Greetings, Round 2 question for my oil pan swap regarding hoisting the generator slightly. Round 1 below... and I got several sincere efforts to help me out. I did know 3 of the recommended parties.. betting the guy who gets the nod will be "unfamiliar with how things are done in the marine space"... again, no good reason to write down what most people know... an emperor's new clothes situation. As I work thru old contacts in A&P and heavy truck work, one thing I find is.... pan - uniformly no sweat (obviously).. but hoisting - there's a level of uncertainty not to glossed over due to the potential for what is called in the conversations an "Al Czervik anchor catastophe" with an even bigger chunk of metal. So, first, let me ask a specific question and then open it up in case it prompts an idea out there. Is there anyone who knows someone in support or applications engineering at Onan? Since these went into Nordic Tugs in quantity, I'm guessing there's some clever experienced trouble shooter who already has a recipe and could be an enormous help with very little effort or time. My build photos show the gen going into place before the deck is added, and the working room does appear to have not been considered at the design stage. I was given 3 names from a person at NT who said a week ago he was going to copy me on an email to those guys.. didn't happen despite prompting in the interim. If anyone here knows any of the experienced support or apps-eng guys at Onan, I'd sincerely appreciate knowing how to contact them.. At this point, I've talked to enough actually-good mechanics to conclude I wouldn't press GO on anyone until we had a chance to discuss the hoist in adequate detail and bring in proven know-how from someone that has already done it. I really thought the heavy truck guys would be up to speed on this but to their credit, both said they were unsure. I restore shop machine tools for fun. Sometimes I keep them.. sometimes sell them off to a good home. Typical weight is ~1000# or more, and I have to move them from the driveway/trailers to my basement shop myself or with usually one friend. I have a TLB and am familiar with moving heavy stuff that can kill you if something fails, and have optimized the tractor (fab'd/added hydraulic-piston locks in anticipation of a pump, hose or fitting blowout dropping the load) and the process to keep any and all drama/vulnerability out of my life. I'll need the final hoist process to 100% make sense in advance so, to a reasonably high certainty, nobody gets hurt and nothing gets damaged. I bring this up to possibly prompt the recommendation of someone else exceedingly thoughtful/careful who may be completely outside of generator wrenching. Might sound like I'm thinking separate hoist/mechanic but even if I can't get down into tight spaces anymore, the pan swap IS trivial and I can talk the hoist guy thru it. "Hoist guy" as a job title puts the emphasis on this one where it belongs. I actually have a two ideas for knock-down hoisting rigs that can be put up exactly where they're needed.. one entirely in the ER and one extending up into the saloon. They might work, or the approaches might branch into only distantly similar ideas if the thinking necessary for safe and certain execution is put in. But plan A remains to locate a source of actual experience though and maybe look at productizing one of the designs. This ONE stupid simple pan swap item is wasting selling time (or use if I were still a boater) and genuinely needed to be considered at the design stage. Or.. even that would have been fine with me too if the braided grounding cable that burned thru the pan were routed/mounted even slightly differently. Sorry so long.. looking for contact with someone with actual personal experience hoisting in an engine room and preferably an Onan in an NT42. Miguel *From: P MVKW <public.mv.clockwork@gmail.com <public.mv.clockwork@gmail.com>>Subject: [Sentoa] recommendations RI-MA-CTTo: sentoa@lists.sentoa.org <sentoa@lists.sentoa.org>Greetings,I guess I'm primarily addressing SENTOA folks in southern New England.. Ineed get my onan generator elevated slightly and replace the oil pan...already have the parts. I'm specifically looking for a referral from one ofyou who might know of an ethical, experienced, proficient,*does-what-he-says* mechanic.. who can reasonably demonstrate he actuallyis these things.. and operates in the vicinity northern NarragansettBay/SE-Mass/E-CT. Doesn't have to work in marine-services, and in fact thatwould be my preference. Past A&P experience viewed very positively.The engine part is an easy fix... loosen... swap... torque. Yup.. owning aquality torque wrench is also a job requirement. Under an hr once access isgained. The PITA will be hoisting the gen high enough (inches) to do theoperation. My plan (the only thought I had actually) was to do this myself* -- MV Clockwork www.clockwork-usa.com