Not Again - Genset Coolant Leak Part Deux
12 September 2018 | The Wall, Yachting World Marina, Port Vila, Efate Island, Vanuatu
As we sat at anchor in beautiful Revolieu Bay (Epi Island), I was doing my normal inspections prior to the long sail the following day back to Efate Island. We had motored about 10nm earlier that morning from Lamen Bay, and were enjoying the afternoon. I looked at the Genset coolant level in the reservoir (something that I was a little more diligent about since our little problem a couple weeks earlier) - and it was empty! I quickly opened up the genset - and coolant was pooled under it! Thirty minutes later (after shutting the boat electrical systems down to conserve power) we had the genset pulled out in the front cockpit and were trying to identify the source of the leak. The hose clamp we had replaced was tight and in place, but the source of the leak appeared to be that hose (again). After several unsuccessful attempts to re-seat the hose, the leak persisted, and it was getting dark. So I accepted that I was not going to be able to “repair” the leak this go around, since I didn’t have a replacement hose.
That evening, as we sat in the dark eating tuna fish salad, I thought through a plan to get us back to Port Vila, where we had a chance of getting the parts we would need and/or the help to repair the problem. We were about 70nm from Port Vila, so I knew that meant an arrival after dark - something I always prefer to avoid. I knew we would want to get started as early as possible, in the hope that we could at least get around Devil’s Point (it has that name for a good reason!) in daylight. Given the state-of-charge of our batteries, I knew that we had about an hour of motoring available to us - more if we went slower. And I knew that I would need to conserve the usage on our house battery bank as well so we could have the instruments available for night sailing coming in through the pass and into the anchorage.
We left Revolieu Bay around 6:00AM, using as little motors as possible to get out of the anchorage. We had enough wind to get us moving for about 10 minutes - and then we sat. And sat. And sat some more. I had decided that I would not use the motors unless I could see a wind line within a reasonable distance. We sat some more. Finally a wind line appeared and I waited until 1) I was sure it was real and 2) it was close enough for us to move to. We motored for about 10 minutes and finally got into the wind. As we moved away from the lee of Epi Island, the winds increased until we had a good 12-15kts of wind, moving us along at 7-8kts. Things were looking up! We kept the instruments turned off most of the time, sailing by the seat of our pants to conserve energy. Fortunately the wind held for most of the passage. Unfortunately as we approached Efate Island, the wind died as we passed into the lee of the island. I had purposely altered our course to try and stay as far off as I dared knowing that this could happen, but …. So once again we found ourselves sitting. I knew that the weather was going to get worse the following day, so our best bet was to get there today/tonight, regardless of how long it took. After an hour of sitting I started looking for contingency plans and began calling the Marina, etc to see if a boat (fishing charter) was available to tow us in. After talking to numerous people, all of whom were very helpful, it became obvious that there would be no contingency plan - we were on our own. During this period, a light wind developed, but from the opposite direction from which it had been blowing! An hour later that wind died and we sat some more. Finally as darkness was approaching, wind also appeared on the horizon. We motored for about 10 minutes and made it to the wind. Within 30 minutes we were approaching Devil’s Point, approaching darkness, and I could see building wind. We reefed as darkness fell and we passed Devil’s point, coming up hard on the wind, knowing that we were going to have to tack upwind the remaining 10nm to Port Vila. And then it was dark - really dark! Our Navigation lights came on, but I continued to use the instruments only sparingly. As we got further into the bay, the winds relaxed a bit and eventually the reef came back out. Finally we made it to the pass into the inner harbor. Our sails came down and the motors came on for the last couple of miles into the anchorage. Unfortunately, the anchorage was very crowded and deep (100ft), but around 9:30 at night we finally shut everything down for the night - we had made it.
The next morning we called Yachting World Marina and let them know we had made it and were ready to come onto the “wall”. The Marina has a number of Med-Moor spots available along their sea-wall - all with power! We motored over and backed onto the wall and with the help of the Marina staff we got dock lines in place and all situated. Five minutes later we had shore power connected and we were feeling much better. Two hours later thunder roared and the rain storms started - slow at first, but then harder. We were able to get a tarp up over the front cockpit, so that the genset could come out again. Based on recommendations from the Fishing Charter companies, I contacted a mechanic and arranged for them to come by the following morning. My decision was based as much on the fact that they would no better where to get parts, etc as it was having a professional take a crack at it the second time around.
The next day, they got things apart and we confirmed that the leak indeed was coming from a break in the hose. Whether it came from the broken hose clamp I had replaced is hard to say, but it was in that area. We also confirmed that the hose was 1”ID - not the 3/4” ID hose on the raw water side that I had extra of! They carefully checked the rest of the system and confirmed that while this hose was in bad shape, the others were ok. (We came to the conclusion that this hose went under the engine and as such, was probably subjected to heat from the outside as well as the inside.) They also pointed out that they would try to get the red coolant which was suppose to be used, vs the green coolant I had had to get in Santo since it was all they had. Off they went in search of parts. A day later, and we were striking out with parts - and it was still storming. Finally, they found some hose (very expensive!), and found a boat owner whose boat they maintained that was willing to let me have some of his red coolant. I can’t say enough about how hard these guys worked to find stuff for us - something I would not have been able to do. The next morning the hose was in place, we flushed the system and then went through the process of filling and bleeding the coolant. Within an hour we were running and checking temperatures. No leaks! We have run the genset the last two days and are now ready to move off the “wall” onto a swing mooring.
In this case, the fact that I knew we could get onto the “wall” in Port Vila and have power tipped the scales to going vs staying in a remote anchorage and continue trying to fix the problem. The fact that bad weather was coming added to the weighting to go vs stay. I should have taken more time when I did the first repair to remove the hose and inspect it vs just replacing the broken hose clamp. While I didn’t have the correct size hose, I could have maybe put Rescue Tape on it or ? I was glad to see that we could navigate between islands and through passes with minimal electronics - even at night and conserve energy. I also hope we don’t have the opportunity to demonstrate these skills any more!