LM27 Engine bay bulkhead

[tonyp]

Our 27 has a non-original bulkhead arrangement between the engine bay and the pump/ battery compartment. It consists of 3 boards, the lower (home-made), two of which need replacing/modifying. The top board is the original "riser" to the step up from wheelhouse to cockpit. Below this is a piece of non-marine "blockboard" that rests in the mounded grip engine bed. Then below and forward of this is another piece of blackboard shaped to drop into the keel sump for the pump. Both home-made pieces are covered in sound insulation, so I presume they were for noise reduction.
I would appreciate knowing what the original bulkhead was like, and a photo would probably be very useful.





Many thanks
Tony

PS Excuse the tangle of wires! They'd just been taken off the bulkhead to expose it.

[oceandancer]

Hi Tony,

The Mark 1 LM27 has no bulkhead between the engine and the wheelhouse. This makes for much easier engine maintenance but my surveyor also recons that it poses and increased fire risk between the two spaces! I am happy to have easier engine access and have fitted an auto extinguisher in the engine space.

Regards

Mick Legg

[tonyp]

Thanks, Mick, that explains why there are no fixing points for the lower section. We already have an automatic extinguisher in the engine bay, so I could do away with it. I'll ponder on what to do. If I keep the full height bulkhead I'll certainly make taking it down simpler than at present. The idea of having to get out a screwdriver to remove it before being able to get at the engine in emergency doesn't appeal.
Regards
Tony

[tonyp]

Charles,
In case anyone has a query about engine bay bulkheads and looks for answers here, I'm responding to the comments that came in under the wheelhouse doors which mention the bulkheads. 

Our boat seems very like yours, Charles, with the forward vertical panel of the engine bay fixed to the grp moulding of the forward edge of the cockpit sole.  Engine access is via the large ply hatch set in the cockpit sole. It would seem that Mick's is quite different. Though ours is easier to handle than Mick's, I have reservations about the need to unscrew the forward, vertical board in order to gain access to the hand-start mechanism, (and the impeller).  Though I hope I never have to hand crank the engine, if I did do so, it might be in emergency and having to unscrew bulkheads before getting to the engine won't do much for my blood pressure, which will be surely blown sky high by having to crank the thing anyway!

Regards
Tony.

[oceandancer]

Hi Tony,
I am to take some pics of my engine hatch and anchor hatch as they are obviously quite different. My boat is, after all, 1974 vintage and the 1st one imported into the UK. When I post the pics they will be under "wheelhouse doors"
Regards
Mick

[Charles]

Tony

I have no idea how to hand crank the engine! What I do carry is a pair of jump leads so that if the engine battery failed I could slave from the auxiliary battery.

Most of these boat engines do not appear to have been designed for the space they now occupy; for instance, I think our excellent Sole 26 (a marinised Mitsubishi) was probably originally intended for a dumper truck or similar. Certainly as fitted I cannot see the dip stick, though I know where it is and can remove and replace it by feel, and if I had to replace the impeller, that too would have to be done almost entirely by feel. That is why I have no hesitation in paying a good engineer to service the engine every winter, replacing all the replaceable parts. I have occasionally needed to turn the engine over slightly when the starter motor would not engage and that could be done easily enough by pulling on the fan belt or putting a spanner on the nut at the front end of the crank shaft.

Charles

[tonyp]

Charles,
Our boat received a new engine in 2005, a 24hp Bukh, with hand-crank provision. I'm glad to have it, but having had experience hand-cranking a single cylinder Lister diesel generator I am aware of the effort needed to get things spinning fast enough, and then and timing required to flip the decompressor lever at the right time. The crank goes in to a fitting above and right of the flywheel, just above the impeller. 

Incidentally, while on the matter of recalcitrant engines there is a wonderful Australian product.  I won't give the game away, but have a look at www.nulon.com.au/products/aerosols. !!!! I think you can get it in the UK. Just the name on the can will help you turn the engine. Much better than QuickStart.

Mick, thanks for the offer of some pics.  The wheelhouse door layout would be much appreciated  I've decided our boat must be a Mk 1. It certainly doesn't have any inclined wheelhouse rear bulkheads The age would fit with that too. 

Tony