PT Boat Engine Pre Startup Engine Checks (No Startup) Higgins PT658 Portland OR

[@pmae9010]

A great job all around, thanks for saving and filming this piece of our history. I hope our youth can appreciate the sacrifices of the men and women who built, and fought from these boats, we live in their shadow. That of the greatest generation.

[@pjneslo8979]

I would have to say this is the most authentic PT boat I have seen, not to take away from any of the others that are restored. I wish every one of them could have been saved... Beautiful ship!

[@allaboutboats]

Thank you for your kind comments! We really appreciate them in todays world of internet trolls it is refreshing to get a positive comment!

[@hatfez]

Nice that these older gentlemen keep this ship tuning. Remember, the crews during the war were kids. Teenagers mostly.

[@mettahuttravels3183]

Thank you for maintaining history 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@louisschilling5705]

Stumbled onto these videos...Way cool!....Always loved the PT boats. I'd love to hear all three of those engines singing at full hum. Thanks to all the team for keeping a small piece of history alive.

[@davidfarmer2049]

well said

[@johnbockelie3899]

Mc Hale, " Hey Tink, we need those engines!".

[@bitsnpieces11]

For the fuel level indicators, we had similar indicators for out wet wells in our wastewater plant. You would pump low pressure air done a small tube going near to the bottom of the well and have it bubble out the end. You would measure the air pressure it took to clear the tube and could read it out on the dial which was calculated to measure the pressure in the equivalent feet of water. Water takes 0.433 psi to clear tube of one foot of water, so do a similar calculation for the fuel.

[@chriselhardt3264]

Shouldn’t need to cold crank to build up oil pressure. We added an electric pre-Oiler pump to each Wright Cyclone engine on the Texas Raiders B17.

[@allaboutboats]

That is a great idea I will suggest it to the crew.

[@kingmode4]

I wish my grandfathers could have got to ride on one of these!

[@mikevonkleist6767]

That's good stuff, you guys. Always wanted to know how one of these worked. How far we've come to the modern day car and aircraft. Allison and Packard made these engines. Rolls Royce made the P51 Mustang successful.

[@wilburfinnigan2142]

Mike vonkleist The engines in the PT Boats are Purpose designed and built PACKARD M2500 engines !!!! Made by PACKARD and have NOTHING to do with the Merlin engines Packard also made for the Brits. !!!! Allison only made their V1710 aircraft engine, they never made the Merlin Nor the Packard M2500. NOT one British, Rolls Royce engine was used in a production Mustang !!! ALL merlines used in the Mustang were Made in America by Packard, they made 55,523 of them, the Brits got 37,137, usa use 18,000 of them.

[@KINGSBLACKBELT]

GOOD WORK..!

[@ronaldreed7698]

I hate when people repeat what I just said as though it was their original thought.

[@seangrogan564]

Fantastic video! Amazing job with the boat, and great videos documenting the different portions of the boat. Two questions I had are how do the shifters work, is it just forward, back, and neutral? Secondly, what does the lazerette look like, does it just house the rudder controls? Thank you again for posting!

[@allaboutboats]

Hi Sean! Yes the shifter works like you said, forward neutral and back. The reverse has a drum with friction lining on the inside and a band that engages it. As for the Lazarette, it has a shaft driven gearbox with two rudder carriers and a crossbar that connects both rudders to the gearbox. It also has storage for an emergency tiller bar on the bulkhead. I will try to get back there and show it next video. Thanks for watching! Jerry

[@ol6374]

My grandfather served on the british version of these, the mtbs spitfires of the seas, the british sent there original ones over to the u.s at beginning of the war so that they could be copied, the engineers copied them at elco and made them better for long range work, our ones were only for coastal work and had only a few guns, not as many as the mighty pt boats, but the mtb had bigger torpedoes, I love the pt boats as the accommodation was much more comfortable than the mtb, I had a old mtb boat for a while that I purchased from someone who was living in it as a houseboat . Top job on this one gents..

[@alven066]

What happened to pulling the turbo drain plug to make sure no liquid excess fuel is in the turbo ? Nice Looking engine room but I think my engine room on UB-108 / former PT-796 at the Navy Mine Defense Lab. back in 1966 &67 was cleaner .As a matter of fact my old Boat is Now In The Naval Museum at Battleship Cove. A. Jensen Engineman 3rd Class USN Years Ago .

[@allaboutboats]

+Alven Jensen Hi Alven, These are gear driven superchargers and not turbo chargers. We have never had any problems with fuel building up there anyway. We did have a supercharger drive shaft snap since it was being starved of oil to the bearing and the engine backfired as well. Thanks for watching and for your interest in PT658!

[@flaplaya]

Over driven Superchargers. Nice work Alven. No offence but if you have know idea what you are on about, rule of thumb don't type.. Great show of how complicated running this boat is Jerry.

[@donparker8246]

I've seen that boat in person. Beautiful old boat.

[@dukecraig2402]

@@allaboutboats Even if it had turbos fuel wouldn't be anywhere near them, none of the USAAF aircraft engine's of WW2 that used turbos had fuel going through the turbos the way that it went through the centrifugal superchargers on these engines. Given that that typical of supercharger has an impeller similar to the impeller of a turbo he might actually have meant checking some type of drain plug on the bottom of the supercharger housing, although if it was part of the start up procedure on those Packard engines I'm sure the guys on that boat would know about it, I've never heard of that being part of a pre start procedure on any aircraft engine, the only thing I know of even similar to that is checking the 6 o'clock cylinder on a radial engine for excess oil build-up that could hydro lock the cylinder when the engine is cranked and bend it's connecting rod, that check was done by removing a spark plug from the cylinder and allowing any oil to drain out.

