Engine woes

Our sailing season for 2012 was seriously curtailed when returning to our berth one day after a lovely sail with Gaz and Laura, the engine refused to go into reverse (astern).  So, rather than move gently backwards onto our berth, we carried on drifting towards the rather large and expensive motor yachts at the end of the pontoon.  Luckily, there were quite a few people who saw our predicament and despite the embarrassment of being the centre of attention when something goes wrong, I was grateful that people were there to fend us off.  We got back on the berth, going in bow first and manhandled the boat round to moor up stern first, as we usually have Phira (the best and easiest access being from the transom ladder).

I would never have believed how difficult and time consuming it would be to get the problem sorted. 

Marine engineers that work on small boat engines are few and far between.  Official dealers wanted travelling time, accommodation, etc., paid for on top of the repairs.  The marina recommended someone who had been a chief engineer in the merchant navy, who had recently set up in business.  He came to look at the engine, admitted he'd never seen one before (it's a Yanmar 2GM - one of the most common engines on yachts - it would be like a car mechanic saying that he's never seen a Ford Focus or something similar!).  I also had to explain to him what a saildrive gearbox was and he went away with my workshop manual.  Returning a week later, he gave me a list of parts that he considered necessary, along with the instruction that the boat would need to be craned out for 5 days, a shipwright would have to be employed to take out some of the GRP moulding and wood round the engine housing.  Along with his estimated labour costs, the total came to well over £3000!  I wanted a second opinion, especially as he hadn't instilled me with great confidence in his ability.  Another marine engineer, based at the marina, was very ill at the time and was unavailable, but promised that when he was better he would get in touch.

Despite many phone calls, I had no luck finding a local engineer and I really wasn't prepared to pay over the odds for what I was sure was a relatively small job.  To end this tale of woe a little more promptly, I saw the 'ill' engineer recently and he reported that he was working again and would come and start work.  After trying a few simple solutions with adjusting cables, etc., he took off the plate with the gear selector mechanism - bingo! the shaft had on it the inner ring from a bearing, the rest being somewhere inside the top end of the saildrive unit.  Bits were retrieved using a magnetic device and a new bearing, which cost all of £7 was fitted and the engine was back to it's usual reliable, smooth running! Can't believe how simple the job was in the end.  Ironically, the bearing wasn't on the extensive list of parts that the first guy had given me.  Don't know if there's a lesson to be learnt from this incident, but I will certainly be cautious about who I get to work on our boat and maybe sign up for some engineering courses!