Another Day (or Two) in Paradise

Our pump arrived!  At 10:30 on Saturday I get the call that our replacement raw water pump for the generator was delivered to the shop. I hop in the dinghy, go to shore, make the death-defying crossing of the Overseas Highway (US-1) on foot and retrieve the pump.  The shiny new lump of bronze and stainless steel was a mere $350 and shipping was another $72, but we now had the pump. One more crossing of the highway, back into the dinghy, and the pump was at the boat and ready to be installed.

I install the drive gear onto the pump, add a little dish soap to the impeller to act as lubricant until water makes it to the now dry raw water lines, and bolt it back onto the generator's motor.  Hook the hoses up, complete an oil change, and the generator was finally ready to go again.  I'm happy to report that the generator is once again alive and cooling water flows from the exhaust and no oil or water is flowing from anywhere else.  Batteries are now capable of being fully charged (the inverter/charger running off of the generator is far more efficient and does a much more complete job of charging than the drive motor alternators).  As a celebration, we even ran the air conditioner that evening while the batteries were topped off.

This morning we sleep in.  No big tasks for the day and the wind is howling outside. We get up and make ourselves a nice breakfast.  Using the stove in the boat is much more palatable when there is a strong wind outside to sweep the hot air out of the boat.  Eggs, bacon, and fried potatoes.  As we are cleaning up, we notice a small sailboat had anchored fairly close in front of us.  Not all that close, but where there hadn't been a boat just a short time earlier.  We load the dogs into the dinghy and take them to shore for a little time on terra firma.

About an hour later we are on our way back to the boat when we notice that the small sailboat was now only about 15 to 20 feet away from us.  Oh crap, this boat is dragging anchor! No wonder we didn't see them arrive.  We quickly get the dogs on the boat and go over to see if anyone was on board.  Of course, no one was there.  Only a brokerage sign was found indicating that this boat was for sale.  We go back to our boat, get out a couple of fenders to try and fend off the boat if need be, and call the number on the sign.  The broker said they would call the owner, but that didn't really help us with the fact this boat is inching closer to us.

Way too close for comfort

We decide first order of business was to get our boat out of harms way, so we carefully pull up anchor and move upwind of the anchor dragger.  Fortunately there was some free space that was recently vacated by a trawler so we had the room.  Once the anchor was reset, I hopped back into the dinghy to see what I could do.  I checked to see if there was more rode that could be deployed but it appeared to be cleated at the very bitter end.  Best we could tell, the boats anchor seemed to reset and hadn't moved from it's resting spot that was feet from our original anchor position.

I head back to our boat and find the owner had tried to call and left a message.  I called him back and he let us know that he had called a friend in the area to come check on the boat since he was in Philadelphia.  I told him I couldn't promise anything, but at the moment the anchor seems to have reset. While I was talking with him, his friends arrived on scene, boarded his boat and found an anchor and some rode hiding in a locker, and deployed it as a second anchor to hopefully help keep his boat from going walkabout again. All I can say is I'm glad I'm upwind of him now.  Hopefully no other unattended boats will decide they need to come pay us a visit.

After the morning excitement, we decided to go to shore and take a bike ride to see what else was in the area.  Fortunately there is a decent bike path that runs along the highway and makes for a safer ride than if we were on the street.  We visited a couple shops, grabbed a bite to eat and had a nice afternoon. Upon return we found our boat right where we left it (the Mantus anchor has been very reliable for us in a variety of conditions thus far) and fortunately the dragging boat stayed put as well.

No idea what the plan is for tomorrow...and I think I like it that way.  I just hope that we can forgo dragging boats and emergency repairs and of one sort or another for a while.

The Art of Fixing Your Boat

Ok, this is getting more than just a bit old. I know that cruising is supposed to be the art of fixing your boat in exotic locations, but we seem to be spending all of our time fixing, and haven't even made it to a really exotic location yet.

Sorry...had to get that off my chest...let me back up a bit. A couple days ago we departed Elliott Key heading for Key Largo. The day started well enough. We fired up the engines (recommended for windlass operation), pulled up the anchor, set the sails, shut the engines down, and were sailing along in Biscayne Bay.  After a nice stop at Elliott, things were finally starting to feel like they should.

Sailing along in Biscayne Bay

Since we had been under sail most of the trip and we don't yet have solar, I decided it would be a good idea to fire up the generator and top off the batteries.  Don't want the beer getting warm, right?  I fire it up and there is no cooling water coming out of the exhaust.  Argh.  I shut it back down and go grab a wrench to check the impeller since that is the usual cause of such issues.  I find it looks just fine.  Hmm....this seems familiar.  I grab a couple more wrenches and pull the pump.  Once again the drive gear has come loose.  Unfortunately this time I discover the seals on the pump are also starting to fail.  So it looks like we will either need a new pump or to rebuild this one.  In either case, no generator until this is resolved.

