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.