Category: Atomic 4 engine

Whale Journals – Sept 2015 – Land Locked

“It’s a simple carburetor” So says the salty dog with 70 + years experience sailing and repairing old motors.  Terry and Jude got the correct carb kit sent to their local dealer, picked it up and trundled over to Michael Smith’s garage, where a simple tuneup turned into a long afternoon’s work. Marguerite, Michael’s wife peered around a parked car “Are you coming up for dinner dear? You’ve missed your Tea.”  Lots of little parts and carburetor cleaner later we had it back together.

Kim, the commodore of our local sailing club who also has an old Atomic 4 engine in his sailboat, recommended another inline fuel filter to keep the carburetor free of any bits of corrosion that might sneak in from the old manual fuel pump and sediment bowl. So we removed the  copper fuel tube between the fuel pump and the carburetor. Then we installed a fuel grade rubber hose from the fuel pump to the inline fuel filter we had mounted on the wall of the engine compartment and another hose from the filter into the carburetor. We removed and cleaned the sediment bowl and reinstalled it. We replaced the copper scavenge tube which carries uncombusted fuel from the manifold back to the carburetor float bowl. Then we carefully scraped old gasket material off the carburetor, put on new gaskets, fitted the halves back together and reinstalled the carb on the engine. After all this intricate work we were quite pleased with ourselves, believing  we had solved all problems and now the carburetor would function like new.

On our next free day we headed to the Parrot ship to take her on a test run out of the harbour.  I had charged both batteries so she started up right away. But we still couldn’t find a low idle. We backed her out of the slip anyway and got out of the harbour on a sunny day with no wind to enjoy a couple of hours putting around.

Back inside the harbour we were heading down the fairway when Terry pulled back on the throttle and the engine quit while still in gear. I steered while he pulled the gear lever into neutral and tried to start the engine – nothing. Battery check, restart – nothing. more throttle – nothing. Full choke, less throttle -finally the engine fired into life on the fourth try – whew! Deftly shifting back and forth between forward and neutral we manouvered Blue Parrot into her slip and docked her. Then we checked the engine compartment. The carburetor was still leaking.

This is the month of giving up on vehicles. Beluga, our 1999 Chevy Express cargo van that we insulated and fitted out with salvation army furniture 12 years ago is no longer safe to drive. That white whale of a van ate lots of fuel but we only used him once or twice a week. He was our 4 season 5 star accommodation in the bush and got us into many places that urban SUVs feared to tread. Somehow the back end of his frame rusted out even though we had never used it in the salt water. Crappy metal? Who knows. Between the demise of Beluga and the Parrot ship’s leaky carburetor we are not having good luck getting to the places where the whales are hanging out.

Whale Journals – August 2015 – the carbur ate our plans!

So, this month was going to be the month we finally got out during this incredible hot, sunny weather to sail around the gorgeous inlets and hang out with whales. We gathered all the equipment we would need, no mean feat after a major move. Freedive suits, masks, snorkels, fins, fishing gear, spare parts for the engine, repaired dinghy and kayak, camping gear, camera and sound recording gear including hydrophone to listen for whale communications. All was pulled from boxes and bins that we’d stashed away in corners of the house.

We were planning an itinerary with food, water and fuel refills when we took the Parrot ship out for a test run after months of sitting in the Powell River harbour. There wasn’t a lot of wind but we had a gentle sail and motored back to our slip in the harbour. She seemed to be running OK but wouldn’t move into a slow idle. So a few days later we tried to adjust the idle mixture and throttle screw on the old Zenith 68 carburetor of the good ol’ Atomic 4 [industrial WWII designed gas engine].

I noticed some pink colour on the carburetor. There was a little around the choke and throttle tubes as well. Oh oh – you guessed it – gas leak. There wasn’t much but neither of us was willing to take a chance that it wouldn’t get worse. Not wishing to blow the boat up we phoned our salty old mentor Michael Smith to ask his advice. “Carburetor needs a tuneup. Get a kit and we can do it in the garage here at the apartment. It’s a simple carburetor, won’t take very long.” Famous last words….