05/22/2024
What's going on with the ASI Dive Boat?
Our starboard side transmission presented an issue returning from the Normannia on May 4th. The following Monday a mechanic took a ride with us and an gear oil sample when we returned. The oil, which is supposed to look like the day we put it in, was a darker color. This indicated gear slippage, basically burning the gear oil. Also present was a lot of metal shavings...not good.
Our transmissions are original to the boat. Maintenance on them is simply changing the gear oil and filter yearly. After 19 years, one of them is toast. So I called our mechanic to order 2 new ZF 305-3A transmissions. He called back after 10 mins to tell me that he can order them for January 2025 delivery. OK. That's not going to work. What's plan B? Take out the existing transmissions and send them to ZF for overhaul/rebuild/etc. OK, sounds simple enough. We got everything arranged with them and removed the gears from the boat (4 days work that I don't even want to describe) and off on a freight truck they go. This was on May 10th and delivered in S. Florida on May 14th. All is going well.
There were many prior conversations and emails with the service people at ZF, who were very understanding of the dire straights were are in. They were committed to get us running as fast and painless as possible. The first thing is to diagnose the issue and find out what parts need to be replaced. This was revealed to us on May 20th. Days are ticking by at this point with nothing really done but telling us what needs to be done.
Parts & more parts: ZF doesn't have all the parts that need replacing. They haven't made our transmission for about 10 years. ZF Florida has some of the parts, ZF Italy has some of the parts (5 week lead time), and some of the parts ZF Italy would have to pull the drawings out of a vault (probably CNC machine) and make them for us, which I thought was very impressive, but there is no timeline or cost involved with making a discontinued part. The repair option went down like the John D. Gill.
Let's go down the road of getting new transmissions again. ZF had 2 on a cargo ship bound for ZF Florida that were earmarked for something else. Our local guy and ZF Florida worked together to get them for us. They are sitting in a container and will be shipped to us next week.
So now comes the next can of worms. The dimension of the original and new transmissions don't match (of course not, why would ZF make a new model trans with the same dims as a retiring one??) This means the engine room has to be reworked for the new transmissions. Actually, we got lucky we have 5 inches vertical clearance to raise engines. Custom engine mounts have to be fabricated. The existing shaft couplings (184mm dia) have to be changed to match the new output fl**ge dims (155mm dia). The engines have to be moved rearward ~1.5 inches. Lord only knows what else.
The next two weeks are going to be interesting and hard.
Looking forward to getting the boat back in working order and taking you diving.
Thanks for your patience and understanding during this very difficult time.
