop the engine and acquiring a certainty that there was no further water ingress in the boat. It was not exactly a zen moment.

It then took two of us and six hours, from the tubing that was availlable onboard, to assemble a waterlock bypass allowing us to recover the use of the engine. Fixing the tubing took an hour. Prepping took five. We had to figure out if any repair was doable onboard, figure out what parts were availlable on the boat, then dissassembly one rear cabin and finally move the battery compartment that was underneat, so that we could have enough room to remove the waterlock.

The repair worked. We recovered the use of the engine and motored our way to Norfolk for proper repairs. By « proper », I mean reinstalling a waterlock to prevent water from getting in the combustion chamber once the engine got shut down.

Conclusion

There is no way I would have been able to bypass an exhaust system while at sea if I had not installed an engine by myself. I understood the problem, understood the repair and was able to weight the options. There is no way that this knowledge can be acquired by having a professional engine installation. By far, this is the biggest plus of working on systems by yourself.