Thursday, 4 April 2019 - Down to Key West again to have another blood test run since my potassium level was a little high on the last one. Everything else shown on the lab results was fine, as is my general health. It's about a two hour bus ride each way for a ten minute blood draw. Oh well, that's what I get for living on a boat in paradise.

Friday, 5 April - I got the dodger for my boat back today around 4 pm and started installing when I got back to the boat. Being by myself made it a lot harder and after two and a half hours, I realized that the repairman installed five of the female portions of the snaps on the port side of it backward. Had I started installing it on the boat on the port side I would have realized the problem much sooner. Not only are five snaps in backward, but two others popped right off. Those two needed to have longer posts and I suspect that he either didn't notice that or didn't have longer ones and hoped the short ones would hold for awhile. Obviously they didn't. He left town for the weekend, so I'll have to fix them myself. I certainly don't want to have to take the dodger off and haul it to his shop again. Getting it back on was too much work.

Saturday, 6 April - I started trying to repair the dodger again this morning around 11 am, but soon realized that I need more snaps and a clinching tool. If it were taken off, I could simply use a hammer and flaring tool to set the snaps, but with it mounted, it will take at least three hands; one to hold the backing iron, one to hold the flaring tool, and one for the hammer. I had to go to West Marine to get some snaps and a snap clinching tool, which works similar to a pair of fancy pliers to flare the post. I drilled out the backward snaps and the new clinching tool made quick work of replacing them, but the clincher wouldn't work for the other two. It didn't have a long enough reach to span the fabric on the other two because they were too far from the edge of the material, so I had to get on the radio and ask for help. Earl from Wanderer and Reuel from September Winds both came to my aid and we finished up in about 5 minutes, at about 6:30 pm.
                    About two o'clock this afternoon my primary care physician called to tell me that the follow-up blood test looked fine. It's hard to believe that eating a banana each day was causing elevated potassium in my blood but that's the only thing I changed in my diet that I'm aware of.

Sunday, 7 April - This morning Bob from S/V Windago announced on the Cruiser's Net that he needed a small piece of PVC dinghy material to patch his dinghy with and I have some, so he came over about 1 o'clock and picked it up. Another sailor needed help dropping the mast on his trimaran so he can have in hauled out and trucked up north for the summer, so I went over to his boat at 3 pm and helped with that. At 5 o'clock, I headed over to S/V Echos to help Rick and Christine Garvin of S/V Echos celebrate before they leave the harbor next weekend. Rick will be missed in the harbor not only for his helpfulness and wit, but for his seemingly unbounded knowledge about beer and its brewing, breweries, and history, which he astounds most of us here in the harbor with most mornings during the trivia section of the Cruiser's Net.

Monday, 8 April - Since the refrigerator is pretty devoid of food and I need to go grocery shopping, I took the opportunity to defrost the freezer again today.

Tuesday, 9 April - As promised by the weatherman, it was pretty blustery and rainy today, so I spent the day onboard, then had left over pizza from last night for dinner. I set up the water catchment system with my new filter, but even though it rained off and on all day and night, I only collected about 20 gallons of water off the bimini top.

Wednesday, 10 April - Today I went to the marina twice and filled my nine five gallon water jugs each time, then returned to the boat and siphoned them into the water tank on the boat.

Thursday, 11 April - I opened up the engine room hatches in order to replace the impeller on the engine's raw water pump today, but realized I need the part number to get a replacement. Wow! I am, once again, amazed at how much time it takes to find out information about some of the systems on my boat and parts for the same in this age of electronic information access. I spent most of the day trying to find out what impeller I need to buy for the raw water pump on my engine. I don't want to take the old one out until I have a replacement for it. I feel like I accomplished virtually nothing today, but as my wise brother would say, "Yes, you did. You eliminated many wrong lines of information, thus you are closer to finding the answer." I think I have mentioned before that, although I have the workshop manual, owner's manual, and parts book for the engine, they seem almost useless. The workshop manual tells me what to do, but not how to do it. The owner's manual is a little better, but the parts book is terribly incomplete. It does have exploded views of many systems, but it may have a view with ten items illustrated, but only tell what two of them are, or seventy illustrated and define eight or ten of the seventy...and it will show ten bolts or gaskets, but give no dimensions on the bolts or the gaskets, so they all appear to be the same. Arrgh!
                    All afternoon I kept hearing something bumping on the hull of my boat. After searching for the source of the noise unsuccessfully several times, I finally accepted the fact that it must be fish picking their dinner off the hull of my boat. I guess that's a good indication that it's time to clean the hull again.

