Maintenance

 Kerm here

Well, I overcame my fear of changing the fuel filters.  For those that don't know diesel engines you just don't change the filters and all is done.  The fuel system has to be bled and the consequences of not doing it right are poor starting, not starting or random shut downs.  Bad deal with the big currents here on the ICW.  The primary filter was very, very dirty and it was a good thing that I changed it and the two on the engine seemed to be heavy as if they were also doing their job.  After bleeding, the engine started right away but I will bleed once more before we push off. 

I also changed the engine oil, the day before yesterday.  12 quarts had to be sucked out and yea I didn't spill a drop.  Today, I'll change the oil in the fuel injector pump and bleed the air out of the closed cooling system.  I didn't even know the cooling system had to be bled but it's amazing what you can learn from reading the manuals.  This has to be done because I had to drain the water system when I cleaned out the mud after our grounding the other day.  Note to self,  I should read the whole manual to see what else I should do.
It looks like I'm going to have to do the fuel and oil maintenance once a month when we are on the move as 200 hours is the recommended interval.
For those that may want to do the loop in the future,  boat maintenance is a daily task and must be budgeted for both financially and time wise. 

Today, I'm also realigning the engine to the prop shaft.  When we had the new shaft and shaft bushings installed at Tarpon Springs, FL the rear motor mounts were also replaced.  I was told that the new ones settle a bit and alignment will need to be checked and adjustments made accordingly.  Nuts, the mounts are metric and will have to get new 23mm wrenches to do the job.  Who would have thought that the mounts on a Lehman Ford would be metric. 

The marine VHF radios and one of the depth meters go crazy ALWAYS at the worst possible moments.  I'm having difficulty in finding the source of the problem but suspect RFI (radio frequency interference).  I did take off the alternator and had it checked at Bubba's Pretty Good Alternator Shop and all tested OK, although a surprisingly small capacity alternator was noted for the application.  Bubba did add an additional RFI thingy so we'll see what happens.  I would have popped for a new bigger alternator but had a 'cheap attack'.  If this doesn't work I'm thinking that maybe one of the old VHF radios may be going bad and this is causing the problem.  Anybody?  Anybody?  When the radios go crazy they go click, click, click like an open mic and I can't send. 

Nuff for now.  I think I'll cruise the manuals for awhile.