It was about two weeks ago that I took THIRD DAY out to Malaque to make some water and noticed that the engine temperature wasn't running the typical 185-190degs but up at 200degs even with plenty of cooling water shooting out of the exhaust. So today it was time to figure out what the problem was and as with any boat project, it always sounds easier to think about it than to do it, which is why it's taken me about 2 weeks of thinking about it to actually get busy and do it! Of course to gain access to the back of the engine requires taking apart the galley island, remember, nothing is easy on a boat.



I won't really know for sure until I get the heat exchanger back from being cleaned, reinstall it and then run the engine, but from the looks of it, I'm sure it definitely was losing some cooling efficiency with many of the small inner cooling ducts being plugged by gunk. The photo also shows the evils of salt water that was dripping on the bottom side of the heat exchanger that I couldn't see during my frequent engine inspections. Only when I was able to pull the unit out, did the ugliness come to light. I am glad that I'm dealing with this issue now in the calm waters of the Barra lagoon, rather than when bashing the 1000 miles up the outside of Baja heading for Port San Luis, Ca in June.



Once the heat exchanger was out, I put all 30lbs of it in my back pack and took the bus from Barra to Melaque to find a shop that could clean it. I had no idea if there was one, but figured the only way to know was to go and find out. I started looking for places that looked like they were working on cars (easy to find in Mexico with car parts lying all around). The first three places point me to someone else and then the 4th place pointed me pretty confidently across the street to what looked like a washing machine repair shop (obviously because of the washing machine parts all lying all around). After explaining what I wanted done to my $900 heat exchanger in my best Spanish, Mr. Garcia, shook my hand, put the heat exchanger up on his shelf, and told me to come back on Wednesday.

Now about how things work here in Mexico. His statement to come back on Wednesday in no way should be interpreted that the heat exchanger will be ready on Wednesday, but just that he will have an update for me on Wednesday. Understanding how things work in Mexico takes a bit of time, but once you get it, cruising becomes a lot less stressful. It's simple really. I just left my $900 heat exchanger with a guy that gave me no receipt and that I had only primitive communication with and I will go back on Wednesday for an update. There's nothing to worry about, since I have no where I can go without a heat exchanger anyway, so Wednesday is just as good as Tuesday or Friday really. Without the heat exchanger on the engine, I have no engine. At times like this I'm sure glad I trust our 100lb manson supreme anchor literally with my life and home, because I'm doing just that until the engine is operable again, which could be anytime form next Wednesday to May 27th?

Since I had the galley island torn apart and was already covered in oil and muck, I decided it was time to put in that new valve cover seal I have been carrying with me now for close to 2 years! It wasn't a "bad oil Leak" but even small amounts of oil in the bilge looks disastrous and then soaking it up with and disposing of absorbent pads is a mess. The below photo almost makes me look like I know what I'm doing, but believe me when I tell you, I have no real idea what those oily things on each of the 6 cylinders are, but I do remember reading in my engine manual something about adjusting the valve clearance with a feeler gauge? Huh...whatever that means. The old cork seal was hard and dead when I pulled it out; I put the new seal in, and managed to screw in the 8 bolts without dropping one into the abyss of the bilge. Consider that a miracle worth of a rum drink in celebration for sure!