On today's schedule is pre-departure maintenance. Since I have not changed the fuel filters since we left the bay area I thought it would be a good idea to change out the Racors.
Exit Strategy has dual selectable filters that allow us to switch to a different filter with the engine running and then change the filter that is not in use. There is a pressure gauge that tells us if there is some partial clogging. This gauge is only visible inside the engine room so it is of limited utility unless we are having issues that cause us to monitor it. When you pull off the top of the filter housing fuel tends to spill out. There is only one place it can end up and that is the deep sump forward and underneath the engine room. Unfortunately any fluid that gets in there will be pumped overboard at some point. So to keep our friends who live downstairs healthy and happy we want to minimize the potential of fuel going overboard.
Part of cruising is the art of improvisation. Jean has some panties that the elastic has worn out. She was keeping them around for just the type of occasion we had today where we needed to wrap something around to prevent leakage. It worked pretty well and now we have clean filters. And Jean has a great excuse to wear those cute new panties she picked up in the states.
Next on the list is changing the clutch oil in the transmission. For that I found a piece of hose that will fit inside the hose we use to pump the oil out of the engine. Thanks to our built in oil changing pump this should be a pretty easy and quick task. Of course I've learned not to assume too much. There is an old adage about all boat projects taking twice as long and costing four times as much as they should. And cruising is all about working on your boat in exotic places, right?