Despite being able to sail, we fire up an engine so we can use it to charge the batteries.  We motor sail the rest of the way to Tarpon Basin on the east side of Key Largo and drop the hook. We chose this location since Active Captain said it had a dinghy dock behind the county building and was close to grocery and other supplies. It is also well protected and there are storms predicted in the near future. Best to be somewhere protected while we work out this issue.

View of the Tarpon Basin anchorage from the Monroe
County free dock.

Once we arrived, we started the hunt for parts for our ailing generator. We search for parts and repair facilities in the area and don't find much online. In desperation, we call the local West Marine. They can special order the parts, but it will take 3 weeks or more before they can get them in. At the end of the day,  our only option seems to be a long wait for a part. Needless to say we were more than a tad frustrated. How can we be in the Florida Keys, a boating mecca, and can't find a pretty simple and common part?

One of the "guard dogs" at the dinghy dock.

The next morning we take the dinghy to shore, armed with smartphones and a tablet, determined to find a better solution. Sadly, the marine industry seems severely lacking in online presence. As some of the local boaters came by, we would ask them if they knew of any marine diesel repair shops around. We finally found a guy that pointed us toward a couple of places nearby. We hopped on our bikes (we brought them to shore in the dinghy), and with the failed pump in our backpack, went to the shops.

The first shop we stopped at told us they didn't have what we were looking for, but there was a small marine diesel guy down the street that might be able to help. We head over to this shop in our quest for generator power. Ironically, this shop is almost exactly across the street from the county building with the dinghy access. No real signage other than a couple small diesel manufacturer logos on the windows (once you were close enough to see them). We go in and tell him tales of our woes, show him the pump, and ask if he could help. He said he could probably rebuild the pump, but it might be cheaper to buy a new one (their labor rate is $125/hour). He checked and could have a new pump shipped for arrival today (Saturday) for about the same price as rebuilding the one we have. Not a cheap option, but next day service for what West Marine was going to take 3 weeks to accomplish.

So, we wait for the pump as I type this. With all the work we have done on the boat I would have thought we would have some credit built up...but I guess not. At least the county building has WiFi so I can finally update the blog. I can even go back and add pictures to the posts I had queued up and ready to go.

Feeling Neglected

After all the time spent building the new hardtop, it seems other things on the boat have been a bit neglected. The salon seat cushions that we have wanted to reupholster because of the ugly blue vinyl have degraded into cushions mostly covered in vinyl fragments. The port side hull, that has no climate control capability, is slowly turning into a mold forest and is in desperate need of some cleaning.  But these aren't the things that are preventing our departure from cold Virginia.  Other systems have started acting up.  In particular, the ones that run on diesel.  Both the engines and the generator have decided to prove that they need a little love too.

When I fired up the generator as a test and part of my semi-regular attempt to make sure oil gets circulated on all those internal, rustable parts, no water was found shooting out of the exhaust.  For those that aren't aware, boat diesels use seawater as part of the engine cooling circuit and said water is ejected via the exhaust.  If no water is flowing from the exhaust, it indicates the raw water is not being sucked up to cool the engine and the engine will overheat.  The lack of water can usually be attributed to a blockage at the intake (including the intake seacock [valve] being closed) or a failure of the replaceable rubber impeller in the raw water pump.

Picture of a raw water pump with the impeller access plate removed.
Photo from Compass Marine (an awesome site for boat repair information).

I check the seacock, and it was indeed open.  I open the inline strainer and pour some water in to see if it will flow out through the intake and it did, so no blockage there.  I then remove the plate on the pump expecting to see the broken rubber bits of the impeller.  Unfortunately, the impeller looked in pristine condition.  None of the usual culprits was the cause, and this is not a good thing.  With the cover removed, I have my wife bump the starter to verify that the pump is turning the impeller.  The impeller didn't move.  Drat.  It is starting to look like something may have broken inside the pump.  I pull the pump in preparation for taking it up to the marina shop to see if they have one.  When I pull the pump, I find that the nut that holds the gear on the back side of the pump is loose.  The result is that the gear would spin freely on the pump shaft. I tighten the nut and viola, turning the gear now turns the shaft which, in turn, spins the impeller. I reinstall the the pump and when I start the generator, the magic cooling water once again flowed from the exhaust.  So, the good part of this story is that the fix was nothing more than tightening a nut.  The bad part is that it took up a few hours that could have been spent preparing for our departure.

While messing with the generator, I noticed that the radiator cap looked like it might be leaking. Fortunately, radiator caps are relatively easy to find and one was procured from a local auto parts store. Hopefully that will resolve that little problem.

