Monday, November 25, 2013

Breathe in...breathe out...


The gremlins have, at least for the moment, been swept into the corner. We want to celebrate that the engine is fixed, we really do, but we're only whispering that maybe (just maybe) the fuel leak is stemmed, whispering because we don't want those gremlins to hear.

Early this morning Tim had discovered the source of the leak, a badly scored ferrule in the compression fitting on the end of the line between the pump and the first injector. He spent a good bit of time with some 1500 grit emery paper trying to work the gouge out as I continued to try to find a new one to be shipped to us. It appears that Lucas and Westerbeke have the same business modelss and you can't buy or even look up part numbers for parts unless you are a dealer.

Several on-off-sand-test attempts were futile but he tried once more and had me climb up into the cockpit to start the engine. I held my breath the whole time the engine ran, waiting for the "Shut it off!!!!" to come from the aft cabin port along with a few other colorful phrases the likes of which had been blasting out of that port over the last few days. No expletives...engine running smoothly...I finally allowed myself to exhale and step to the companionway to see Tim eyeballing the engine with a spotlight just daring a drop to splash on the new, white, clean, oilsorb sheets beneath the Westerbeast's belly. No drops, no drips, no spurts. He looked up at me with that hesitantly hopeful "Could it be?".

While we worked all morning to arrive at that point, Casey (sorry if the spelling is wrong) in the Boston Fuel Injection parts department was busy trying to locate the new fitting for the pump to replace the one that was scored. No joy on a new one, but she and the tech were able to locate a used one in excellent shape in an identical pump to ours  on their back shelf. The tech cleaned it up and they are shipping it to us for a spare at a reasonable price. Yeah I know, hard to believe. Casey was the one bright spot in this whole venture. She went out of her way to help us out, not dropping the ball or passing it on to someone else because she didn't feel like messing with a $22 part. This place came highly recommended to us, and I can see why. Kudos, girl and tell your boss to give you a raise. (Have I mentioned that I'm a sucker for customer service?)

We did allow ourselves a celebratory lunch at M&Ms Cafe after which we spent a bit of time on our friend Martin's steel boat from The Netherlands enjoying his warm, comfortable pilot house and a bit of boat talk. The weather is about to fall apart so we'll spend the next few days doing laundry and shopping and cleaning, all things wonderfully uninvolved in engine repair.

A big thanks to all of you who have encouraged us over the last few weeks of frustration. And if you see any gremlins around?  Tell them we hear there are a few derelict boats still left in the harbor.

12 comments:

Robert Salnick said...

Congratulations!

Cruising: Fixing your boat in exotic harbors. Tho I don't know if Oriental qualifies - certainly exotic compared to Carlyle!

Bob

LatnLong said...

Keeping our fingers crossed for you. You deserve some good vibes in the engine department. We hope that you will soon be able to transit to warmer weather soon. In 2003 it was December 4th when we reached St. Mary's Georgia and thought we had died and gone to heaven. The temperature according to our logs of that year was a warm 54 degrees, and there was no frost on the deck in the morning. From there on down it was smooth to Fort Worth where we jumped off for the Bahamas in what has been a tremendous journey. OUr best to you both.

RVing/Sailing Lifestyle said...

Great, I hope you can move further South now! I enjoy your blog and hope to be doing the same in a few years.

Pat and Joan said...

You guys should be as proud as any others out there. You have worked hard and kept at. Since I have a feeling this is fixed it will now be fun to watch you move along. Can you see the blue water now.
Pat and Joan
http://somedayisle.wordpress.com

Unknown said...

awesome!!!! So happy you got this behind you.

It is going to be in the 50s this week down in Jacksonville so you got to get through a few states if you want to chase that 70℉ weather.

So, are you going to stay inside or are you thinking of make a short run in the big blue?

Again congrats

TJ said...

Mike, we will be inside for a bit longer, there are some folks along the ICW we would like to catch up with. We will be heading outside pretty soon, and hope to spend most of our time there.

The Cynical Sailor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Cynical Sailor said...

It is all sounding like systems go for you guys. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly from here. Cheers - Ellen

Latitude 43 said...

Good job.

Unknown said...

Wonderful, if at first you don't succeed try try again paid off this time. Hope the weather clears and you can move on south to Charleston and some warmer weather.

Mike M. said...

Great news! I knew it would happen soon...patience and perseverance pays off!

Mike
www.siochana.us

Rick said...

Tim & Deb,

This is great news! Keeping the gremlins at bay is your task now. Maybe a bottle of 'Gremlin-B-Gone'? ;-)

Fair winds and following seas. See you down the ditch someplace.

Rick & Dar