Yesterday was to be an easy day so we slept late and planned a leisurely departure. Serendipity had done the classic Bahamian moor twist during the night so they were confronted with a rope rode wrapped around the chain with the boat riding to the rope. That slowed things down further.
My method for dealing with this kind of thing is to coil the rope down behind the cleat with the free end on top. I then mentally or physically, depending on visibility and complexity of the situation, run the end along the line from the cleat. Follow the exact path, through chocks, around chain or whatever, until the free end is out in the clear ahead of the boat. The goal is to exactly duplicate the rope path in reverse. Then bring the end inboard though the desired chock and make it fast.
The next step is to pull and work all the line along the path until the coil us gone and just enough slack remains to cast off the cleat. The cast off line will now be a complete double loop which, with a little help over snags and to overcome friction, will run out and free leaving the line running as desired. This method sure beats trying to think your way through it with masses and snarls of rope in your hands and underfoot.
Lee and Lynn got it worked out in their own fashion, Lee in the dinghy and Lynn on deck, but we were a bit behind schedule when all anchors were finally on deck. I was just passing them to take the lead down the waterway when I saw their anchor go down again. Their engine was overheating.
I anchored alone side while they checked out the usual suspects. Raw water flow was good, impeller intact, coolant level OK, oil level proper and nothing unusual showing on the end of the dip stick. They remembered being told that they might occasionally need to bleed air out of the system and unloaded a cockpit locker to get at the only valve they had seen in the system. Opening that didn’t work. I decided it was time for me to go over.
I’ve never lived with a fresh water cooling system long enough have any problems. Whenever I’ve been on a vessel with one, there were others responsible for its care and feeding so I was going into this with a pretty minimal knowledge base.
I traced out the system and determined that the valve they opened was just a water heater bypass and not likely to affect anything. The thermostat was the remaining probable suspect. There was a complex piping manifold on top of the engine with two temperature sensors in it. We determined that one lead to the gauge and the other to the over temp alarm. Looking at the engine manual diagrams, I noticed that the alarm sensor was screwed into a hole that showed a drain cock in the manual and this was the housing for the thermostat. The “Ah Ha” light went on.
I unscrewed the alarm sensor and air bubbled out followed by antifreeze. We started the engine and it stayed cool. They reported on the afternoon run that it ran cooler than it ever had. Air had built up around the thermostat so that coolant couldn’t reach the expanding element that activates it so coolant couldn’t be diverted into the cylinder heads and exhaust manifold. The temperature sensors could read the air and heat conducted through the metal but the thermostat is isolated by its gaskets.
The cleverness of the boatyard that installed the alarm sensor is breathtaking. They eliminated the device that would let the boat operator quickly and easily deal with an air lock around the thermostat. Replacing it with an alarm almost guaranteed that they, or TowboatUS, would bring the boat back to the yard when air built up (the boat was probably sailing locally when this was done). The yard would then miraculously fix the problem for several hundred dollars and send the boat back out until the next time. Smart businessmen know how to generate repeat business. Unfortunately, the name of this yard is lost in the mists of the vessel’s service history.
My method for dealing with this kind of thing is to coil the rope down behind the cleat with the free end on top. I then mentally or physically, depending on visibility and complexity of the situation, run the end along the line from the cleat. Follow the exact path, through chocks, around chain or whatever, until the free end is out in the clear ahead of the boat. The goal is to exactly duplicate the rope path in reverse. Then bring the end inboard though the desired chock and make it fast.
The next step is to pull and work all the line along the path until the coil us gone and just enough slack remains to cast off the cleat. The cast off line will now be a complete double loop which, with a little help over snags and to overcome friction, will run out and free leaving the line running as desired. This method sure beats trying to think your way through it with masses and snarls of rope in your hands and underfoot.
Lee and Lynn got it worked out in their own fashion, Lee in the dinghy and Lynn on deck, but we were a bit behind schedule when all anchors were finally on deck. I was just passing them to take the lead down the waterway when I saw their anchor go down again. Their engine was overheating.
I anchored alone side while they checked out the usual suspects. Raw water flow was good, impeller intact, coolant level OK, oil level proper and nothing unusual showing on the end of the dip stick. They remembered being told that they might occasionally need to bleed air out of the system and unloaded a cockpit locker to get at the only valve they had seen in the system. Opening that didn’t work. I decided it was time for me to go over.
I’ve never lived with a fresh water cooling system long enough have any problems. Whenever I’ve been on a vessel with one, there were others responsible for its care and feeding so I was going into this with a pretty minimal knowledge base.
I traced out the system and determined that the valve they opened was just a water heater bypass and not likely to affect anything. The thermostat was the remaining probable suspect. There was a complex piping manifold on top of the engine with two temperature sensors in it. We determined that one lead to the gauge and the other to the over temp alarm. Looking at the engine manual diagrams, I noticed that the alarm sensor was screwed into a hole that showed a drain cock in the manual and this was the housing for the thermostat. The “Ah Ha” light went on.
I unscrewed the alarm sensor and air bubbled out followed by antifreeze. We started the engine and it stayed cool. They reported on the afternoon run that it ran cooler than it ever had. Air had built up around the thermostat so that coolant couldn’t reach the expanding element that activates it so coolant couldn’t be diverted into the cylinder heads and exhaust manifold. The temperature sensors could read the air and heat conducted through the metal but the thermostat is isolated by its gaskets.
The cleverness of the boatyard that installed the alarm sensor is breathtaking. They eliminated the device that would let the boat operator quickly and easily deal with an air lock around the thermostat. Replacing it with an alarm almost guaranteed that they, or TowboatUS, would bring the boat back to the yard when air built up (the boat was probably sailing locally when this was done). The yard would then miraculously fix the problem for several hundred dollars and send the boat back out until the next time. Smart businessmen know how to generate repeat business. Unfortunately, the name of this yard is lost in the mists of the vessel’s service history.
