Boat stuff

Kerm here.

It's been awhile since I have blogged.  Busy, out of internet range or just plain lazy, I guess.  For those of you that are new to our blog I gave an update on the boat from time to time.  So here goes.

The boat is running well but needs daily work to give us confidence that it will continue to do so.  There are three constants that have plagued us from the beginning.  Black spec's in the fuel, leaks in the fuel system and oil leaks.  I have managed to stop the fuel leaks for now with new crush washers but when I change the fuel filter and bleed the system next time there is a good chance that it will start all over again.  When we get to FL I'm going to replace the engine filters with spin ons and install a bleed system that will not require me to take out and replace bleed plugs.  The oil leaks stopped for awhile when I replaced the valve cover gasket a couple of weeks ago but have resurfaced.  The old style hard cork gaskets just don't cut it I guess.

As far as the black specks that come out the filter drains it still has me scratching my head.  We use the algae additives so I doubt it's algae.  I isolated one of the fuel tanks that had a suspect hose that may be deteriorating.  Nope, that wasn't it.  My current thinking is that the tanks have a lot of grunge in the bottom.  For now, I'm going to go to a 3 micron filter in the main filter and have ordered a filter condition gizmo to keep and eye on it. 

As related to the above problem we did have an engine shut down a couple of weeks ago that was related to air in the fuel.  Dang crush washers!  So when I had time I went through the whole system including checking the fuel pump diaphragm and, of course, broke a bolt on the pump.  We then had to wait 2 days for the airfreight to come in with the new pump but the engine seems to run better with it.

Following is a brief list of my work list over the last couple of weeks.  Mind you this is a partial list:
Replaced house water pump, routed A/C bleed hose and condenser hose to shower sump (this will keep the bilge drier), fixed two split boards on deck, changed oil, changed fuel filters, installed drip pan below shaft packing, had valves adjusted and head torqued, fixed wiring coming apart in bilge, fixed leak in water system, fixed two window pulls that came off, new toilet paper hanger that was broken, replaced valves in toilet, lubed squeak in steering system, installed new AM/FM radio, new longer screws in rear hatch hinge, 2 new screws and teak plugs in deck. Now keep in mind Chris has not been sitting on her butt while all this is going on,  She's been cleaning, shopping, fixing this and that, plus has been fetching for me.

All the putzing on the engine has had some great benefits.  Our current fuel burn is down to 1.46 gallons per hour and mileage is close to 4 miles to the gallon against current. 

I cannot complain about the work.  This is a 25 year old boat and we knew that it would need to be maintained more than a newer model.  Chris and I talked about a euro style trawler for at least 30 years and their was no question as to what boat we would do the loop in.  What's interesting is that not a day goes by when someone goes out of their way to tell us how much they like the boat.  Yup, it's all worth it...

4000+ miles and counting.