Nirvana 1941 Chris Craft

[Bob Vic]

I don't know the age. I suspect that it's new old stock as that specific impeller being Sherwood B isn't currently available. My best guess is that the rubber has "aged" and fallen to pieces with some work. Although I have an unused Sherwood B impeller in hand, I'm not game to use it. I have a brand new impeller from Cassell on the way.

[Alan]

Yes, the old how long has this "rubber" been stored saga. Sure can get you into hot water

[Darren]

Yes agreed guys, rubber is not good with aging even if unused.
It will soon return to it's natural state.
Brand new (fresh) best way to go

[Bob Vic]

Finally got around to having a cover made for Nirvana, getting ready for the trip to Narrandera. When I picked up the boat from the trimmer in Sale(excellent job BTW) the trailer wouldn't roll up to the car. After crawling around the brakes and some head scratching trying to figure out the problem, it was eventually evident that both pistons had seized. Bugger. So to get home I used a trolley jack and tools at the trimmer to remove both brake calipers. Bloody boats and water!

[WoodRay]

That's a bugger wit the brakes Bob. What was seized? The pistons or the sliding pins?
The cover looks top notch. Looks like I'll be using them too after seeing yours.

[Bob Vic]

Pistons were both seized. Rusted in situ. I never leave the brake locked on while the boat is in storage for this very reason. Given a choice between having the brakes not working, but the wheel turning.... versus the brakes not working but the brakes locking up the wheels, I'll take the former every time. Very happy with the boat cover, it's a work of art and IMO very good value.

[Bob Vic]

Hmmm... the definition of insanity? Replacing Chinese crap with more Chinese crap.

[Bob Vic]

Very pleased with how Nirvana performed at Narrandera. By way of follow up... after replacing the water pump impeller before the weekend, the engine was still overheating. Craig found some small pieces of the old impeller vanes stuck in the inlet to the exhaust manifold... and overheating problem solved. Then on Saturday a vibration developed in the low to mid rpm range. The prop was dinged on one blade, with the tip bent forwards. So post Narrandera I need a prop repair and a fresh gasket in the water pump plus a check on the prop shaft for run out. Given that the weekend was the first decent run, I'm very happy with the boat.

[Bob Vic]

It's been a while since I posted anything about Nirvana, so it's update time. The prop was repaired by Steve Moritz in Murray Bridge, and fortunately he had a new prop in stock of the same size and pitc. I bought the new prop and fitted it as the best prop for the job. The repaired prop had been worked a few times and the blades had become thin so now it is my spare. Fitting the prop was a real PIA. To get the prop off the fuel tank had to come out to get to the rudder to remove it. Arrgh! Since the new prop was fitted, we had a few runs locally on the Gippsland Lakes and everything went well. Apart from a loss of power at random times. This turned out to be an issue with the old (rebuilt) amp meter sucking too many of the 6 volts available to run the engine. Once by passed everything ran perfectly. Then we took Nirvana up to the Murray and had a run at Torumbarry. Over the course of the Saturday I noticed a drop in oil pressure. It was good on start up at 25 psi but as the oil warmed it dropped to 10 psi. The manual says the oil pressure at 1600 rpm and above needs to be not less than 10 psi and at idle 6 psi or more. Back home and after consulting Craig, the oil was drained and strained looking for metal filings. This engine does not have an oil filter. No filings were observed so the oil has now been sent off to the lab for analysis. The list of possible issues range from a dud pressure gauge, buggered bearings, oil that's too thin/light, or the need to up the pressure relief valve. Or combination of the above or something that we as yet have not thought of. Stay tuned.

[Alan]

Looks great just sitting there, shame you can't see the prop under it