Tales from preparing a 30 year old boat for ocean passages & keeping her out there
…..all the repairs along the way, all the broken stuff on passages…..the incredible learning curve that has little or nothing to do with learning how to sail.
Dedicated to our master mechanic mentors! Jerry Schuster & Tom Van Veen & master engineer Rene Martinez
& the incredibly knowledgeable team of Pacific Marine & the folks at Tri County Marine….& the incredibly helpful people at the Landings in Bellingham….and Whatcom Electric….& Northwest Rigging…..& ALL of the teachers at the Marine Maintenance Program at Skagit Valley College where I was lucky to be a student.
More to come, too busy fixing stuff right now….We have plenty of good stories and would love to hear some……
June 25th Mystery Oil Leaks
Miranda, our engine, had a disturbing oil leak under her at the end of our Mexico ~ Hawaii passage.
She got her usual TLC after a trip with oil and filter changes. When we moved the boat to re-anchor the day after our oil change, the engine sounded rough and then coughed and failed. Luckily we were right where we wanted to anchor so we immediately dropped anchor as we surged towards the shallow part of the bay.
There was more oil beneath the engine which caused a minor panic. The stress of boat repairs are often in the contemplation of them…..
Experience has taught us that many issues are fuel related so I started there. I did a lot of late night you tube and book research and then the next morning I got on the local radio net and asked for some advice which I got in buckets. Happily it corresponded with the conclusions I had come to on my own.
We actually were able to solve 2 problems that I had not realized were related- the oil leaks under the engine and the high oil levels we had been seeing for a couple months.
With the high oil levels I had decided we were chronically overfilling until I did our last oil change when i pulled out 50% more oil than we had put in. Our engine has been “making oil” ~ the oil has had fuel leaking in to it and the levels kept rising as a result. The higher levels led to too much pressure in the crankcase and the oil was spraying out through the breather against the back wall and dribbling down beneath the engine to create the small lake we found, twice.
I knew the source of the fuel contamination was not an issue with the injectors or valves as despite sounding a bit rough, the engine overall has been running beautifully. That left our lift pump which utilizes a diaphragm and runs off the crankshaft. It is not uncommon for the seal between the pump and the crank case to fail, allowing fuel to dilute the oil.
Luckily I had bought a spare pump before we left home so instead of replacing the seals, I just installed the new pump (thanks to Justin at Tri County Diesel for advising on my spares list). I ran liqui moly engine flush to clean out all the nasty 30 year sludge and then pumped it all out and added the new engine oil. Between the engine flush and the informal “diesel flush” that has been running through the oil system the oil is now pristine. Rosie said she couldn’t see it on the dipstick when she checked the oil this morning as it was so clean. The engine is now operational again.
I need to pull the lift pump apart and replace the seals so it is ready for a future refit.
It is amazing how stressful it is not to have a functioning engine when we have sails to raise.
Sailing Tomten 