Friday, 12 April - It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day here in paradise and I spent most of it here down in the engine room trying to soak up oil and antifreeze from under the engine and figure where they are leaking from. It wasn't just a little bit, either; perhaps three quarts altogether. For the moment, I'm assuming I have two leaks because I think that would be better than both of them coming out one hole already mixed, which would indicate an internal mixing, then leaking out. I really can't determine where the leaks are. It's not like a car that I could simply crawl under the engine to look. I have pretty good, although tight, access to the sides and top of the engine, but can't see the bottom of it at all.

Saturday, 13 April - I finished cleaning the bilge under the engine today, then checked the oil, transmission, and coolant fluid levels. Although I checked them with the engine cold, they were all a little high. They would read even higher if the engine were warm. All I can figure is that somehow I had overfilled them last time, but I must have been asleep when I checked them last time for that to happen. I'll not start the engine for a couple of days and check under the engine then to see if there is leakage without the engine running, then I'll start the engine and let it warm up and check it while running to see if it is leaking then.

Sunday, 14 April - I had decided to just relax and do some reading today, but in the afternoon I started a digital drawing of the Cat Head or Bow Rollers on Island Time. I need the measurements to be able to determine what other anchors might fit on the bow. Since I've had the anchor I've been using, a Bruce anchor, break loose several times. I'd really like to have an anchor I can trust to hold the boat better. It would make sleeping in new anchorages much better.

Monday, 15 April - I was off to the marina right after the Cruiser's Net this morning to mail a couple of items, deposit the oil and antifreeze I got from under the engine in the disposal barrels, and to stuff more info bags for the new arrivals to the harbor. After that, I stopped by S/V KoKoMo to pick up a three inch stainless steel hose clamp that Roland had, then back to the boat to put some things away.

Tuesday, 16 April - I wanted to buy groceries today since the larder on board is just about empty; lower I think than since I got on the boat. I thought that since the refrigerator was almost empty, it would be good to defrost it again even though it's only been a couple of weeks since I did it last. It's really forming thick frost and ice quickly in this warm weather. While checking what I do still have in the storage compartments in the floor, I realize lots of dirt falls through the slats so I got out the vacuum and managed to suck about enough hair to make myself a good toupee along with the dirt. I also discovered some sawdust, which means I haven't gotten rid of the wood ants. I just can't find them. I only see about one a month and the ant poison I put out doesn't seem to do any good, but I bought more poison while grocery shopping this afternoon.

Wednesday, 17 April - Today I stowed away the rest of the food, then replaced the hose on the sun shower.

Thursday, 18 April - I spent the morning installing a cellular signal booster on the boat that I got from T-Mobile. Unfortunately, although it did boost the signal strength, I can't really tell that I'm able to download files from the internet any faster at all. I'll give it a few days before I decide whether I want to keep it or not. I also added several measurements that were needed to the illustration of the bow rollers, then compared the numbers to a chart on the Mantus Anchors website and determined that an appropriately sized Mantus anchor won't fit on my bow without modifying the bow roller setup.

Friday, 19 April - Since I found antifreeze in the pan under the engine the other day, I decided I'd better take a close look at the repair job I did on the heat exchanger about 2 years ago, so today I removed it again. I was a bib surprised at how much vegetation has made its way past the raw water strainer since eventually it could clog the tubes in the heat exchanger, but my repair job is still holding and looks great. I got it opened up today but didn't get the cooling tubes out of the housing. I'll do that tomorrow if I get a chance. I've volunteered to help Roland and Leta Kok move their boat, S/V KoKoMo, from a mooring ball to a dockside mooring tomorrow so they can head home to Destin in northern Florida in their car for the summer. I don't know how long it will take but will be surprised if it takes more than a couple of hours.
                    I don't know what God was taking pictures of this evening, but his flashes were going off all around us for a couple of hours, although I never heard any thunder.

Saturday, 20 April - I met Roland and Leta at their boat, KoKoMo, at 10 o'clock and we dropped their mooring lines and headed up the channel to their boat's new home for the summer. They'll be heading up to Destin in the pan handle of Florida in a few days, but will be staying aboard for a short time to make sure their spring lines are adjusted properly for the rise and fall of the tides while they're gone. While we were out, I got a call from the marina to let me know they needed more new arrival bags, which are stuffed with local information for the new comers to the harbor, so on my way back to the boat I swung by the marina to stuff some.
                    I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to locate a couple of 3 inch o-rings to use when I reassemble the heat exchanger. They are 50 cent items and I spent all afternoon trying to find them here on the island and online. That's frustrating.

