It should have been an easy one!!!

Nothing is ever simple when it comes to fixing something on a boat. Whether it is a simple fix of a head or a new instrument install; they are never easy and this story tops the list.

Reina and I have been preparing the boat to go from Bahia to the boat yard in La Libertad, Ecuador. It is a 120 mile run into the wind and current. This means that the chances of sailing are limited and you need to be prepared to motor all the way.

Whether coming or going from Bahia you have to do it at high tide and even then there are times when our depth gauge read 7.5 feet leaving us just over a foot under our keel; that is not much room to spare especially when you throw a 2 to 3 foot swell into the equation. The first time we came in we had a pilot aboard to guide us and we laid a track on our chart plotter. With the track from our entrance we felt confident we could get out without any assistance.

Our big departure day was Sunday the 6th of July. We said our goodbyes to all our new friends and headed out. About an hour into our motor run south I noticed the engine's rpms start to fluctuate and it seemed that the engine was running hotter than normal. I put the engine into neutral and it died, not good. We were getting rolled around pretty aggressively while pondering the problem. First thing I did was have Reina bring in the fishing lines, wouldn't want them to get wrapped around the propeller (been there done that). Reina felt like she might have had a strike while reeling in the lines. Later we speculated that maybe she hooked up a fishing net that could have been wrapped on the prop!! That would explain the engine dying.

As a preventative measure I changed the racor fuel filter to make sure that there was not a fuel restriction, easier said than done in a hot engine room while dead in the water in pitching seas. I got that done and restarted the engine, no problem. We ran it in neutral for a while, no problem. We decided to push on. The condition repeated in about 15 minutes of additional running. Mentally I started to diagnose the problem: engine temp hotter than normal but not enough to cause the motor to stall; could something be wrapped around the propeller, but that would have caused a problem right away not after running the boat for an additional 15 minutes; maybe the transmission is getting hot and causing some sort of resistance that in turn causes the engine to die; is the engine getting enough fuel, the replaced fuel filter should have addressed a fuel restriction problem; I know my fuel is good and clean (or is it), we had no problems coming from Panama to Ecuador with the same fuel? I was completely stumped. In my mind the only solution was to head back to Bahia, which we could sail, and try to diagnose and fix the problem. It was really an easy decision since we could not sail to La Libertad and there happened to be (believe it or not) a highly recommended diesel mechanic in Bahia.

Of course it is not as simple as that, we had to anchor outside the entrance to Bahia and wait for the next high tide the following morning (while waiting I dove on the boat to make sure nothing was hooked on the prop, which there was not). So we anchored offshore exposed to whatever the Pacific wanted to send our way. It was not so bad; I was able to get some rest...well not really....thought about my engine all night.

We called ahead and had the mechanic on standby to come aboard Karma as soon as we came over the bar and in to the anchorage. We also had two boats following us in ready to give assistance if the engine decided to crap out at a critical moment. We got in without a problem and had the mechanic on board in no time.

We took the mechanic out for a ride. We drove around in circles in the marina area like a greyhound chasing a rabbit. I pushed the engine very hard for over an hour but could not duplicate the problem. Finally I gave up. The "engine whisperer" mechanic said that the motor sounded good...no issues ...he was concerned with the engine temp and I asked that he remove the heat exchanger and clean it thoroughly with acid. (For the mechanically challenged, the heat exchanger is the device that removes the heat from the fresh water cooling system by running salt water through a radiator type device to cool the fresh water down). I had looked at it before we left and felt that it was in good shape but figured it couldn't hurt to have it properly cleaned. The mechanic agreed to come back the next day, when the engine would be cool.

Meanwhile, Carlos our local friend who cleans the bottoms of the boats and works on a lot of the boats in the marina (we call him our Ecuadorian Peter for Peter from our days at Danny's) was aware of our situation and came by to dive on our boat and check the salt water inlet to make sure that was not an issue. Seawater gets to the engine (and other things) by passing through a bronze screen on the bottom of the boat into a sea chest (fiberglass column of water with all of our thruhulls connected to it) and then through a strainer and into the engine cooling system. When he took off the screen he described to me, in sign language (I don't hablo), that when he removed the screen a lot of crap fell out. Honestly I should have known better, I have been burned by this before on a failed attempt to get to the Bahamas from Florida with our friends the Henderson's.

The silver lining to this discovery is that maybe that was our problem. Let's see, the engine is fine until it starts to run hot from the restriction? But the temperature gauge never really indicated a temperature problem? Even though it was not all adding up, I felt this must have been our problem possibly in conjunction with a line on the prop that freed itself before I dove on it. Stranger things have happened.

Reina and I decided to cancel the mechanic and leave the following morning at high tide. So, the following morning comes and we are getting ready to depart. I fire up the generator like I do most mornings and go about my morning routine when I realize something doesn't sound right..."Ray see if there is any water coming out from the back of the boat" (where the water for generator cooling system exits)... guess what, no water! Come on this is not happening!!! I guess we are not going to leave after all.

Onto the generator fix, it is not a big deal, just pull out the rubber impellor that pumps saltwater for cooling. When I got the impellor out I saw it was missing 5 of the rubber "wings”. It is important that you locate all the pieces in order to avoid any restriction problems. I am certain that they are in the pump or in the hose running from the pump to the heat exchanger (same set up as the engine). I will spare you my complaints about the difficulty of removing hoses from the cooling system…..bottom line it sucks. Of course I got it all torn apart and no luck…I take off the end cap of the heat exchanger and there are all 5 of the buggers. I really should have chosen the easy path first. Either way, I found them. I got the generator put back together and it ran perfectly.

