Good Old Boat Issue 142: Jan/Feb 2022

Shearwater Yacht Club’s annual Good Old Boat Regatta, scheduled for October 16, 2021, out of Annapolis, Maryland, was sadly canceled due to high winds and the arrival of a sharp cold front mid-afternoon. But none of that deterred Mike Brown and his crew, KristenWhite, who reefed down Mike’s Pearson Vanguard, Seawolf , and had a banging sail just off the Severn River in 20-30 knots of southwesterly ahead of the front’s arrival. Sailing photographer and Good Old Boat reader Wilbur Keyworth caught the action. “That was probably a bit much wind for the Cal 25s,”Mike said later, “but the Vanguard fleet would’ve been in its element. Reefed down the way she was, Seawolf was charging ahead fully powered up and feather light at the helm. Not much more you could ask for—unless you’re looking for speed!” Photo Credit: Wilbur Keyworth

We Want to Hear from You We love hearing from you, our readers! To be part of Mail Buoy, share your letters and images with andy@ goodoldboat.com. Also, are you getting The Dogwatc h in your email inbox? It’s free and the content is original. If you’re missing it, visit goodoldboat. com to sign up. I was interested in “The Atomic 4 Engine: Smooth, Worth Another Look,” ( The Dogwatch , October 2021). As the article pointed out, I have rebuilt the electronic ignition and electric fuel pump and upgraded the charging system. But, the article did not address what I think is an important maintenance issue with these engines: the use of engine oil without friction modifiers and with higher levels of anti-wear additives. During my career as an engineer in the automotive industry, I was involved with engine design and development. In the late 1990s, the designs I worked on accommodated a regulatory move to high-efficiency oils that use friction modifiers and have lower concentrations of anti-wear additives. These oil formu- lation changes allowed revised engine tolerances to improve fuel economy in passenger cars and trucks. These oils were required to have lower levels of ZDDP (zinc dialkyldithiophosphate), an anti-wear additive. We also developed engines to take advantage of synthetic and synthetic oil blends which helped with longevity. All of this change in oil formulation is good for cars and trucks, but it’s not so good for motorcycles with wet clutches and common sumps, as the friction modifiers causes clutch slippage, and less ZDDP causes wear in transmissions. The motorcycle folks had a strong voice in the regulatory process and were able to carve out an oil product for their engines that have little to no friction modifiers and higher levels of ZDDP. Just as these high-efficiency oil blends aren’t good for motorcycles, they’re not good for the Atomic 4, which also has a wet clutch and common sump for engine and transmission lubrication. As a solution, since the early 2000s, I have been using “racing motorcycle” continued on page 54

would mean an engine about 3 to 4 inches taller, and I have no idea howmuch heavier. Thank you for mentioning that most boats with a dinghy and outboard will have gasoline on board, anyway. And, what about all that propane running the heater, stove, hot water heater, etc.? Long live the Atomic 4 and Moyer Marine. — Jim Findley Nightwind , Jarrell Cove, Washington I have been a long-time subscriber and enjoy the range of articles you present.

I have a 1971 C&C35 MkI that I race and cruise in the Great Lakes area, and our C&C35 MkI club has 18 boats. Many of us race almost every weekend, including an annual race in July up Lake Huron to Mackinac Island, Michigan. Keeping the boats working has been a joint effort, and we help each other in the areas of sails, fiberglass, equipment, and power. All but one of the fleet have Atomic 4 engines; that one has a diesel conversion that works well but was expensive.

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January/February 2022