The two Westerbeke engines that propel the boat through the water (when not under sail) were also being cranky.  They, not unlike my wife and I, were protesting the cold weather and were incredibly hard to start.  The last time I started them they weren't too happy, but I figured it was due to the amount of time since I last started them in combination with the cold.  This time it hadn't been all that long, but it was a bit colder and they nearly refused to start. It took me over an hour to coax them to life so we could move the boat as the marina requested.  This simply would not have worked at all if we weren't attached to marina power where we could recharge the batteries between attempts. This needed to be fixed before we leave since I'm sure we would have killed the start batteries trying to get the engines started.

Diesels are pretty simple systems as far as engines go.  They run on fuel, air, and compression.  No pesky ignition systems to complicate issues.  But they don't like cold temperatures.  To battle this, they have things called glow plugs, basically little heaters that warm up the combustion chamber for those cold starts. I did some quick checks of the air intake and fuel and quickly focused my efforts on the glow plug system. On the starboard engine I verified that I could hear the click of the solenoid that activates the glow plugs.  I checked for voltage on the wires and it seemed fine. I then pulled one of the glow plugs and checked the resistance and it was just a little low compared to what the book said it should be (1 ohm instead of the 1.2 ohms). That didn't seem bad but we went to see if I could find a local source for them (it was getting late and I wanted to check availability before the stores closed). No one had them in stock, and I would have to order them if I needed them.  The next morning I tested the glow plug I pulled by taking a couple wires and connecting them directly to the battery.  The glow plug worked just fine.  Hmm.  I then hooked the plug back up to its voltage supply wire and attached a separate ground so I could see it work while it was hooked up to the engine.  We pushed the preheat button and nothing.  I re-verified that I was seeing voltage on the wire, and I was.  The only explanation I could think of is that the contacts in the solenoid were old and over time have developed a high resistance. This would explain seeing voltage but not enough power to make the glow plug glow.  I reinstalled the glow plug and then used a jumper wire to bypass the relay.  This time when we tried to start the engine it quickly roared to life.  Aha!

The solenoid causing the starting problem.

So, off we went to try finding a replacement solenoid.  The only diesel shop in town said they didn't have the Westerbeke part but might have a suitable replacement if I could bring them a picture.  I took several pictures and went to the shop to see what they could do.  They took a look at the pictures, walked in back and came back with a solenoid that looked very similar to the OEM part.  I took it back to the boat and installed it.  During the installation I double checked the wiring diagram and the installation on the other engine just to make sure everything was hooked up correctly.  We gave the new solenoid a try...and nothing.  This time I couldn't even hear or feel the solenoid click.  I removed the new solenoid and reinstalled the old one.  I verified that the old one still clicked and that I got the wiring right.  It was right.  Sigh.

We had wasted enough time on this issue and the weather window to leave was getting shorter, so we decided we would just press on using the jumper wire workaround until we got someplace where we could order the Westerbeke part and have it shipped in.  We took the new solenoid back.

Suspecting a similar issue on the port engine, I ran the same tests.  Voltages were fine.  I pulled one of the glow plugs and tested it and it was fine.  I did the test for the solenoid expecting it to be the fault, but was surprised when it worked fine too.  I reinstalled the glow plug and decided to give the engine one more test before I pulled the other glow plugs to see if one of them is at fault.  The engine fired right up.  Huh.  My only guess is the process of removing and testing the first glow plug must have cleaned up some corrosion and now the system is working fine. I'll call that a win.

When doing instrument checks in preparation for departure, I ran across another issue.  The chart plotter was complaining about not getting a signal from the remote GPS.  Figuring this was a connection issue, I pulled all the plugs from the back of the plotter and plugged them back in.  Restart the chart plotter, and it was again happy.  I do like these simple fixes.

When I get to warmer climates I'll need to revisit a few things.  I should take some dielectric grease to some of the electrical connections to help combat corrosion.  I also need to clean and paint the engines...but I'm not sure the paint will even dry at these temperatures.

So, we are a few days behind in our preparation to leave, but with any luck we should be heading out soon.  Now where is that grocery list...

Can't Wait to Have Solar on the Boat

Having spent the last few nights at anchor, I have to say I just cannot wait to install alternative energy options on s/v Rover.  When purchased, the only option (other than a shore power cord), was to run a Northern Lights generator for power.  Sadly, I have not remedied this situation yet so I have to fire up the generator once a day or so to top off the house batteries.

As I sit here typing this, the drone of the generator going in the background and disturbing this otherwise peaceful setting just annoys me.  I hate having to run the thing...the pollution and noise just make me cringe.  Hopefully soon I won't need it any longer as one of the projects I'd like to do over the next couple months is add solar and possibly a wind generator.

Become self sufficient and less reliant on fossil fuels, that is one of our goals.

This might be a bit much, but I can appreciate the sentiment.

Now I need to go turn off the infernal noise maker before it drives me crazy.