Week of April 10th
The mooring field was still pretty full, but there were
several empty balls. We checked out the showers and such at the marina, and had
asked at the office for a diver recommendation to check on our prop. They came
by that afternoon and popped below the water. Two minutes later they were back
with the news – nothing. No crab pot line or even signs that we had wrapped or
even hit one on the prop. They did scrape off a few barnacles from where we had
scrubbed off our bottom paint outside Sarasota. The engine had stopped abruptly
twice, but apparently not for external reasons. Upstream on the power chain we
go.
We asked the divers for a recommendation on a diesel
mechanic. Both replied in unison “Diesel Don”. Good enough. We called Don who
seemed very knowledgeable but not a fan of Westerbeke engines. He agreed to
come over in the morning with another mechanic for a diagnostic.
We summarized what had happened and when to the best of our
ability, and after a few moments of tinkering and muttering to each other in the
secret diesel language they had me start the engine. I turned keys and pushed
buttons but it wouldn’t turn over. I think there was a click from the solenoid,
but even when they manually shorted out the starter it wouldn’t turn. This was
new, and they couldn’t proceed further without being able to turn the engine
over.
They removed the starter and discovered some corrosion on
it, probably from the small coolant leak above it that had been present when we
bought the boat. It had been noted in the survey and the leak was immediately fixed,
but I guess the damage had been done. I had probably finished it off trying to
restart it so many times after it died. We also made a list of engine things
they didn’t like, whether or not they had anything to do with our current
problems, and we decided to address those at the same time.
Out went the old starter and they ordered a new one, but
Marathon is a pretty small, isolated town with only about 10,000 souls, so it
had to come from farther north, and would take at least a day. Heather and I
got settled in, exploring the harbor and surrounding areas by dinghy and on
foot, then getting a car for a grocery provisioning run and such.
The starter came in, and despite the part number on the
outside of the box, was clearly not a match upon inspection, and it wasn’t
going to work. Back in the box it went, and a more expensive, sure to fit
starter was ordered, but again would take a day or two to arrive, longer now
that a weekend was again approaching. In the mean time the engine was turned
over by hand to seen if any ominous clinking or clanking noises could be heard.
None were observed and by Monday we had the second starter.
This one fit perfectly and within minutes we were turning
over the engine, which promptly started, and ran fine for at least 20 minutes. So
the question was what could cause the engine to intermittently stall abruptly then
run fine later. The fuel filters looked good and fuel was being pumped, so suspicion
soon fell to the rubber bulbs used to hand pump fuel into the filters after changing
them. Diesels are very sensitive to contamination, and a small amount of air in
the fuel lines can stop them dead. We had already planned to replace the bulbs
(meant only for gas) with electric diesel pumps, so that was next.
When the engine bulb was removed it was clearly rotted out,
and was probably leaking air into the fuel line. We replace it, ran the
electric diesel fuel pump for about half an hour to try and clear the lines,
then started up the engine again. It runs fine again.
We still had a few things on our list, including changing
out the similar bulb on the generator. The alternator belt was tightened. An
electrical gadget which trickle charges the starter battery only when it senses
an excess being fed to the house batteries was added, cutting off the old
charger which I had probably destroyed the old battery with by overusing. The
gadget also isolates the starting battery so it it not drawn down by anything
but the engine starter. It looked like our auxiliary power was back in
business, and it was certainly one of the least expensive options. We were also
lucky that these problems had not hit us at more inopportune times.
So we’re finally in the keys, our boat is (mostly) working
again, and it’s tax day tomorrow.
