Two days

First Light's starboard side engine has a never used (until yesterday) but (probably) 20 year old “new” fuel injection pump installed. After some efforts to purge the air, the engine rumbled to life without drooling a drop of fuel anywhere. Which helped lighten the mood around here a good bit.

Part of the procedure included setting the idle speed on the new pump. With the starboard side set, the tech suggested we start the port side to check its idle setting as well. Something I was about to ask him to do anyway. That side cranked to life and the next several minutes where spent getting the two engines as closely matched at idle as possible. They still shake like, well, like diesel engines. But all systems were reading normal and, for the first time in nearly a month, both the engines were rumbling in unison.

Upon shut-down, the tech started looking around to check everything and gather up all of his tools...and spotted water dripping off of the port side engine's heat exchanger. It was a good catch. A bit more poking around and he discovered that the water was leaking out of the forward connecting hose. One more bit of poking around and he discovered that hidden behind the leaking connecting hose was a smaller hose. The hose clamp on that smaller hose had been installed in such a way as the sharp bit that hangs off (and usually collects skin and leaves scars) had sliced its way into the bigger hose, causing the leak. (Have I mentioned that the techs around here have proven to be first class mechanics?)

My first thought was, “Are you kidding me? Not another problem?” And then, “What kind of bonehead installs something that way? A rubber hose shoved tight against an (almost) razor sharp bit of metal on a diesel engine that vibrates like a paint shaker? How dumb can you be?” But then another thought occurred.

We have been all over those engines since getting on the boat in Oak Harbor and then splashing it. That's how we found the fuel leak in the starboard engine in the first place. It is how we found the fuel leak in the generator as well. It is how we found a loose engine mount bolt, a couple of loose clamps, and a few loose battery terminals. There was no water laying in the port engine pan during any of our pre-departure checks before leaving Oak Harbor for Chesapeake City. None again when leaving Chesapeake City for here. And none during the start up and shut downs when getting our starting problem under control.  

It had to be a brand new leak that showed itself on the (planned) last test run of the engines before we pulled off the dock. Had it waited just a little while longer to rear its ugly head, we would have been somewhere on the Delaware Bay when the port side engine started to overheat. Or, had it waited a little longer yet, somewhere offshore between Cape May and New York—an engine failure in a place that might have presented a bit of a challenge.

As frustrating has these last few weeks have been, we couldn't have been in a better place to get this list of maintenance items taken care of. And there is this realization: First Light had been on the hard for more than four years before we launched it the first time. We did a lot of work before that first splash but, as we all know, boats do not like sitting on land. And being in the water is an entirely different environment. Last year we only got as far as Oriental before getting sidelined with minor things like cardiac arrests and shattered wrists. After that, we limped to Oak Harbor (with the help of Grandson Eldest) where the boat sat on the hard for another six months—far enough north for winter weather to be an issue and (bad choice on our part) in a marina that didn't allow boats on the hard to be hooked to power.

From Oak Harbor to Chesapeake City to Delaware City was just two (not particularly long) days of travel. It could be considered a kind of shakedown cruise and, well, it seems it shook a lot of things loose. Kind of the purpose.  (Though I am going to blame the starter and house battery failures on the marina where the boat spent the winter. Batteries that are left to go flat are batteries that will have to be replaced.)

This afternoon the damaged hose was replaced and the engine test run with no problems. The Tech asked if we wanted to do a sea trial with him along. That sounded like an excellent idea to us. About an hour later First Light was configured for being under way again. The engines rumbled to life, the lines were pulled in, and we idled down the canal being careful of the weekend boaters and jets drivers.

Once out in the river, I handed the helm over to the Tech. He ran the engines through their paces, up to an including a full power blast that had First Light squatting at her stern and making better than 11 knots. I didn't even want to think about how much fuel was running through that new pump. The engines ran fine with all gauges in the green and nothing leaking out of either one. How about that?

Once back at the dock, we pumped out and tied up for the night. The plan at the moment is to head off early in the morning and head for Cape May. It is likely we will be anchored there for a coupe of days waiting on a break to get the offshore part of this trip off our stern.

I have to admit that my first response to yet another failure was one of disappointment and discouragement. This has been a tough few weeks. But a more thoughtful reflection is that we have been extraordinarily lucky. Accepting each failure as just something that was better discovered here than out on the Atlantic somewhere several miles from shore and many miles from a safe anchorage or dock? I'm going to lean in that direction, emotions be damned. Take what happens. Make the best choice for the next moment based on what is happening in this moment. Then keep going. Is there any other real choice?