1943 Palmer Scott Wood Ex Navy 26 Foot Utility Boat.

My craft was built by the Palmer Scott boatyard in New Bedford Mass. Palmer Scott was born in 1898.He passed away in a 1970 swimming accident. An fire destroyed his first yard in 1936 but Palmer restarted his business at a new location in New Bedford, MA.I found her for sale on Boston Craigslist for the sum of $1000.00 and went down and saw her.The hull and drive-train were in excellent condition,the foredeck and some of the upper rub-rail was in need of replacement, and the cabin that was added on by the boatyard it was at since 1947 was dangerously high and needed to be redesigned and replaced.In addition the hull was full of seaweed,paint chips and oil absorbent pads from a existing oil leak between the injection pump and the gear drive housing.The boat is powered by a Ford Lehman 120 HP six cylinder diesel with a Paragon 200L transmission and had 1,024 hours on it.The original motor was a Hercules 50 HP diesel that appears to have been replaced in 1965.When I went down to look at her, the general manager of the yard who sold it to me agreed that I was buying the boat for the commissioning cost and the deficiencies were noted and It was agreed upon that the boat would be caulked properly, the raw water impeller and fuel filters would be changed, the debris vacuumed out of the bilge,a missing rudder key and through bolt replaced, And it would be swelled up on the Travel-lift and be put on a mooring when deemed ready.

Blue Boy is still afloat and running well. We took it for a ride this weekend and all went well. Keep me posted with your plans.

She's riding the storm real well on a mooring. I'll go out tomorrow and run it again to charge the battery, but all is well. Come down when you can. She's fine for now.

Here's where we are as of this afternoon:

We have flushed all water from the engine, new starter and alternantor (still could not find yours), drained tach, sprayed everything down. Pulled injectors to crank over engine but it's hydro locked. I think there is a pre-combustion chamber which is not allowing compression to escape the cylinders. So right now, as I write to you, the top end has not been flushed out. The head now needs to come off to properly clean it out. I really don't want to waste a lot of time at this stage if we're going to have a dead engine in the end. I don't have anyone to work on this until Monday either.

I guess I'm looking for guidance from you. Do we send you your money back and call it a day? Legally, I don't think we would owe you any more than that if we're unable to straighten out the boat and engine. It's your boat but it sank on our watch.

I will be out tomorrow until about 3:00 pm. Feel free to write back. I'll check my messages in the am. Sorry for the lackluster message.

My reply, as Ford Lehman engines do not have any so called pre-chamber..

12 hard wood scrap wedges on top of the valve spring retainers will relieve the pressure.

Install the valve cover and fill it to the top with WD-40 and roll it over with a bar. It will all start flowing out of the manifolds.

With the valves stuck open even .010 it will work and you can rig a shop vac to the valve cover oil fill, or exhaust and intake openings and evacuate.

If this is done, she will run.,,,,,,,.even tomorrow. The diesel displaced the water in the cylinders by now. I just want my boat back.

From the Yard GM:

I hope I didn't upset you when I left this evening... seeing the oil in the water got me a little ticked.

The weather looks pretty bad the next few days. Wed is the only possible good day to move the boat. How's this proposal: we haul the boat and block it up in the morning. Go home and get some rest, gather whatever materials you need. Come back when the weather is good and you can get her fixed up and ready to move. No more than 2 weeks. Or we load onto a trailer for you (we do not have the time to deliver, sorry).

I can't have you hanging around begging a ride here and there when you need supplies. We are getting very busy right now and I can't have the distraction. We have spent enough on the boat so far. I feel we are hardly to blame for the sinking, we have gone out of our way to make you whole. It is in your hands now. I'll give you the haul and launch but that's it. Come up with the money for having it hauled, buy the fuel and materials. I don't really care, just get the boat out of the yard. OK??

I hope I didn't upset you when I left this evening... seeing the oil in the water got me a little ticked.

The weather looks pretty bad the next few days. Wed is the only possible good day to move the boat. How's this proposal: we haul the boat and block it up in the morning. Go home and get some rest, gather whatever materials you need. Come back when the weather is good and you can get her fixed up and ready to move. No more than 2 weeks. Or we load onto a trailer for you (we do not have the time to deliver, sorry).

I can't have you hanging around begging a ride here and there when you need supplies. We are getting very busy right now and I can't have the distraction. We have spent enough on the boat so far. I feel we are hardly to blame for the sinking, we have gone out of our way to make you whole. It is in your hands now. I'll give you the haul and launch but that's it. Come up with the money for having it hauled, buy the fuel and materials. I don't really care, just get the boat out of the yard. OK??

Upon being forced off of the yard's docks by the yard GM in 4 to 6 foot seas in Buzzard's Bay with my 10 year old son, It became readily apparent that the bilge was never cleaned.Me and my boy spent the night unclogging the fore and aft bilge pumps for most of the night.The next day I returned to dock and went home and the yard GM arranged for one hauler and then another but did not cancel the 1st one.When the boat was launched again in Weymouth, I had 6 hours between tides to repair the damage caused by dragging her into shore with a truck.The yard never caulked her properly and in addition I had a total fuel system failure due to clogged 8 year old fuel filters and a dead fuel pump.I caulked her as best as I could and launched her, as sitting after the sinking would have destroyed the motor and transmission.Upon arriving at the storage yard I found the main leak in the aft planks due to lack of caulking and the raw water impeller was severely damaged as it was not replaced as well.At the present time, The Yard GM is harassing me about 450.00 due on a 350.00 haul.