. My parents own a guided jet boat tour business called Beamers Hells Canyon Tours. It's a family business and we provide guided jet boat tours of Hells Canyon, which is North America's deepest river gorge. Hells Canyon is a mile and a half deep from top to bottom, outstripping the depth of the Grand Canyon by a half mile.
As a kid and later as an adult I often help with the operation of the business. My parents have owned and operated Beamers Hells Canyon Tours for the past 23 years, and in that time I've worked in every facet; answering phones and taking reservations, running one of two river lodges in the summer, working as a deckhand/tour guide and assisting in minor and major repairs and maintenance of the fleet of boats. I've learned a lot, and I never stop learning; even today.
I spent my spring break helping my Dad and Brother prepare the fleet of jet boats for the upcoming tour season. We had several projects going on at the dry dock area:
Mounting brackets for a set of bow-entry stairs were fabricated out of aluminum, and welded to the bow of one boat. The interior of the boat next door was being reassembled after it's mandatory U.S. Coast Guard approved hull inspection was complete. A third boat was slated to have it's engines removed and overhauled. I had a hand in the three projects mentioned above as well as a few others. My main assignment however was the removal of the two 400 Horsepower Cummins diesel engines from one boat. Like any other engine or mechanical part, jet boat engines need to be maintained or overhauled in order to provide a safe and efficient experience.
Okay, Jet Boat Mechanics 101
The particular boat in question is 40 feet long and 12 feet wide.
Each of the 400 horsepower engines weighs in at just over 1800 pounds, and are similar in size and power to a semi-truck or large intercity bus.
Each engine drives a jet pump. The pump draws water from a grate in the bottom of the boat called a Sea Chest. The water is pressurized and forced out the back of the boat by way of a device called an Impeller and a jet nozzle. The nozzle can be turned left or right (Port or Starboard) by way of hydraulic arms, which are controlled by a large joystick at the controls.
The jet pumps can also be reversed to accommodate reverse motion of the boat. This is done by way of a Deflector or Bucket, which is controlled hydraulically and when lowered covers the nozzle of the jet and forces the pressurized water down and toward the front of the boat.
So how does one who is visually impaired remove such a complicated sounding mechanical system? You are about to find out!
Like many things in life, this task is certainly not "visually impaired friendly." The engine room is slightly cramped, remember it's a space that is 12 feet wide, 14 feet long and about 4 feet deep. Engines, pumps, brackets, hoses, hull braces and other vital mechanical components impede progress. I first start by disconnecting the electrical power. This allows me the ability to feel every part of the engine without accidentally touching a live electrical component such as a starter switch. I then feel toward the bottom of the engine for a heavy duty nut and bolt assembly connected to a specially designed hull brace. This is one of four engine mounts. I work my way around, loosening and removing the torqued down inch and a half diameter nuts with a nematic air wrench. To eliminate confusion later I keep all of the components that I remove from each engine in separate containers; nothing is "just set aside."
I move to the back of the engine and remove the shaft that transfers the power from the engine to the pump. There are 8 locknuts and bolts to be removed. It's slow work because each nut and bolt must be removed with two wrenches; one holding the nut and the other twisting the bolt. At the same time I'm feeling to make sure both wrenches are secured to their respective nuts and bolts. It's a practiced coordinated effort.
Next come the fuel, hydraulic and engine coolant supply lines. Many of these are copper tubes connected to wrench removed fittings. One must be especially careful here, because one wrong twist of the wrench could result in the copper lines twisting and breaking instead of the fitting twisting apart. A steady hand and complete concentration of the placement of my wrench and the direction it is turning are a must.
From here, there's a couple of grounding wires and an electrical cable that connects the starter to the battery, all are removed by simple nuts of varying sizes. The challenging part is (A) feeling around for the proper connections, and (B) getting your wrench and hands in place to remove them.
The last hurtle of disconnecting the engines is removing the exhaust pipe from the engine. It's easy to find; a large (6 inches in diameter) elbow shaped steel pipe on the back, right-hand side of the engine. This connects to a similar sized tube running toward the back of the engine room. The heavy elbow shaped pipe is removed with four bolts conveniently hidden behind said pipe. (No thanks to the manufacturer) haha
After almost a day's work, a dozen wrenches and tools, a few well chosen expletives and a nice layer of grease on my hands the engines are ready to be removed. This is the really tricky part and requires two-three people. Two heavy-duty lifting chains are hooked to steel rings protruding from the top of the engine and are connected to the forks of a forklift by way of a special lifting arm. The engine is slowly hoisted up and off of it's mounts. This is a very delicate task: if the lifting arm of the forklift is not perfectly centered over the engine the tension placed on the chains will raise one end of the engine first, causing the other, lower end to hang up on the engine mounts. Try to imagine lifting a smaller box out of a larger box. After the engine clears the mounting brackets and is being lifted evenly it's up to the two people in the boat to swing the engine 90 degrees in order for it to clear the deck railings. Poised on a 4 inch rail used to hold deck plates my brother and I get on either side of the engine and spin it. At the same time the forklift operator slowly backs up the forklift. The engine rocks side to side slightly and I follow the narrow rail with my feet. After several minutes the engine has cleared the boat and is lowered safely onto an engine stand in the shop where it will be worked on. The other engine is removed in the same fashion.
While the engines are removed, the engine room undergoes a deep cleaning by your's truly. It is good practice to keep all areas of a boat clean and well maintained, and the engine room is no exception.
It had been a while since I had removed an engine from a boat, so it took some personal orientation to the work area as well as the engines themselves. As somebody who has worked on and around heavy equipment I've learned to develop techniques and workarounds for just about any task. One thing that is a must is spacial orientation, which is the knowledge of a person's motion relative to the physical space they currently occupy. There are many different nuts, bolts and fasteners that had to be removed, many of which required me to position my wrench at different angles. I have to constantly double-check that I'm turning the wrenches in the correct direction. Left and right are easy when you are sitting upright, but wen you are bent double trying to reach that one bolt, or you are crouched sideways between a battery box and a bulkhead it can be a little tricky to know which way is which, especially if the thing you are working on protrudes at a strange angle. Now add to that and close your eyes. It can be done, and it is done; you just have to think about your orientation.
The moral of this very long story? (sorry readers for the lengthy description)
Visually impaired people can do just about anything. All it takes is some courage, some thought, and a willingness to get your hands dirty. (literally in this case) I think back on my mechanical experiences and realize that what I just described was the result of roughly 20 years of working in a shop. Currently, I'm not planning on a career in diesel mechanics, however I am very thankful to have the opportunity to try something that most visually impaired people don't get to do. It doesn't look it, but working in an environment like this has taught me so much about adaptations, about awareness, about never giving up, and of course about how something works mechanically. Sometimes I reflect on a project like this and think "how did I do that?" There are times when I can't even answer that question, so my response is "I explored, I thought, I tried, I did it."
