Firstly, the new temperature gauges they had ordered didn't come with the right cables, so they couldn't be fitted. New gauges on a 5 year old boat? Yes, I wondered about that too. The story is that the standard Caribbean gauges for temperature, oil pressure etc are apparently "notoriously unreliable". Anyway, they are to be replaced with Murphy brand gauges, if they ever come with the right cables.
Secondly, the engine alignment. The mechanics confirmed that this was not required, but only of course after they had done the work. I hope they haven't disturbed anything, because the boat was running very sweetly before anything was touched....
Now to the good news of the day.....One of the 1/8" studs on the starboard raw water pump snapped while the mechanic was getting it off to change the impeller. Why was this good news? Well if we had to be changing the impeller at sea for any reason, it would have been impossible to remove the broken stud from the impeller housing. It was just as well it happened now, so that the stud could be removed in the workshop. Just shows that regular maintenance can prevent problems. Examination of the stud showed that the failure was due to fatigue, with the failure initiating at the top of the screw thread. This will be something to watch in future services.
The batteries on the boat were also replaced even though they were not showing any issues. A 1500nm journey will undoubtedly shake the batteries around a bit, so it's good to know that they are new and therefore reliable.
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| Endless Summer sitting quietly at her home jetty - Photo by Marina |
Now to the generator....The mechanics confirmed what we suspected, that is, that the problem is electrical rather than mechanical. It's an Onan 4KVA generator, and the fault code which is shown when the engine stops says that the problem is due to overvoltage. We have been promised that an electrical person will be on the boat on Tuesday to sort it out. This seems to be the most significant hurdle we have to face before we can leave. In keeping with modern thinking, Endless Summer has no alternative means of cooking, and I'm sure the crew won't be eating cold food out of cans for the whole trip north. Captain Bligh won't have a mutiny, he'll BE the mutiny!
Anyway, it was not bad weather here today, so Sea-Dog, Marina and I took the opportunity to pull all 120 feet of chain out of the chain locker to give it a wash and check over. We also washed out the chain locker while it was empty, and painted some markers on the chain so that we have an understanding of how much chain is out. Finally we restowed it all and checked the operation of the anchor winch.
What's next? Well the liferaft and all of the inflatable PFD's are going away early next week for service and certification before we set off. The service mechanics are coming back on Tuesday for another go at completing their list, and starting on the 1st of May, we will begin in earnest to gather provisions for the trip.
Next time I'll talk through the various bits of safety and rescue equipment we have on Endless Summer.
Until then,
Happy Boating,
Navman
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