Easter Sunday, 21 April - There was a "Meet and Greet" for all the morning Cruiser's Net net controllers at noon today so that people can match the voices they hear daily with faces. There is a different net controller each day of the week, plus substitutes, of which I am one. I'm constantly amazed how many people I've never seen in my life know me by my voice.
                    After the meeting I had an hour to kill so I went over to the Overseas Bar for one beer, then off to the new Winn Dixie grocery store for some Dr Peppers and snacks to take to a shore-side Easter party by S/V Queequeg, owned by Mike Wagner and Bev Fowers. Great music provided by Mike on the guitar, wonderful ham and potatoes broiled on the outdoor charcoal grill, and an Easter egg hunt. Mike had hidden a dozen plastic eggs in the yard, each of them having a lottery ticket inside of it. Unfortunately, the two eggs I found didn't hit the jackpot, but one of the ladies won about 20 dollars. The day here was about 80° with light winds and not a cloud in the sky. I hope your day was as nice.

Monday, 22 April - I located the O-rings online today after exhausting all the possible auto stores, plumbing supplies, pool supply stores, diesel repair shops, hardware stores, etc., that I could think of or locate locally. I could either buy 50 of them for eight dollars in New Jersey or get them for 14 cents apiece with a 50 cent minimum in Washington state, plus about $11 shipping from either location. Since I only need two, I chose Washington state and will just have to wait for them to arrive. I ordered them this morning and spent the rest of the day in the engine room trying to figure out how the fluids flow through my engine. Until I understand that I may not be able to figure out where the leak is. There are five fluids that circulate through the engine; fresh water, sea water, engine oil, transmission oil, and antifreeze. Sea water cools the transmission oil, engine oil, the refrigerant in the water maker, and antifreeze, and the antifreeze heats the water in my hot water heater, so it's quite a complicated system. Sea water literally circles the engine at least one and a half times, going first to the raw water strainer, then the engine heat exchanger and thermostat, then the transmission heat exchanger. Next it goes to the raw water pump, then the refrigeration heat exchanger, and after that I lose the hose and can't see the route that it uses to exit the boat. I still haven't found the line that connects the refrigeration heat exchanger to the exhaust, but I haven't given up. I may have to make a drawing of the whole system before I can get it strait in my head. No, that's all wrong. I really do need to make a drawing. I'm getting some of the sea water lines and antifreeze lines mixed up in my head.

Tuesday, 23 April - Ok, I started the drawing and I was right; I was all wrong about the routing of the lines, but I'm getting closer to enlightenment.

Wednesday, 24 April - More time spent tracing coolant lines, both sea water and antifreeze. The sea water comes through the hull and through the sea strainer to filter out critters and sea grass, then goes directly to the heat exchanger for the engine-driven refrigeration. After that it goes to the raw water pump. Next up is the heat exchanger for the reverse gear box (transmission) and the engine heat exchanger. From there it heads to the cooled engine exhaust fitting to mix with the exhaust gasses, then the water muffler and out the exhaust pipe on the boat's transom. I still haven't figured out all the details about the route the engine coolant or antifreeze takes through the engine block since it can take different routes, depending on whether it is hot or cold. More on that later.

Thursday, 25 April - I removed and disassembled the engine's heat exchanger which is the equivalent of a car's radiator except it transfers the heat from one fluid to another, antifreeze to the salt water, instead of from antifreeze to air, then cleaned and rodded out the bronze tube stack that is the cooling lines of the heat exchanger. I was very pleased to see that the repairs I had done to the heat exchanger two years ago with the JB Weld were holding up very well. After that, I replaced the o-rings and re-bedded them with a silicon gasket material. That needs to cure overnight.

Friday, 26 April - Today I re-installed the heat exchanger for the engine but will hold off on replacing the antifreeze since I need to do some other work on the system.

Saturday, 27 April - The reverse gearbox (transmission) heat exchanger is directly upstream from the engine's heat exchanger and in-between the two is a copper tube that has the engine's only sacrificial zinc. That depletes over time so I decided that since I'm working on the system, I'd check it. It's a good thing I did. The zinc wasn't depleted, but when I unscrewed the plug it's mounted in, the zinc broke off. I removed the tube and discovered that the 1 1/4" bronze tube had crusty deposits on the exit end that closed the end down to about 1/2". I cleaned that tube out and decided I'd better take a closer look at the attached heat exchanger. Again, it's a good thing I did. When I removed the reverse gearbox heat exchanger I discovered that the upstream end of it was almost totally clogged with seagrass and other vegetation. Than means way too much junk is getting past the sea strainer or filter that is just inside the seacock opening. I'll need to take a look at that, too. I rodded out the heat exchanger, replaced the sacrificial zinc and, upon close inspection, realized the rubber reducing coupling is close to failing, so I replaced it with a spare out of the starboard lazarette.

