Mike
05/20/2009, Marsh Harbour, Abaco

May 18th... Marsh Harbour, Abacos

Happy Victoria Day to all our Canadian friends!

Steve came over as we were having coffee to talk about the weather. There are so many factors that it makes it difficult to figure out. There are two low pressure systems in the area that have yet to give any indication of where they're tracking. We can always find protection for east winds but if there is any west component, it can be difficult. Since we are safe here we decided to stay until this stuff blows away.

We made arrangements to have lunch and look into renting a car to drive around the island.

Our toilet has been leaking from the top of the pump handle and I have been meaning to look at it so I took it apart. After cleaning everything I removed the washer that is the cause and found that there was no fixing. The part in not simply a washer but is tapered and it's nothing that I can replace here.

I did add some new parts where needed and put things back together. Unfortunately, when I tested it, the pump wouldn't pump. I dawned on me that I had failed to replace a piece that seals one side of the diverter. When I looked in the cockpit for the missing part, it was not to be found.

I had been using a glass jar and some muriatic acid to clean bronze parts and a bucket to clean the plastic ones. I had checked the bucket for any leftover parts and Kathy had dumped it overboard.

At this point Steve and Kim stopped by to pick up us for lunch. I explained the problem and decided to stay to work the head. Steve and Kim said that they would check around town about where we might find a new head.

After panicking for a while, I set out to fabricate the missing part from a thin plastic cutting board. I had to make two pieces and doubled them to come up the right thickness but it looked like it would work. When I put everything back together... it didn't work.

I disassembled it again and made a few modifications before reassembly... still no luck. So apart it came again. At this point I decided that I had to really understand how the thing worked and after a few minutes decided that my new part needed a hole in the middle about the size of a dime. I didn't remember the lost part having a hole but, it couldn't work any other way so I added the hole, reassembled the toilet and it worked.

By this time it was 4:30 so I took a shower, made a G & T, and went over to "Fine Lion" to celebrate success. They invited us over for dinner so I returned to "Sapphire" to put together hors de oeuvres plate and returned to play a game of Rummy Cube which we had never played before. It was really quite fun.

We had a late dinner and then headed home for bed.

Comments [2]

Mike
05/20/2009, Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco, Bahamas

May 17th... Marsh Harbour, Abacos

After the weather I took my coffee over to "Fine Lion" to discuss our travel plans with Steve. The weather here is complicated right now with a low pressure system in Cuba and heading north toward Florida and a cold front coming south from the Carolina's. While neither of these are going to affect us directly, they are both large enough to influence the area through the first half of the week. There will be wind in the 30 knot range and thunderstorms with gusts higher.

Not knowing the nature of the storm in Cuba we decided to remain here for the day and wait for more information tomorrow.

Our first job this morning was to test the engine. When we arrived here, the overheating alarm sounded as were anchoring. We started it up and tried to duplicate the situation by running it up to temperature and the lowering the rpm's to idle. Sure enough, after 5 minutes the temperature gauge started to rise. When I increased the rpms to 1000 it cooled back to normal.

Interesting....I decided to think about the problem before taking any action. I topped off our tank from one of our jerry cans and loaded it into the dinghy along with all of our water containers and headed to the marina.

In thirty minutes of so I was on my way back with 6 gallons of diesel and 35 gallons of water which I promptly started loading into the water tank. Kathy had spent the morning cleaning.

After toasted cheesed sandwiches for lunch, I began working on the overheating problem. The fact that it overheated at low rpm was exactly the opposite of the last overheating problem that we dealt with a year and a half ago when we had an 80 percent blockage in the thru hull fitting.

The only thing that we have done in the last few weeks that remotely affect the system was when I was bleeding the engine heating hoses that go to our water heater. I lost the bleed screw and about a quart of antifreeze, which after fixing, I added back into the antifreeze reservoir.

Anyway, I started with the thru hull to make sure that is was clear. It was. Then I borrowed Steve's impeller puller and replaced ours. Finally, I removed the water line for the exhaust elbow to make sure that that area was clear. It was fine.

I didn't think that anything I'd done was going to make any difference, but was going to start the engine again to test it anyway. Before closing things up I decided to look at the manifold. On its top are a radiator fill cap and a pet-cock. I had bled the system using the pet cock a couple of years ago but rarely even look at it. When I removed the cap I could see that the coolant lever was down about an inch and a half. I had Kathy, who was waxing the cockpit at the time, hand down some antifreeze and I added about a pint. Since it still wasn't full I added another pint of water. After closing things up, I started the engine and ... presto, no overheating. Plus, we had a new impeller and a totally inspected cooling system.

We got some chicken thighs out of the freezer and read for an hour or so before dinner.

Steve and Kim stopped by for an hour or so before I fired up the grill.

We watched a movie in the evening and read a while before bed.

Comments [0]

Mike
05/20/2009, Marsh Harbour, Abaco

May 17th... Marsh Harbour, Abacos

After the weather I took my coffee over to "Fine Lion" to discuss our travel plans with Steve. The weather here is complicated right now with a low pressure system in Cuba and heading north toward Florida and a cold front coming south from the Carolina's. While neither of these are going to affect us directly, they are both large enough to influence the area through the first half of the week. There will be wind in the 30 knot range and thunderstorms with gusts higher.

Not knowing the nature of the storm in Cuba we decided to remain here for the day and wait for more information tomorrow.

Our first job this morning was to test the engine. When we arrived here, the overheating alarm sounded as were anchoring. We started it up and tried to duplicate the situation by running it up to temperature and the lowering the rpm's to idle. Sure enough, after 5 minutes the temperature gauge started to rise. When I increased the rpms to 1000 it cooled back to normal.

Interesting....I decided to think about the problem before taking any action. I topped off our tank from one of our jerry cans and loaded it into the dinghy along with all of our water containers and headed to the marina.

In thirty minutes of so I was on my way back with 6 gallons of diesel and 35 gallons of water which I promptly started loading into the water tank. Kathy had spent the morning cleaning.

After toasted cheesed sandwiches for lunch, I began working on the overheating problem. The fact that it overheated at low rpm was exactly the opposite of the last overheating problem that we dealt with a year and a half ago when we had an 80 percent blockage in the thru hull fitting.

The only thing that we have done in the last few weeks that remotely affect the system was when I was bleeding the engine heating hoses that go to our water heater. I lost the bleed screw and about a quart of antifreeze, which after fixing, I added back into the antifreeze reservoir.

Anyway, I started with the thru hull to make sure that is was clear. It was. Then I borrowed Steve's impeller puller and replaced ours. Finally, I removed the water line for the exhaust elbow to make sure that that area was clear. It was fine.

I didn't think that anything I'd done was going to make any difference, but was going to start the engine again to test it anyway. Before closing things up I decided to look at the manifold. On its top are a radiator fill cap and a pet-cock. I had bled the system using the pet cock a couple of years ago but rarely even look at it. When I removed the cap I could see that the coolant lever was down about an inch and a half. I had Kathy, who was waxing the cockpit at the time, hand down some antifreeze and I added about a pint. Since it still wasn't full I added another pint of water. After closing things up, I started the engine and ... presto, no overheating. Plus, we had a new impeller and a totally inspected cooling system.

We got some chicken thighs out of the freezer and read for an hour or so before dinner.

Steve and Kim stopped by for an hour or so before I fired up the grill.

We watched a movie in the evening and read a while before bed.

Comments [0]