Engine trobleshooting today
Svmelos
Sat 31 May 2008 13:08
N, Long 80° 19.33’ W (for the benefit of mailasail plotting
I think our position needs to appear as 27:27.00N, 80:19.33W
Its Saturday. Tomorrow will be three weeks since we left
Seabrook Shipyard. What an ordeal it has been. No major
problems but enough small ones to cause delays and
frustrations. But we are here now on the Florida East Coast
and assuming we can deal with our engine issues (more on
that later) we will be able to set out for Bermuda sometime
this week.
Fort Pierce is a small city on the central Florida Coast. It
is the county seat of St Lucie County and seems to have a
great downtown area which has clearly received much
attention over the last few years and work continues. This
area was hit hard by Hurricane Frances a few years ago. The
marina is right on the waterfront of Indian River Lagoon and
we look across the lagoon and ICW to the barrier island that
separates us from the Atlantic. The downtown area is a short
walk away and we were able to explore most of it yesterday
while looking for somewhere to have lunch. Last night much
of the downtown area was closed to traffic for the monthly
classic car show with live music on every corner and down
here next to the marina there was a music and light show on
the waterfront. This morning is the weekly Saturday morning
farmers market and art and craft market. We walked over to
have breakfast and ended up buying some stained glass from a
local artist.
Yesterday we cleaned up the boat, tidied up and rested. We
were really tired and I still am today but not enough to
stop me getting on with our tasks. The main one is the
engine. So far we have run the engine on this trip for over
100 hours which is a whole lot more than I ever anticipated
in the first few weeks. It has always started and run though
we have seen higher engine temperatures than normal and some
fairly light bluish white smoke which seems fairly
persistent and increases when the temperature goes too high.
Right now I am running the engine for a couple of hours to
recharge the batteries before I turn it off and start taking
things apart. At the moment I anticipate two possible
problems: blocked engine waterway passages and poorly
seating valves causing blow-by. I will be able to check both
of these when I remove the cylinder head(s). Stand by for
updates.
We have also been dealing with several other issues of a
personal nature and it seems we are making headway there
too. So, fingers crossed that I can diagnose and cure our
engine issue in the next few days. This morning I calculated
that in order to get to England in time to leave Melos
securely and get back to Texas in time for Janet to start
back to work (and me too – I almost forgot) we have to leave
here before the end of this coming week.
Jeremy
Jeremy R Hood
Higgins, Smythe & Hood Yachts
200 Shipyard Drive
Seabrook, TX 77586
Phone: 281 474 5100
Email: jeremy {CHANGE TO AT} hshyachts {DOT} com
Web: www.hshyachts.com