BLUEMOMENT

Last night was a breezy one- strongest we've had this winter so far. And from the east which is not pleasant here.

I hope we are not in for a prolonged spell of easterlies again this winter- last year was miserable.

Still, boatie survived without any apparent dings ( as did her near neighbour, Claymore)

If it calms down I WILL be going for a sail this winter.

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Easterly weather is usually drier and sunnier in Argyll than Westerly weather.

I like Easterlies.

I am hoping to wrestle the fresh water drain plug out of my engine this weekend.

Good luck!

If I see a dinghy hanging off the stern of Fairwinds I will stop to say hello as we kayak past tomorrow.



Depending on the level of swearing.......

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It widnae budge

Managed to round the fresh water drain plug on Storyline's engine earlier this year. It felt like I had the right sized spanner on it but there must have been a build up of paint. Not sure what to do now - am sure the highly skilled engineers at Ardfern could get it off but that means £'s and I can think of more important things that need doing. Frustrating because the engine is a spring chicken compared to the boat and it is a bit of a pride & joy job (my mechanical skills are limited so sadly I compensate by keeping it spotlessly clean) !

Nick, what have you tried to get yours off ?

Storyline wrote:Nick, what have you tried to get yours off ?

Tried heating and cooling (freezing spray and mini-blowlamp) but because of the position of the plug it is impossible to really heat/cool it in isolation from the surrounding metal, most notably the engine mount.



It's right under the fuel pump and inexplicably pointing downwards so there isn't room between it and the engine mount to get anything other than an open-ended spanner on. We snapped a jaw off one 8mm spanner.

Only other options seem to be removing the fuel pump or detaching the engine mount from the engine block, slackening the bottom nut and swivelling the mount out of the way - but I am worried about disturbing the alignment with option 2. And - looking at the pic - I don't think it would swivel anyway.

Nightmare location. Is there a special tool available or could you get 2 spanners on at the same time?

Nick, can you tell us why you want to remove this plug? Yes, I know it's to let the water out but for what purpose?

It might help to break the paint seal first. Use a sharp pointy tool, (ground sharp old screwdriver, or file tang or similar) and scrape the junction between plug thread and block thread, scraping away the paint so that the paint is removed.
Then squirt some lube fluid (WD40 or similar) onto the exposed thread. Leave for a while.

The thread is probably a tapered thread, so once its started it should come easily.

That looks just like the brass plug that holds my pencil anode. My drain plug is like a car one, where the unscrew-able inner part has a barbed hose tail.

I agree with scraping off the paint seal. Diesel is quite a good penetrant if Plus Gas or similar isn't to hand.

Is there room to get a large-ish shifter (monkey wrench) on to it (maybe after taking off the fuel pump)?

Just seen your post on the op and someone mentioned sockets but you said there was not enough space but it got me thinking that if you were prepared to sacrifice one maybe there might be a way.

Take socket and cut just enough off the open end so that it does fit. Then cut a hole across/through the socket at the other end just large enough to take a small strong piece of metal rod (nail? maybe too thick and also might bend). This will give you something to get a bigger tool onto.

This presupposes;
You have access to a vice, angle grinder, drill press, inexhaustible supply of drill bits and an ability to understand my poor explanation.

Edit: a rare situtation where a soft as butter/cheap as chips type of socket would be best
Edit 2: to shorten the socket you could cut the end off that the wrench goes into as you will not need that bit.

I would remove the fuel lift pump out of the way to get more leverage, then use a brake adjusting spanner to loosen of the plug after cleaning off the paint. ( I have used two brake adjusting spanners before, because using one was going to chew the plug) If that fails, I would remove the mounting bracket after marking marks for reassembly.
HTH
Billy

BarnacleBill wrote:I would remove the fuel lift pump out of the way to get more leverage, then use a brake adjusting spanner to loosen of the plug after cleaning off the paint. ( I have used two brake adjusting spanners before, because using one was going to chew the plug) If that fails, I would remove the mounting bracket after marking marks for reassembly.
HTH
Billy

There is no room to get a brake plug spanner on unless I remove the engine mount, which is looking favourite at the moment.

Think I read you were worried about alignment but it ought not to be a problem as long as the other 3 engine mounts are good - should it?

claymore wrote:Think I read you were worried about alignment but it ought not to be a problem as long as the other 3 engine mounts are good - should it?

That seems to be the general consensus