Sunday, 28 April - To get to the sacrificial zinc yesterday, I had to remove the engine's air intake filter to get at the zinc, so I washed it and dried it, then re-installed it. I also took the top off of the sea strainer, a basket type filter in a glass housing to remove particles sucked in by the engine along with the seawater. The top wasn't fitted properly, which I had noticed before, but this time, I discovered why. Not only were there two gaskets on the lid, but, also, in the bottom of the glass casing was what appears to be the bottom of another basket which must have fallen off and the previous owners couldn't or didn't remove. No telling how long that base has been in there, perhaps predating even Rick and Gay George, the couple that I bought the boat from. I could tell there was something in there, but couldn't see it. I tried to pick it up with a magnet, but that didn't work, so I used a spring loaded cable type grabber and finally got it. No wonder the filter was so ineffective. It was being crushed between the half inch thick extra base and an extra quarter inch gasket at the top and was buckling. I'm surprised the engine wasn't overheating from lack of seawater to cool it.
                    At sunset we had a dinghy drift in the harbor. That's just a meet and greet out on the water where we tie all the dinghies together, and share some snacks, refreshments, and conversation while drifting with the breeze and watching the sunset. I got back to the boat at about 9:30.

Monday, 29 April - Boy, my right side is hurting this morning from having crouched down in very awkward and uncomfortable positions for so long while working on the engine this weekend. I'm sure the soreness will pass...eventually. I'm ready now!
                    The heat exchanger for the engine driven refrigeration isn't like the other two. It can't be disassembled because of the refrigerant so I need to figure a way to back flush it without disassembly. I dread doing that, so I put it off for the day.
                    At six thirty this evening I met Don and his wife of the S/V Island Tyme, a 36 foot Endeavour sloop for pizza at the Hurricane. We had only briefly met previously, but had a great conversation over dinner.

Tuesday 30 April - Yesterday I came up with a plan to merely disconnect the hoses at the sea strainer and at the raw water pump in order to backslash the refrigerator's heat exchanger, so I dove into that today. One hose came off easily, but after two hours of struggling with the other, I finally realized that I really didn't need to get the second one off. I could simply remove the lid on the sea strainer and back flush the heat exchanger into through it. Easier, but not simpler. Once I back flushed the heat exchanger, all the gunk out of it was in the strainer, so I had to disassemble it to clean it. I had hoped all the gunk would just go into the strainer basket, but it didn't. To make a long story shorter, I got it done but not without a bit of a scare. While I was working on that, a hose clamp on a water hose on the 12v refrigerator broke, the hose popped off of the connector and started spewing fresh water out. I imagined the boat sinking at first, but realized that as soon as the 200 gallons in the water tank ran out, the emergency would be over. Actually, I think I got it shut off at about 5 gallons. I took a few minutes to figure out which of many valves to shut off. It was really lucky that I was working in the engine room when it happened. If I hadn't been there to notice the leak, I'm sure it would have drained the tank. At least it was fresh water. Had it been salt water coming in, it could have sunk the boat.

Wednesday 1 May - On the VHF radio Cruiser's net this morning, I asked if anyone in the harbor has a test pump for engine coolant systems. No one did, but someone suggested that the auto parts stores might have one for loan or rent, and another sailor said if I could track one down, he would give me a ride to get it. I found a loaner at Advance Auto Parts at the other end of the island and I had it onboard within a couple of hours. Unfortunately, the tester shows that I do, indeed, still have a leak somewhere. Now I have to find it.

Thursday 2 May - After having drained the coolant and doing all the work above, I vacuumed all the water, antifreeze, and oil out of the pan under the engine, then pressure tested the system with a loaner test pump and gauge from Advance Auto Parts in Marathon before adding fluids back into the system, then again after filling the system with water. I pumped the pressure to 5 psi. The reservoir cap indicates that the pressure should be up to 0.4 BAR which is 5.6 psi. I did find a tiny leak in one of the large hose ends and tightened the hose clamp on it. I retested and the pressure held at 5 psi for quite awhile, so I started the engine and ran it for 40 minutes. The engine never rose above 140ºF. but I still thought that 40 minutes was enough. I had also feared that the Engine Heat Exchanger was leaking salt water into the Antifreeze, but now, after having replaced the O-rings and sealing the end caps, I tested that by trying to capture any overflow that might be caused by ingress of salt water into the system. There was none and I didn’t discover any leaks in the system anywhere. However, I need to check the fluid level after the engine cools overnight.

Friday, 3 May - I think I'd better finally get this posted before it gets WAAAY to long. I'll be taking the old antifreeze to shore to dispose of it and tightening drive belts today. Also, yesterday, when I tried to start the engine with the starter engine, it feebly turned the engine over, but wouldn't start it, so I switched to the house battery bank to start up. I think the starter battery blew the 200 amp fuse again, too, so I'll be looking into that this afternoon. This could get expensive. I think those fuses are about $45 each and the seawater pump impellers are $50 each. The impeller should last awhile, but I don't think I've started the engine with this new fuse but about 4 or 5 times. I hope you're having better luck with your projects than I am.

            Until next time.

                        "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S. Thompson

                                          Rick