DAS BOOT

With U96 Safari in dry dock for a major refit before its next rampage on the high seas time to review what was on the Harbor Master’s checklist. The Caterpillar engine had been suffering from major overheating issues and during 2013 had become a cause of serious embarrassment when hill climbing as the engine went on reduced power enabling cyclists of the Lance Armstrong caliber to pass with ease!

“Why has that bloody Check Eng Light come on again?”

“It’s overheating again Captain !”

“Sorry Capt I wasn’t being insubordinate, I said the CAC isn’t SUCKING”

“Will you look at das crap unt der CAC”

Yes, it was a bit dirty

Other refit items were improvements to the crew’s sleeping quarters and an upgrade to the weapons and entertainment suite.

The crew’s quarters need an upgrade

It does seem that RV’s and Submarines suffer the same fate when they are running on diesel power as seen in  “The Hunt for Red October” when the sub was on sea trials prior to the Typhoon Class Sub’s defection to the USA.

“3 Kts max !!! Chay Blyth could have rowed us faster….”

“Get me the people who built this F…ing diesel….. RIGHT NOW!”

“So you are telling me that the F…ing dipstick is marked incorrectly ..and we need a longer F…ing slobber tube?”

U96 was laid down in 1996 with the 3126 CAT engine and I purchased same in 1998 with about 13K miles on it. She was only used on limited forays, went to a rental company for a short while, and was then duly “smudged” and re-entered service in 2005 for the Ahrma National Trials program. During my “Money NO
Object” phase a 2001 Beaver Marquis joined the fleet, served with flying colors, and was replaced eighteen months later with another 2006 model Beaver Marquis with all the bells and whistles. As you can’t drive 2 RV’s at the same time U96 was sent to the Cozy Comfort RV Park as a luxury static rental where she was parked until the great recession.

The 2001 Beaver, a truly superb coach

unreal woodwork and carpentry

Technically very clever ……but

….woodwork not up to previous Beaver standards

With the Beaver returned to the bank, as three mortgages, soon to become ONE came ever closer and depression setting in as personal possessions went out the door one by one it was time to reuse old
faithful after some intensive maintenance. A couple of seasons with the dying Ahrma Trials circuit and the start of ITSA Mtn West and while not the opulent decadence of the Beaver, U96 (Das Boot), has been doing well despite the constant over heating scenario. Finally time to address the matter before this season.

final clean up in the engine bay

Having enlisted the help of Jack, my Bus Mechanic, U96 was duly attacked and offending grease coated items were removed, cleaned, and are now being refitted. The main problem unit, the CAC has gone back in and yesterday the monster cowl was given another dousing of silicone.

Today the thermostat, the heater hose for the extended slobber tube were all collected and awaiting Jack to finish buttoning up. Just the fan to go back in and pipes various to reconnect before refilling the radiator and starting the mighty motor.

The TV was fitted and only needs some minor trim adjustments and then it will be time to dewinterize the water system and fill with fresh checking for leaks as we go.

Another bracket gets fitted for the new flat screen

…..and it all works

Jack pressed on Thursday connecting and checking pipes and hoses and changed the thermostat. The fan and boss are all now back in so seemingly all that remains are the header tank and hoses, the tube
that is known as “slobber” and the rear grille and lights. Finally it will be time to replace the 6 gallons of green coolant and test fire for leaks and any other problems.

Saturday, 29 March, and Spring Break begins ! My arms and shoulders certainly need a break from the driving of the Vintage school bus with 5 speed box. Didn’t get to see Jack last night so I’m assuming he will be here this morning for any last bits. Still plenty to do over the weekend then get the Beemer up and running for AZ and 3-4 days of something completely different.

