Better Now Than Later ….
19 April 2017 | Opua, Bay of Islands, NZ
The other night we had a critical piece of cruising gear fail on us. It highlighted (once again) the importance of preventive maintenance and operational checks before heading "out there". It seems that it is so easy to take equipment for granted - it worked the last time I used it, why shouldn’t it work the next time? The marine environment is brutal, and takes its toll on everything. I’ve talked before about the approach of fixing things when they break vs practicing an approach of regular preventive maintenance. Part of the challenge of a preventive maintenance program is knowing the typical lifetimes of your equipment, and what to look for that is an indicator that something needs to be replaced and/or serviced. That is part of the learning curve for each of those critical pieces of equipment. Part of our annual checks as we are getting ready for a new cruising season is to go through an operational check with the equipment to make sure it is working as it should. Such was the case the other night when I set up the portable BBQ (7 year old Weber Baby-Q) so we could grill some chicken.
While the grill lit off just fine (it is gas-fired), it never really came up to temperature, and we had to settle for cooking the chicken in the oven (a Plan B is always good with critical gear). The next day as I checked out the failed equipment, I realized that had I been properly inspecting the stainless steel burner tube, I would have spotted the numerous clogged holes (gas jets). And, if I had lifted the aluminum GrillGrates that I cook on and inspected the cast iron grating beneath them, I surely would have noticed that it was “oxidizing” at a noticeable rate, raining down on the burner tube. But I didn’t. Instead, I just saw a well used (and loved) Weber Baby-Q grill, whose porcelain-covered aluminum body and plastic feet and handles were in otherwise fine working condition in the marine environment.
I cleaned off the “oxidation” from the grating and opened up all the jets in the burner tube. While not at 100%, it should hold us until I can get a replacement burner tube and grating (not spares currently kept on-board). Thank heavens we discovered the failure now while we can still do something about it - I couldn’t imagine trying to go through a cruising season without the BBQ!