Southwind 20 Engine Mount, etc

Court,
The annular grove cut into the cable end fits into the bracket and then the locking arm on the bracket goes over the top. If the adjustment was good before you removed the cable, it will be good when you get it back on the bracket. Make sure the bracket isn't bent. Maybe you bumped it with the wrench and that's why the cable doesn't want to go back in.

No cable movement when you move the helm - make sure you don't have the neutral lock out button pulled out. It's ether that or the inner cable is broken, or somethings up with the Morse control. (throttle/shifter)

It may be time for new cables - I see the outer jacket is gone on the end of you shift cable.

Overall it was a good day!
Chris and Pete, thank you both for the advice to date. (The comment on the scissor jack saved me from a needless purchase.) After a few trips down the road to Sears for better tools, and removing the engine cover and moving several hoses around to create space, I've finally gotten the lock nut and the top shank turning! It got dark on me so I've had to stop for a bit but hope to get a little more time in this week and send update. I also got the windshield removed and the glass stayed intact so I can use it as a pattern and cut the cost of that project in half... thanks much for the motivation and vote of confidence. Now the real work can finally begin to see if I can get this thing aligned. Right now it's a large gap on top and no space on the bottom at the coupler. One thing I notice tracing forward from aft is that the shaft comes out right at the top of the strut (not centered) before entering through the hull. I may have to take the connecting hose off and see if I can get the shaft to move down any...

I'll do some searching on here for fiberglass work in an attempt to be a good forum citizen before launching into questions now that I'm aware this is the appropriate direction to take for the bow deck. I imagine this means taking the steering wheel off with the dash. If you say you're willing to offer advice through the project, I'll promis to post pictures until you can't view anymore with plenty of questions .

The Southwind:






The engine mounts:




Front mount, this one moved fine.


The cracking bow deck:







This rib seems fine, not sure if that's what you were suggesting?


The windshield:

CCF - Don't know what configuration your rear mount is but these things sometimes take ingenuity to overcome. I made a special wrench for my rear mount locknuts for the reasons you are facing.

Maybe you can remove the whole mount in order to loosen it up. There always is the chisel, but that is way-redneck & should be saved for a last resort.

As far as a bottle jack, you can use a scissors jack too - I use the one from my Honda.

If you try to lift from the hull - use some plywood to spread out the weight. Better to lift from the top of the stringers against the bottom of the exhaust manifold.

Sounds like you need to reinforce your dash. It is pretty easy to add fiberglass on the back side as it doesn't have to look pretty.

Use epoxy resin or the CCF police will give you static!

There are some threads on this site explaining fiberglass basics - I think there was a good one concerning rebuilding a seat base last spring.

It sounds like you are expanding your skills set - CC's have that effect on people!

Hello CCF!
I've been lurking for over a year when I first bought my 1978 Southwind 20, reading many, many posts. When I started I couldn't even recognize the alternator so just finding my way to this site and now able to change an impeller, replace transmission fluid, and dismount my starter to have it rebuilt have all been tremendous personal accomplishments.

All that said, I've started to expand my items to go after. At the risk of repeating a post, I'm asking a few questions because I just haven't been able to find answers in a way I could understand for the following...

1. Alignment. I went through all of Eric's info, separated the coupler to the transmission (easily came apart), used a feeler gauge and low and behold I think I have significant misalignment (much more than .003!). Looking at the engine mounts, I'm convincing myself that I probably have stringer problems since I see the mounts are indented slightly into the stringer. I don't have the self-repair facility or know-how here and am unable to justify putting the money into stringer work ($5K+?) so I'm wondering if I can continue to ignore this potential issue and just get the engine aligned (bad assumption?). This leads me back to the problem that I can't for the life of me figure out how to loosen the rear mount locking bolt. I am able to move the front mounts up and down, but the engine needs to come down even more in the back (maxed out in the upward direction for the front mounts and it still wasn't enough). The crescent wrench has too big of a head to fit around the bolt without hitting the rest of the mount. Either way, leverage is tough to come by in the space. My question is what else can be done to get this thing loose? I have used PB Blaster but to no avail. Is a bottle jack a purchase I should make to take some weight off the engine by putting it in the bilge and lifting a bit and trying to turn that bolt?

2. Bow support. I have a closed bow but a walk through (over the bow) windshield. The bow area along the bottom of the dash, extending across the width of the boat appears unsupported. The metal strip running along the bottom with pop rivets to hold it in place has broken in the middle and the bow area along the dash and walk through windshield is starting to crack. What is the correct way to support this region? I don't think just putting another metal strip along that bottom will be sufficient since it looks like the fiberglass itself is cracking in that area. Was there ever additional support rods or is this a major project to refiberglass? I'm pretty much at a loss on how this one should be tackled so I'd appreciate some direction setting.

3. Windshield. The port, triangle-shaped side windshield spider cracked recently. Binswanger says they can come by and put in a new one for about $200. Does this seem right and is this recommended?

Thanks much for any advice or course correction. -Court