Friday the 18th of December, 2009
SNOW - LOTS OF SNOW
The day didn't start out with snow. My goals were to finish changing ALL of the 30 year old engine hoses. I lost a hose from the kit that I bought at American Diesel. So, back to American Diesel to get the one that disappeared (probably into the bilge). I also picked up two fuel filters and got instructions from Brian again on how to install them.
It's such a struggle getting the old hoses off and cleaning up the pipes and nipples for the new hoses. Often you get everything almost back together only to pull it apart and assemble in a different order. I ended up leaving a pipe at my house that connected part of the water tank to heat exchanger path. Hum 62 miles to get it and return. I called Susan at home and we met half way. So, back to the boat and finally got ALL of the hoses on the engine.
I flushed the coolant out and refilled with fresh antifreeze and distilled water.
Bleeding the two new fuel fitlers was a challenge. You have to operate the lever pump on the fuel pump until air stops coming out of the 1st filter bleed bolt and then the same on the 2nd filter and then two more bleed bolts on the injector pump. My wrist was aching and back extremely tired from the awkward reach to the pump. To, my amazement the motor started right up!!! Great. It was now 6PM and snowing at my home 60 miles to the west of Deltaville. So, clean up and get home. While cleaning up I found the missing hose from the kit that had fallen into the bilge and as I guessed taken a weird bounce way out of sight.
It was a beautiful ride home with the snow falling. Christmas lights on homes looked great with the white stuff. Great satisfaction in my mind as I got all those things changed and finally got the motor started.
Now the next trip thing is to get the oil changed. AFTER CHRISTMAS.

General

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FORD LEHMAN 120 HP DIESEL MODEL 2715E SN# 10429 3095.5 HRS 10-8-2009
---------- SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE ----------

EVERY 10 HOURS CHECK ENGINE OIL AND TRANSMISSION LEVELS
CHECK COOLING WATER LEVEL

EVERY 50 HOURS CHECK CLEANLINESS OF INTAKE AIR FILTER
CHECK HEAT EXCHANGER ZINC PENCIL
CHANGE OIL IN INJECTION PUMP

EVERY 200 HOURS ADJUST BELT TENSION
CHANGE ENGINE AND TRANSMISSION OIL
CHANGE ALL ENGINE AND FUEL OIL FILTERS
CLEAN FUEL LIFT PUMP
CLEAN INJECTION PUMP COVER FILTER

EVERY 400 HOURS REMOVE AND SERVICE INJECTORS
ADJUST VALVE CLEARANCES
REMOVE RAW WATER PUMP AND CHECK DRIVE COUPLING
GREASING THEM WHEN REPLACING
ADJUST IDLING SPEED IF REQUIRED
===============================================
PARTS
Oil Filter FRAM PH8A; WIX 51515
FUEL FITER PRIMARY RACOR MODEL 500MA REPLACEMENT ELEMENT Racor 2010SM 30micron ; Baldwin PF-598
Secondary Fuel Filters (2) - FRAM C1191A; NAPA 3166; LUCAS CAV296; DELPHI HDF296, WIX 33166
Engine paint - RUSTOLEUM REGAL RED
===============================================

DATE HOURS MAINTENANCE/REPAIR
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11-6-09 3110 Changed Starter Motor
11-20-09 3122.8 Changed Transmission Cooler and Lines
11-20-09 3122.8 Changed Transmission Fluid
11-20-09 3122.8 Changed Air Filter
12-3-09 3125.6 Changed Raw Water Pump, Gear & raw water inlet and
output hoses
12-3-09 3125.6 Cleaned Heat Exchanger & Replaced Zinc
12-3-09 3125.6 Changed Fuel Lift pump and inlet hose
12-18-09 3125.6 Changed ALL Engine Hoses
12-18-09 3125.6 Changed Injector Pump oil
12-18-09 3125.6 Cleaned (backflushed) Oil Cooler & replaced all Oil Lines
12-18-09 3125.6 Changed both Secondary Fuel Filters
12-18-09 3125.6 Flushed cooling system refilled with Antifreeze & Distilled Water
1-3-10 3126 Changed Oil & Filter

Operation

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Susan & I came down last night and brought our dog to stay a at a kennel near here. That was nice not having to take her the opposite direction and she got some car time with us too. Our goals for the boat this weekend are to change the transmission cooler, install a new battery switch any hoses of opportunity.
Friday morning I started out replacing the bulb in the engine room light that I discovered last weekend. I am kind of working my way up out of the bilge projects and the light discovery was wonderful. Still my favorite tool is my head led light. Susan and I started out by changing 1 thru hull for the macerator pump. I was going to change the hose too. That hose was fine. Now i have only one more hose in that area that is suspect and anthat is the waste hose from the holding tank to the deck. My bruised ribs will not let me do that one this weekend. Once done though that area of the bilge will be complete. I discovered that there is only one thru hull connection for both heat pumps. One strainer and one raw water pump that has a splitter on hte output side to both heat pumps. That will be nice when in the summer I start sucking up jelly fish into the strainer. At least i will only have one place I have to deal with.
I like the yard here at Deltaville Marina. Deltaville Boat Yard is top notch. I got a bill for the work they did getting the boat going and consultative plan of maintenance. Very detailed. Very good craftsmanship in the battery cables and neatness securiing them. Just a top notch outfit. They said the transmission cooler must be leaking into the transmission. I made my trip to the other top notch engine experts AMERICAN DIESEL in Kilmarnock. I had a list for Brian at American Diesel. Brian had the transmission cooler, spare belt, air cleaner and two heat exchanger gaskets for me in a jiffy. He also told me how to properly install the transmission cooler, how much antifreeze the coolant should have, how to bleed the coolant to prevent air pockets in the block. Brian also handled to field calls while ringing me up. I'm really glad American Diesel is so close by. I'll install that tomorrow.

