No, I didn’t make a thermonuclear device out of a Bic pen and buggle gum, but read on for some on-the-fly repair work.

To honor Mr. Columbus, discoverer of the now well known city in Ohio, I set out yesterday with some family to recreate one of his lesser known voyages around Manhattan. He made this historic voyage aboard the Pinto, but since it was such a terrible car and not very seaworthy, I decided to take my boat, aptly named Voyager, instead.

We cruised west from Glen Cove, on Long Island's North Shore, towards Manhattan. The sky was overcast but there was little wind and the Long Island Sound resembled a bathtub, dead flat and slightly dirty looking with a ring around the edges. We hung a left, I mean we turned to port, at Hell's Gate and immediately hit some big waves in the East River as we headed south. Near the Brooklyn Bridge, the water calmed and as we rounded Battery Park, New York harbor was actually calmer than usual.

We hung out by that statue of the tall green chick holding a flashlight in one hand and a chinese menu in the other, for a while and then headed north up the Hudson River. By the time we were adjacent to midtown, the Hudson settled down and was completely flat. We continued north and dropped the hook just past the George Washington Bridge, near a park on the New Jersey side called Hazard Beach.

We had lunch on the hook and relaxed while the sun came out and the day warmed. An actual replica of one of Columbus' ships came down the Hudson, probably bound for the South Street Seaport. There was no wind, so he motored along. Finally, we decided to move on and continued north to the Spuyten Duyvil (Spitting Devil in Dutch), which is at the entrance to the Harlem River. We continued into the Harlem River for a few minutes until the port engine overheated.

Fortunately, we had a former boat owner on board and he ran the boat on one engine while I poked around in the engine compartment. It didn’t take long to find the cause of our problem...the belt that drives the engine circulating pump had broken. I got greasy loosening the raw water pump and removing the raw water pump belt. I now had access to the pulleys for the circulating pump belt and although I had 8 spare belts aboard, NONE were the right size.

After puzzling and puzzling, 'till my puzzler was sore (big Dr. Suess fan here), I decided I couldn’t make the small belts I had any larger or the large belts I had any smaller without compromising their integrity. The only solution was to rig something up or hope we stumbled upon a floating Belts-R-Us store.

With no store in sight, I tried lots of potential solutions such as bungy cords, nylon straps, etc, but none held for more than a few seconds. Finally, I decided to make a belt out of...you guessed it...Duct Tape. I put two long pieces with their sticky sides together and wrapped them in a third piece with it's sticky side out. I then rolled the length of it in my hands until I had something resembling a long, silver licorice stick that was sticky on the outside. I tied this around the pulleys and made a knot which doesn’t have a name because I invented it on the spot (and it looked terrible).

By this time, the engine was relatively cool and I filled it with water and anti-freeze and fired it up. I tried several configurations of duct tape, but this was the only one that worked. Even so, it would only stay together with the engine turning about 1800 rpm, any faster and it blew apart.

Since we weren't getting up on plane at 1800 rpm, I made and tested a new belt (finishing the duct tape), shut down the port engine, and ran the boat back on the starboard engine at 8.5 knots. Fortunately, the water remained calm and there was no wind so the trip back was at least pleasant, although it took two and a half hours. Finally, we reached the marina (after dark) and I said a silent prayer as I fired up the port engine. To my delight, the duct tape belt held and I was able to make the several tight turns required to settle Voyager into her slip.

Morals of the story:
1. Make sure your spare parts are the right sizes
2. Change your belts at the start or end of the season before they apart.
3. Open a floating Belts-R-Us store. If I needed one, someone else does too.
4. Have LOTS of Duct Tape on board. Half a roll was cutting it close.
5. Trawlers are nice, but hull speed was too slow for my taste.

Note: Post edited for carriage return challenged readers but I'm not mentioning names, Fatdog.

Great story. 8 belts? YOU are the store! I've heard panty-hose will work for a belt..you wern't wearing any? Duct tape...where would we be without it? They used it on the moon rover for a fender fix. BTW I just pickep up some Gorilla brand duct tape. Seems real good.

Unfortunately, I changed out of my pantyhose at the dock. Actually, I read that the pantyhose is an urban legend of sorts and that it won't work. I spoke to someone at work today and he said there are plastic belts made of links that are adjustable, but he doesn't know of anyone who's used one or how it worked.

I have in my office 2 of those plastic linked belts. There are applications that they work well in, and some they don't. Basically, they are pieces of kevlar-reinforced (or maybe not kevlar, but something very like it) plastic that are shaped somewhat like a fish, and slotted in the thickest part. The tail of one 'fish' goes through the slot, you twist the fish 90 degrees, and make a daisy chain, of sorts. The more you string together, the bigger the belt. When you have it long enough, the tail at one end goes through the fish at the other. Voila.

They work well when there's little vibration in the machinery, but not so great if there's a lot of vibration. They're great on a bandsaw or table saw, but not so great on an air compressor, to give you an example. The belts have a lot of amplitude on the slack side, so they tend to wiggle a lot, and can slap into nearby items.

my concern would be how tight the belt could be made for the circulating pump in my instance because i cannnot adjust the tension or move the pulleys. the belt on the raw water pump, though, I can adjust the tension on by shifting the raw water pump down.

1) i am surprised that duckt tape held in the first place, even up to 1800 rpm,
that was a clever idea

2) +1 on the idea that you actually carry 8 spare belts (albeit the wrong size), for all i know i probably lost my flare gun and life-preservers a year ago, i'll have to check on that sometime

3) a carriage return or two in your posts would be groovy unless of course you personally are an optometrist by trade

4) i did the publishing photo work for Dr.Seuss (Ted Geisel) 25 years ago, he lived here in LaJolla, he drew me a quick sketch once with some long-beaked critter giving me the instructions on where to send the final prints i made, but my ex-wife ripped it up in a fit of rage in 1990, divorced her i did in 1991, quit being angry about it 10 years later

5) good job on the boat fix

Carrying around 8 belts that don't fit...the perfect example of the male equivalent of the 'the wife's closet'...

Fatdog - I've got an ex as well and know that letting go of the anger is important for your mental and physical health. Still, I think I'd still be angry at her if I were in your one foot, two foot, red foot, blue foot, err shoes.

FR - Some of belts fit the raw water pump but apparently none fit the circulating pump. I called Crusader this morning and ordered a bunch. Maybe I'll even take the ones that don't fit off the boat.

Bruce,

You should write a book....just general observations on the world....screwed up as it may be. You have a talent, plus banking is on the fritz!

In the meantime, we will continue to be entertained here....for free....or for the modest cost of a new belt!

well, it's the least i could do. and never let it be said i didn't do the least i could do.

+1, very entertaining read. You write the book and I'll do the photos!

Bruce - you got me spooked. I have not had nearly the troubles you seem to have. But it got me to thinking about a spare belt on board.

I think I'll buy one of those "Power Twist" leather belt link thingies like they sell at the woodworking stores. They are essentially leather links that make the belt almost endlessly variable, since you can remove or add link at a time, and the main purpose is to have a truer and quieter running belt. The only issue I see is that the link belts are 1/2" wide belts. I am not sure if this is the same size the engine belts are or not - but I bet you can find the link belts in other widths.

I have one on my table saw to cut down on vibration. It works with a 2hp motor, so I don't see why it would not work as a temporary spare on a boat engine.

http://www.hartvilletool.com/product/10885

I just carry a spare belt of the correct size. It takes less room than all the other crap I have on board.