Being the prudent captain (and because my wife told me to) I decided I might as well replace the impellor on the engine even though it was not due. It is possible that the overheat of the engine damaged the impellor, you never know. The impellor change on the engine went a lot smoother. Not a problem, not even a single expletive (that is good for me). I started her up and ……what the F___ no water flowing!!!!!!!!!!! That is not possible. I had a mini breakdown…..and it gets even better.

I took off the raw water pump cover, removed the impellor and noticed that the keyway was missing. The keyway is a piece of metal shaped like a half moon that rests in a slot on the pump shaft and in a slot on the impellor, it is what makes the impellor turn with the shaft. It is a critical piece. There are not many places it could have gone. I assumed it must have dropped somehow into the exit hole on the pump or worked its way through the system to the heat exchanger (like the impellor wings on the generator). No need to panic yet.

Using a mirror and some uncomfortable yoga positions I looked all through the pump, which was still mounted to the engine, nothing there. I pulled off the hoses to see if it has lodged in either the inlet of exit hose, still nothing. The only place left was the heat exchanger. I took off the end cap to the heat exchanger, it must be there, wrong…..nothing. Now the panic is setting in. This is not a part that you are going to find in Bahia. This is just not possible where in the hell could it have gone? God bless my mate…next thing I know she is “buns up” in the engine room rummaging in the very nasty oily bilge convinced that it somehow it dropped out of the pump. She tediously used a magnet to comb through the parts she couldn’t reach. We found some interesting crap like a Coors Light beer can which we haven’t had on the boat for years, but no keyway. She gave it her all!!!!

There was only one thing left to do and it was a long shot. I removed the pump from the engine (not a small job) and took it out to the galley and prayed. Keep in mind we had poked and prodded and used all means available to look for the F___ keyway in the pump. I held the pump in my hand and shook it and I think I hear something…..out comes the missing key. I’ll have a drink now and toast god, and pretty much everyone I can think of for keeping Karma’s good karma coming, kind of.

With renewed inspiration and enough experience to better the best marine mechanic’s flat rate time for the reassembly I got it all back together and the engine running happily with lots of water flowing out the back. Unfortunately we missed high tide so we had to push our attempt to leave for the next day. We ran Karma on the dog track again for over an hour without a problem. We had a well deserved night on the town.

The Port Captain was not happy that we were still in Bahia, we had been issued our departure zarpe on Sunday it was now Thursday. We were confident that we were not going to have any more issues and headed out at high tide which by this point was in the afternoon.

Two and a half hours into our trip…..guess what….. same problem. Back to Bahia we go. . We made a call to our “diesel whisper” mechanic hoping he would come out to the boat in the Pacific so we would have more room to run around and hopefully duplicate the problem with him aboard. It just can’t be easy, just one problem, he is in the hospital. I wish the man well but come on…..(a few expletives). This time we had the added bonus of a very uncomfortable night in the Pacific waiting for the tide the next day.

While we were waiting for the tide I made a call to Jeremy, the American guy we are trying to get to in the yard that is going to do all the work on Karma. I was calling to apologize for our again unsuccessful attempt to get to him. He was kind enough to ask me to describe to him the problem. After telling him the story he asked me if I have copper fuel lines. I said yes and he informed me that he has run into this exact problem on more than one occasion. He told me that I probably have a small air leak in the line from the fuel tank to the lift pump. He felt that the lift pump was not able to pull enough fuel to keep up with the demand of the engine; at which point the engine starts to get air into the system which will kill the engine. He suggested that I get a simple 12 volt automotive fuel pump and hook it up, in line, close to the fuel tank. If I can pressurize the fuel from that point to the racor filter it should keep the engine running even though there is a small air leak somewhere in the line. He said we could fix the fuel line problem when (if) I got to the yard.

Our engine problem had gotten progressively worse and I was not even able to keep the engine running to lift the anchor; so to make things even more exciting we got to sail back into Bahia, thank god we had the right winds.

Once we were anchored back in Bahia I was able to purchase a 12 volt automotive fuel pump. Just as I was getting ready to dive into the system I got a call from the marina that the mechanic was out of the hospital and he heard through the grapevine that I might need his help. This time I was able to duplicate the problem while sitting on anchor. We installed the 12 volt problem and still had the same problem so it was not a fuel leak. The next thing the mechanic did was change ALL of the fuel filters. The first time we had the problem I changed the racor filter which is the first in line from the tank. This time we also changed the secondary filer on the engine and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t full of crap. I wrongly assumed that if my primary filter wasn’t clogged that my secondary filter would be fine, wrong. With ALL new filters in place the engine ran like a champ. We hit the dog track again and pushed it harder than I ever have and no problem; all of this drama over bad fuel.

Nine days after our initial departure we finally left Bahia and made it to the yard. Twenty-four hours in and I had to change the secondary filter again. The engine died again just as we dropped the anchor in front of the yard; fortunately I had one more filter to put on so that we could get into the sling and out of the water. Now number one on our list for the yard is to get rid of the rest of our bad fuel, clean the tank, and redesign the fuel system so that I can polish and transfer fuel between our two tanks. I’ll let you know how it goes.

P.S. This whole problem has reminded me of a story my daughter just shared with me. Courtney works for the Navy on the guided missile cruiser Bunker Hill. She is in the engineering department and is responsible for many of the fuel related issues on her ship. She told me that as she was coming into port in San Diego the other day they had a total engine shutdown which required them to be towed into port. The problem was that somehow a rag got sucked into the very large intake fuel line, which ironically caused her ship to have similar symptoms to mine. In her case, the rag finally caused enough restriction that it caused the turbine engine to shut down. When I reflected on her situation on the Bunker Hill I didn’t feel so bad, it’s part of the program be it on Karma or the Bunker Hill.

Captain Clint AKA Guapo