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November 15 , 2009
Foggy on Jackson Creek this morning. At least Nor-Easter IDA has left the area and the tides are getting back to normal. Our transient Canadian friends, Jacque and Nicole, have left for the Exumas.
I'm here on the boat alone this morning after the band, Flashback ( www.flashbackwebsite.com ), played at Indian Creek Country Club's Commodore's Ball last night in Kilmarnock. Delatville was close enough to Kilmarnock for me to stay on the boat rather than drive back home through deer county @ 1:30 AM. Slept good on the boat. Warm and cozy, but missed my mate.
Lots of projects to do on the boat. But, I'm always beat after a band job. Just lots of expended energy, excitement and fun. But, very tiring and muscles need to recover the next day. So, a little planning time, coffee and some light bilge pump hose replacement is about the extend of my work here today.

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Un-lucky day? Well we are riding out the remnants of Hurricane IDA in our slip with the water over our docks. We waded to our boat yesterday afternoon. Winds were constantly blowing 30+ KTs and gusts over 40 were common. Low tide here the water was 6" deep above our dock. High tide last night and today have been about 2 ' higher. We slept fine last night between our two sleeping bags. We are relatively warm, being heated by the Lehman engine with our hatch removed. The power was cut off at the dock as the water was dangerously high. So, we are getting by with 12v. We've not had a chance to refill or otherwise check out the LP gas stove. So, Susan made us tuna salad for dinner last night. Also a candle or two on here could have helped with lighting and heat. I'm going to work on the blocked bilge pump hose this morning and when the tide goes below the dock I may drive to get a replacement length of new bilge pump hose. Found the bilge pump hose was pinched between the hull and the plywood mounting board for the A/C. It must have been like that since the A/C was installed. While I was in the area I found another seacock dripping. It was the water intake for one of the A/C units. Instead of double clamps there were NONE. I put one clamp on as the hose and stopped the dripping. The hose needs to be replaced soon. All the hoses on this old boat should be replaced. I've so far replaced the forward head hoses and the forward sink drain. Making progress! We are waiting for the tide to go down and will head home. I will be back Saturday night after the Flashback plays in Kilmarnock for the Commodores Ball at Indian Creek Country Club. Sunday I'll install new bilge pump hose and plan the next hose route. I'm posting this from the bridge of Liquid Therapy starring at Gromit. We saw the crew of our Canadian friends leaving yesterday as though they were staying ashore. They probably needed a break from this 3 day storm. Low tide is 2:15 and we will will jump ship then.

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. October 10, 2009
SO, why does the bilge pump come on about once an hour. Today was the day to find out. I went to the boat and started by noticing the bilge pump had not come on as I stepped on board. I asked my neighbor if he had noticed the bilge pump run and he said not since we left Sunday. I turned on the fresh water pump and looked in the bilge, no sign of any water entering the bilge. Checked the prop shaft. It was not dripping. Turned on the galley faucet. Not it. Turned on the forward head sink & that was it. Now WHERE IS the drain leaking? I could see water running into the bilge along the port bow. Of course it was inaccessible without removing the floor of the head. Because I had to undo the hoses from the head and remove the floor, it would be a good time to replace the floor. It had been saturated by the water hitting its plywood edge for years thus causing de-laminating. Might as well change the head hoses, too, which WAS to be a future project. Targets of opportunity! But, even though the scope of the job was creeping to other areas, I needed to take care of the leak. It was directly under the pull out sink and was connected to a seacock! Yes, a below the water seacock is how this sink drains. Very dangerous. If that hose breaks the boat would sink. This hose WAS broken just above the nipple of the seacock and just above the level of the outside water. Usually sink drains use lower quality hoses to drain through an above the waterline through hull fitting. And, suppose something goes down the drain that floats. It could float at the waterline and not exit a seacock. Next off to West Marine to get some proper hose. I purchased the 1 1/2" hose and as it turns out it is too thick and stiff to allow the sink to slide in and out. I'm now considering running this to the galley sink drain hose and putting a T there or possibly running it to the sump pit that pumps shower water out. I don't like that seacock original drain engineering. I COULD have the seacock removed and the hole in the hull filled in. This brings up another point. I have two heads that originally discharged through seacocks. Then the pollution guys required holding tanks. LIQUID THERAPY has T fittings at both of these former discharge seacocks. The seacocks are closed and therefore the waste goes into the holding tank. The seacocks can not ever be used in US waters. I'm going to have those removed and the hull holes filled in too. Then there will be 3 fewer holes in LIQUID THERAPY's hull. Three places that can on longer leak, or, seep, or have to be bonded and three less seacocks that have to be periodically replaced.

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