Equipment Issues - The First Ten Days Back

Looks Perfect Doesn't She?

With a new diesel just installed and the boat having been on the hard for the past 4 months we expected to be able to focus on breaking in the diesel in the early days of our renewed voyage.

The diesel has not given us a moment's grief. Or so we think. Who has time to look?

What did give us grief:

• Reinstalling the missing base for removable bulkhead in the aft lazarette which the mechanic "forgot".
• Relocating the supersized water strainer the mechanic insisted on installing that was so unnecessarily huge it prevented the removable bulkhead from being put back in place
• Cleaning the unrelenting amount of mess and damage left by the mechanic doing the engine replacement and caused by the failure of anyone to install any covers on anything while the old diesel was removed and the new one installed. Connie even found a 2 oz glob of grease in the fridge. IN THE FRIDGE.
  
• Repacking the stuffing box which was too hot to touch after 20 minutes of running
• Rewiring the engine electrics which had been totally massacred by the mechanic. Things are working and charging now. We hope to have our Link 10 battery monitor operational within a week..
• Removing and repairing the anchor Washdown pump which failed and disinfecting the compartment in which it resides.
• Reinstall autopilot hydraulics - ram and pump - which we removed and brought to Canada with us for overhaul.
• Trying to figure out why the autopilot would not work. Blaming the failure on air in the system requiring we bleed it properly. Bleeding and bleeding and bleeding the bleeding thing. Finally realizing the problem was with the settings on the electronics and finding acceptable settings. The bleeding thing now works perfectly.
• Freeing up the lock screws on the outboard which had frozen in place requiring massive thumps with a hammer to free up even after two days of PB Blaster treatment.
• Getting the outboard to run after 4 months. Even though the fuel was stabilized something was amiss. New plugs and carb cleaning did the trick
• dismantling the Boom Gallows which sheared off on the Port side
• changing all engine and transmission fluids and filters.

I sure hope the diesel is working fine cause we have not had time to check.