WOW! Guess that was a much longer wait for you all than I expected! I am now chillaxing La Cruz style but will get to that a couple more entries later…..back to the story:

After the epic day of sailing, catching fish & watching listlessly the thousands of waves rolling under my beam, I realize my batteries are getting low from running all the navigation gear, autopilot, freezers, fridge and fans…so, heck, why not motorsail for a while and charge those babies back up?…Oh, and it was cloudy so the solar panels where not putting out much…only the wind turbines had any effect too at least put some charge back in while sailing.

(remember the blissful feeling of a record making day in mileage in the aforementioned report?)
Hit the start button, Kubby cranks to life in one turn, incredible little engine!…I’m just giggling to myself about how cool my life is….thanking the heavens above for this unique, empowering, enlightening adventure….and…
BEEEP BEEEP BEEEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEP….
WHAT IN THE?….temp light comes on….engine appears to be overheating, that is impossible! I ignore it, it goes out…HA HAAAA!!! Take that you useless buzzer and light!…Uh…yeah….buzzer comes back on…this time it means business as I smell something HOT below….literally after only a few minutes the poor little Kubota was over 200 degrees! so, I immediately shut it down…pissed at myself for not listening to the failsafes designed to keep dim whit’s like me from screwing up!…so immediately I have a talk with myself and with the engine….and promise to be a better steward of its health and well being. The silver lining here is this: I wasn’t drifting towards a reef this time…and I had wind….lot’s of it…and waves, lots of them….

Methodically I go thru anything and everything with a hose clamp and tighten, check fluid levels after she cooled down (very low….= LEAK!)…check raw water intake filters, valves, thermostat…nothing, I mean NOTHING looks off….scratching head and consulting manual that I have literally worn thru the pages from the installation process back in Anacortes….practically memorized. Nothing. So, I made the call…(well text over Satellite Phone) to, you guessed it, Howard. It’s good to have a Howard….in fact I’d highly recommend if you don’t have one, GET ONE before heading offshore…well worth the brow beatings if you are being a dumb dumb…(not that I ever had any of those!)

After several goings back and forth via text, I had already checked everything he was suggesting…until he said the dreaded thing…..”Have you checked the fittings on the water heater?”. My response was, “I don’t want to do that!” His reply, “let me know what you find out”…in other words, you ask for my help….you better listen…or quit bothering me on vacation kind of a feeling….let me tell you why I didn’t want to go there…..

The sexy new stainless steel water heater I installed (and I do mean sexy!) is in the bowels of the ship….under a ledge and behind a bulkhead wall….oh, and here’s the cool part….after installing it, I then added an oversized waste tank with plumbing and a pump IN FRONT OF THE HEATER!!!…we are talking TIGHT and NO ACCESS!!!

After removing all the settee pillows & cushions, removed the seat base and peered down in the hell hole I was about to navigate. Propping my Dewalt battery powered LED light against the shit tank hoses and back bulkhead, ribs pressed hard against the edge of the seat, I dove in head first to try and get a glimpse of the hoses going into the bottom, not the top (too easy) of the tank…and BAM, I jam the top of my head on the only sharp-ish object in a mile…and start gushing blood…COOL! we are off to a great start!….a few swears later, bandaid installed on said head….I go for dive #2…with special tool with bendy shaft and end that fits hose clamps…(badass tool for tight places) I’m actually able to get to one of the clamps using a mirror and closing one eye like aiming at a target with a gun…success!!! Ok, now…how in the hell do I get to the other one behind the bulkhead….no way I can see that or get to it even with my best boat yoga moves and promises to never use swear words ever again….no way Jose…..shit…what now? Hmmmm…..guess I have to cut out the wall a bit….now this bums me out big time because of all the tidy hose and wire runs that I meticulously installed back in Anacortes….oh well Nichole…I guess that’s the way it goes….as I pull half my body out of the hole…BAM! SHIT! OUCHIE MOMMA…gash #2…right thru my bandanna….then, big wave hits, I hear a “clink…bang…” there goes my light and that fancy tool I told you about…BEHIND the friggin shit tank and plumbing…down to underneath the mount…buried….YAY ME!!!! this is turning out to be a GREAT DAY!!!!

So now with my bandaids and surely new bruises coming the next day, I gran my trusty multi tool and mark with a sharpie where to cut back the wood…oh, and…water lines and wiring were also behind said wall….gulp. (forgot to mention it took 30 min to recover the said tools lost in the bilge…I then tied lines to them!!

3 attempts on cutting wall back until…eureka! I can see the fitting….and guess what else I saw? Blue die below it…my coolant is blue….there’s the problem!!! now leaning on pillows, and a baseball cap turned backwards on my head (duh) I dive in for the last time, clamp takes 1 full turn!…vacuumed up my mess, put interior back together….brag to the Howard how great I am….top up the coolant tanks….say a hail mary & give it a try….VIOLA! crisis over…been running great ever since :)

This….is on day 2 of passage from Santa Maria to La Cruz!!!…what else could possibly go wrong? I think…only great sailing & catching fish!!!….uh, hope you don’t quit on me just yet my wonderful readers!!!

Capt. Scabs & Scars :)