The morning goes fairly much to plan. Last bolts tightened, slobber tube secured, and radiator filling gets the all clear. With 3 gallons down the hole green stuff starts pouring out of an old tube which has split on moving….. good find. Soon replaced with fresh rubber and the game continues until the header tank says enough. Quick check on oil and transmission fluid and time to hit the start sequence. She runs, no leaks and all looks good. Jacks retracted and wait for the old girl to warm up. All seems good so the rear grille
is secured ready for a run up Mancos Hill tomorrow to see if I hit the jackpot with all this work.

Sunday morning and clean up phase begins prior to the “sea trials”. Spanners, wrenches various, and numerous other bits and bobs are collected and sent back to the workshop. A couple of bags of trash
and a fallen branch are cleared out of the way. The new mattress is humped back over the engine room and the bedding reapplied. Pink antifreeze runs freely from the taps and the water heater is brought back into the circuit and fired up. Generator gets a test run along with the onboard heaters as its pretty chill this morning (well it is only March when all’s said and done!) Tanks replenished and the engine started  ready for the off.

Crew quarters ready for the road

With everything up and running the Captain gives the order to cast off fore and aft and with cable TV,water, and shore power disconnected U96 puts to sea. Conditions, coolish at 49F, a strong South Westerly wind 20-25 mph and overcast. Leaving Dolores the temps are showing 170 on the rad and transmission oil just coming up to 140. U96 makes nothing of the Dolores hill and with full left rudder we turn for the 18mile run to Mancos. Plain sailing here and the motor certainly seems to have much more power in reserve. Temps now 170 rad and 180 oil. Leaving Mancos the climb begins and the last time we came up here the red light came on, the engine de-rated   and we were down in second gear at 15mph with the Hazard lights on! Today she sails up the climb, downshifts only to 5th and maintains 50-55 to the top!!! No issues on the return run with max rad temp only touching 185 and oil at center gauge around 200.

With a very successful refit completed U96 embarks on a “party barge” Sunday trip to friends where much drinking will be the order of the day and we have our mobile hotel on wheels parked in their driveway. Time to bring on the other “Das Boot” a bit like a Brit Yard of Ale !

 

……. a refreshing version of “DAS BOOT”

TONY DOWN

 

With the workshop ready for action a new list of “to do’s” comes to the fore with Brenda’s wish list to pop down to AZ during Spring Break. Prior to this the old problemee of the overheating radiator on the Safari has to be addressed, she also wants a softer mattress in the machine and a new flat screen TV. 

The problem with the cooling system has got worse over the last 2 years and now, having completed tons of research its time to get the job done. I have read countless articles on the Safari issues, and the very, expensive work that has been done to achieve 4/5th of FA ! Last year I did speak with our local CAT dealers who told me they had fixed many RV’s with this problem. After much discussion I asked what the ball park price was to complete the task and was told ……”around $4000.00″ !!!!

Well of course that is unacceptable so time to get in there and do it myself with the aid of my Master School Bus mechanic, Jack, from the Cortez  bus barn.

The last article I did read, which seemed to finally make sense, was that when CAT built these engines they “mismarked” the dipstick for the oil level. The lower of the two “fill” markers is the correct FULL mark and consequently ALL owners overfill their engines by about 3/4 gallon. The engine then coughs up all this excess oil which goes out down what is called a “slobber tube” and as this stops before the radiator the fan now picks up the hot oil and blows it up the inside of the radiator fins. With the inevitable last few miles up a dusty track to a trials venue the dust from the rear wheels now gets blown onto the hot oil and forms an adobe mix a bit like the old “tarring and feathering”.

So the task is, remove the radiator, with guidance from Jack, spotlessly clean same, extend the slobber tube beyond the radiator…… refit and only fill to the lower level……. and fit 2 new thermostats…. yes, 2 !

All sounds relatively easy until you look into the compartment and realize that this will be a knife fight in a telephone box! A mini clean up in the main bus this morning, bedding off and in the washer and then out with the 18 year old firm mattress. Well at least its a start.

