Auxiliary Power Blues

Week of April 10^th

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.