SV Panta Rhei Retirement Trip
| Vessel Name: | Panta Rhei |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Able Apogee 50 |
| Hailing Port: | Seattle |
| Crew: | Larry and Karen |
| Social: |
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18 September 2017 | Seattle
We are back in Seattle
It feels like home. Of course we are not in Silshole. Maybe we will be, someday, but there is a list and we are on it. In the meantime we are at Bainbridge Island Marina.
23 August 2017 | Prince Rupert
The dinghy holds air again
It wasn't very nice of the bear to tear the fabric across a seam. We were worried that we couldn't patch it but tried anyway. The glue had a job to do and it did it!
15 August 2017 | Anan Bear Observatory
A Grizzly Bear damaged our dinghy
We were visiting the Anan Bear Observatory south of Wrangell. It is one of the best places to visit in all of SE Alaska BECAUSE it has bears. But (as we learned) there is a dark side to this bear concentration. And of course, there is a story to tell.
19 July 2017 | Petersburg, AK
Moving On
"No matter where you go, there you are" (unknown reference). By now we have been there and done that. Most recently that included Cannery Cove on Admiralty Island. The photo shows the quiet grandeur of the setting with Ron and Suzie's boat SV Tango in the foreground. It has been like that for the last [...]
17 June 2017 | Hoonah, AK
We are in Hoonah, SE Alaska now
We got something resembling a high pressure ridge so we moved expeditously across the Gulf of Alaska. The crossing took three days and weather stayed as forecast. That was a very good thing. The weather changes in the far north far more rapidly and dramatically than we ever experienced in the more southern [...]
03 June 2017 | Seward AK
Crossing the Gulf of Alaska
We are still in Seward, AK. Now that spring has come, why not start south?
Ordering a new engine
Before rebuilding an engine it has to be measured to see what size parts to order. Alternatively, if the wear is too great a new engine is required. I had left fairly confident that my engine with only 3500 hours on it would be only slightly worn and would be rebuilt. Unfortunately the cylinders were worn dramatically out of round, too far out of round to be rebuilt. A new engine would cost a lot more than a rebuild. But the real question was, Why me? After all, I should have obtained 3 times the life from this engine that I did. The answer, as always, lies in the details. Lookiing at the wear on the cylinders you could see a pattern...always the same spot on the cylinder and worse as the cylinders got closer to the front of the engine. The problem was the attachments to the engine. At the time we ordered our engine there was no available option for a second alternator. People needed second alternators, so people engineered all sorts of solutions. We had a shop install our alternator and we thought that the side load induced would be balanced appropriately by a engine driven bilge pump that pulled approximately opposite to the alternator. It turns out not to be true. Basically if you want to really know that things work, you have to test them. We had just completed the test. Of course the reason to test is that not all tests pass, else why test?
Now comes the good news. Yanmar has recognized the need for a second alternator and offers it as an option on their new 4JH4TE engine. This is an engineered solution and with any justice at all should not shorten the life of the engine. So we are going to climb out of this hole and be better off than ever before. the alternator is a little lower current capability than our first alternator, but we can live with that. That's all part of the engineered solution.
As I understand retirement, you are SUPPOSED to spend your savings. Well, that process has begun.
The picture is of the empty engine compartment with its new paint.