[@allaboutboats]

@@dukecraig2402 Thanks Duke, By the way there is no drain plug, just so you know.

[@roberthunter6224]

How long would this take with experienced crew, under combat conditions? How many men in engine room? Again wartime.

[@allaboutboats]

Hi Robert, I imagine an experienced crew who started these engines every day would know what was important and what could be safely skipped. So in a rush you could start the engines within 1 minute. Having to start these engines "in a hurry" such as when the base was being attacked or something was the exception and Not the rule, since the USN wanted to make them last as long as they can before overhaul. The vast majority of the engine starting routine was done well before there was any need to get underway to allow the engines to warm up etc. Have you ever witnessed a Pre Flight Start up checklist on a WW2 multi-engine Bomber like a B25 or a B17 or a B24 or a B29? They take several minutes (like 20!) to go through the entire thing. So the instructions were written by the Navy in response to the Manufacturers Recommendations, and those have to cover every situation, and how long it may take to perform is not the issue they were concerned with when writing the startup procedures. The other question about the number of crew? The number of crewmen in the engine room during startup was 3 and then once they were running, they only have one crewman in the engine room to shift gears etc and take logs.

[@rustybucket4468]

It would be nice to hear the check list without the peanut gallery commentary.

[@SkypowerwithKarl]

Where are the exhaust risers? I take it the rubber tubes are “wetted”. Is there not a danger of water running back on shutdown and hydraulicing the engine?

[@allaboutboats]

Hello Karl, Thanks for watching the video and that is a good question, but it is a common misconception. These exhaust stacks consist of a steel pipe within a rubber hose. The exhaust flows inside the steel pipe and cooling water on the outside of the steel pipe but within the rubber hose. The water is forced to flow in a spiral around the outside of the steel pipe by a helical baffle (1/4" copper tubing brazed to the pipe) which eliminates hot spots. The seawater cooling the exhaust pipe is never actually in contact with the exhaust gas, so there is no danger of water running back into the cylinders and hydraulically locking the pistons. Both water and exhaust exit the system through the bronze muffler castings where they are mixed together as they enter the water outside the boat. I hope this answers your question. Jerry

[@SkypowerwithKarl]

Thanks Jerry for the detailed information. Crystal clear. I had a project boat too. Search “fast clipper boat” and “big fast houseboat” on KZbin. I really can appreciate the amount of work you guys have done.

[@finscreenname]

They had battery chargers back in the day. lol

[@allaboutboats]

No not on PT Boats. We placed them in an area (in the old unused gas tank room) that would not ruin the "historic fabric" of the vessel while making the boat easier to operate in real life. We also did not reuse the original wiring which was rotten, nor did we use the original oil filters for the engines. All of these were choices we made in order to best serve the continued operation of the boat while maintaining as much original equipment as we were able to, considering modern regulations and safety. It would not be right to install a modern radar set on the USS Constitution 'Old Ironsides" even though it may be safer! Some things would ruin the way the boat looks. But we concluded having a hidden battery charger would be ok.

[@ppgwhereeverett4412]

FOLLOW the check list !! Never go outside the checklist !! And actually, don't interrupt the guy Performing the checklist. Distracting to everyone.

[@rustybucket4468]

This is one of the problem's with knowing what he's saying and not having to have each step explained to you.

[@internazi]

whats it take to get a ride? how much? I live in PDX

[@allaboutboats]

Contact our ride coordinator Bob Day for the latest on ride availability and prices. His phone and contact info is on our website www.savetheptboatinc.com/About_Us.htm

[@turboslag]

FYI, there is no engine start on this vid!

[@allaboutboats]

Fixed Video Description

[@tommypetraglia4688]

@@allaboutboats So THAT'S the fuel manifold... lol

[@mauriceclemens3286]

The narrator needs to just ask the questions and let the older guy with the checklist answer. Rude to ask and answer. Plus it makes him sound like a know it all.🤨

[@frankreichl679]

trainee ?

[@williamthethespian]

Video dizzying

[@tonyking9235]

NO START UP

[@Daehawk]

Ah crap what happened?

[@allaboutboats]

+Daehawk Not sure what you are asking what happened at what time in video? Thanks for watching.

[@Daehawk]

Jerry Gilmartin I think I meant what happened to the startup. You didn't film the actual running of the engine. Was everything ok and go well that day?

[@allaboutboats]

+Daehawk OK Yes, the engines started just fine and we got underway. I have several other videos that show the engines running, Sorry the sound is not the greatest. Check our non profit group website to see more info at www.savetheptboatinc.com also links to more videos. Thanks again for watching

[@Daehawk]

Jerry Gilmartin ty

[@njseashorechas2698]

You asked Ron to go through the procedures then you start talking over ( babbling) over him wile Hes trying to explain! Thats not a narration.

[@gordhildreth4630]

Kindly let the white hat lead the start up. Your questions will cause a mistake. In other words enough is enough!!

[@fourfortyroadrunner]

4 people own a Tesla