The way in to the CAT 3126

With all the bedding removed the hinged bed top can be lifted on its jacks and I now have access to the monster engine. First time I have really seen the CAT in all its glory in daylight and the problem does not seem quite so daunting when you can see!  It looks like I can straddle it like a horse and actually see all the fittings that need to be undone….. yippee!!    The other thing I did see and touch were the fan blades which have a nice coating of oil all over them which indicates I’m on the right path…… (thinks bubble) if there is that much oil on the fan blades then it will no doubt be all over the radiator.

Just look at the oil on that fan!!

The new mattress arrives and fits well so her ladyship should be well pleased and while I’m out driving she attacks the vintage TV system and manages to dismantle the whole thing ready for the rigging of a modern flat screen model.

Vintage TV anyone ?

Ready for the flat screen

The new flat screen TV arrives, and like so many things delivered today, has a crack in the corner of the housing. She gets it all working and tells me a refund is in order and it can be taped and never seen. Despite a full array of nuts and bolts the ones supplied are the wrong size so 4 shorter ones go on the shopping list.

Jack arrives and we set to and start removing clamps, pipes and hoses. Seems to be going reasonably well and by 1130 we are looking good to remove the radiator……. well not quite enough room so the fan has to be removed, which helps but the mega cowl over the radiator, oil cooler and CAC is just too big! This monster cowl/shroud has to come off and even after removing bolts etc it is still firmly secured by a very generous 1″ wide bead of silicone all the way round needing multiple Stanley knife attacks to cut through…..finally with two of us working and one solid hour of cutting we have it off.

Many pipes, hoses and a fan later

Do you think they used enough silicone ??
For those not familiar with these systems (and of course I’m not) the fan blows everything into the big shroud and with all this silicone preventing any air leaks all that’s blown in MUST pass over the CAC which is the same size as the radiator……. looking at the mess there can have been virtually zero cool air passing through it to the radiator or the transmission oil cooler!!

The CAC which needs a little cleaning

Today’s task then,  is to begin soaking and cleaning 18 years of excess oil and trials venue dust from this giant assembly before reassembly next weekend…… and yes, its pretty nasty! Other discoveries include a snapped mounting bracket on top of the engine, and the fact that this engine has a single thermostat. So more on the shopping list.

The turbo tubes air bracket…. how does that get broken ?

All Sunday’s plans get changed and it becomes “The day of the Mega Wash”. 6 hours later, wet, covered in grease, waste petrol, dawn soap and water things are looking much better. The fan and fan boss change color and the radiator cowl gets attacked with my old blunt penknife and a ton of crud gets removed which I unfortunately step in  and now transfer to the bedroom carpet on my next visit…… whoops! Well in an op this big there are bound to be a few losses.

Time for the old blunt penknife and washing petrol

The cowl is finally cleaned and is blue on the inside …. who knew and after a whole bottle of dawn dish washer soap I can see through the CAC. Waste petrol (thanks to ethanol) takes care of cowl, fan and the fan boss that turns out to be CAT yellow !

Getting there …..

A clean oil free fan

The fan boss in CAT yellow

1500ish, and a crud free CAC

Monday and an all action morning ordering goodies and collecting others. The TV screws are found, the CAT engine thermostat and gasket will be here on Thursday morning and another tube of silicone is in the basket. I gingerly venture into the engine fabricators workshop and after much praise on the fantastic work he did welding the Cub crankcase pose the question of whether he can weld something as mundane as a bracket or should I take it to a farm tractor shop ? The praise, which of course was free, worked the charm and he has it done by lunchtime …… and not only that sprayed it !  Man I love perfectionists!!!

Just time for another bottle of dish washer soap on the radiator which by comparison to the CAC will be a breeze…… hardest part of this op is climbing down in the engine room and scrubbing and then getting up in the bedroom and hosing all the goop off……. finally job done.

Report back to Jack who says he can start reassembly in the afternoons as he gets off at 1500. Good chance we can have it done by Thursday night and road test on Friday ?

Stay tuned for more on this riveting yarn in future episodes……….

TONY DOWN