You know how the monster always returns in the last scene of a horror movie? That was my day. Damn, the things I could have written about if I I’d gotten to it last night instead of having a wonderful dinner with Lee and Lynn in Hamburg Cove (Somebody who knows about this place, write about it please.)
The evening check of the engine oil last night showed just a hint of the beginning of darkening. Not bad for nearly 25 hours of running. We had a beautiful run down the river in morning fog lifting in the rising sun trying to make Port Jefferson before the hard south west winds predicted for tomorrow. They met us at the breakwater. We should have turned around but it was one of those dumb decisions influenced by some commitments Lee and Lynn have in the Big Apple and my desire to stay with them for the LIS trip. (Their cooking is a big factor in that.)
We were met by conditions way, way worse than forecast. I didn’t even want to go back through the seas in the breakwater once we were in them. We settled down to a long miserable slog thinking it must be a morning thermal wind that would subside to the forecast conditions.
Strider is a great powerboat. I called them in their Bristol 38 to ask if they could pick up the pace a bit and they said they were flat out at 2700. I was pulling away from them at 2300. Their boat is faster in flat water but the way Strider goes through nasty stuff keeps her speed up even if it makes me wet.
About an hour and a half into the slogging, just as we were thinking about turning around, the oil alarm chirped. I shut down and looked in the engine compartment to find oil everywhere and the drip pan full. Lee and Lynn turned back as well and went back up the Connecticut River. I wanted to get to Mystic where there are more options and I know people. I rolled out the jib and immediately was having a beautiful dry sail with the windvane steering and me on the cell phone trying to line up TowboatUS and a place to land.
It was heartbreaking how beautiful it was and thinking that this could well be Strider’s last sail. It’s true what they say about cell phones. I looked up from one call to see a buoy go by about 50 feet away. I almost sank my boat. BTW, those of you watching my SPOT, please don’t call when you see me stop and then turn around, I’m probably dealing with something difficult.
Conditions got worse. I soon had the hatch boards in and was getting soaked running downwind. That hasn’t happened before. I also missed the security call for a sub leaving Groton and nearly got busted by the USCG. I was doing 3.5 knots under bare poles when TowboatUS tried to pick up the tow. We decided I could just sail that way into the lee of a point and do it there.
I spent the afternoon calling and visiting mechanics. It is depressing how divergent expert opinions are. A doctor friend once told me that is the dirty big secret of medicine. The oil was pure black this time with no sign of water. The mechanic who replaced the head said he didn’t think there was anything wrong with the engine. It is installed at an angle beyond the Yanmar specs and I drive the boat into stuff few people would think about doing. He said he was sure it was just the heavy pitching and a dipstick housing very close to the oil level because of the extreme shaft angle.
At his suggestion, I did a standard oil change, which it was about time for anyway and cleaned the bilges and drip pan. I then warmed up the engine, put it into gear and ran it hard. Sure enough, five minutes running with the dipstick removed and there was no sign of oil in the drip pan or coming out of the dipstick.
I called the mechanic to tell him he was a genius. While we were talking and phone backslapping, I took another look. There was oil running down alongside the engine beds. I looked at the drip pan again and it was half full. I told him I would call him back.
I looked in the engine and confirmed that the dipstick tube was clean but oil was on the engine behind it and sprayed up on the sides of the compartment. There was oil showing around the bell housing. Then, it hit me. The water pump seals were blown out by the pressure of the water intrusion. The rear oil seal, ironically what I first thought of the when I lost oil last spring, must have been strained just enough to hold until this morning when it blew out.
I called the mechanic back and we agreed that must be the problem. He thinks that it could be replaced by just moving the engine instead of taking it out of the boat. Only another grand.
After I hung up, I pulled everything out of the quarterberth converted to clothes storage compartment and looked in the engine compartment access where I can get a better view of the bell housing. There was a pool of oil on top of the bell housing. No way it could have gotten slung up there by the flywheel slinging it around from a leaking rear seal. The vent openings of the bell housing were clean and dry.
There is a high pressure oil line running just above this point. The line was looking quite dozy and worn when we took it off and put it back on. It’s not clear that yet that it is the leak but the oil seems to be coming from somewhere high up on the engine which makes me very optimistic that this will turn out to be some easily replaced external part that got stressed during the gasket replacement. I don’t see any evidence that it is a broken ring or other cylinder problem as I spent hours this afternoon in black depression about.
BTW before anyone asks, I checked the whole breather and water trap system. Absolutely clear. I could blow easily through it and there was no more oil in the bowl than in the picture in my previous post. The hose at the connection to the intake manifold was so clean I didn’t even taste oil when I blew through it.
Tomorrow, I’ll pull everything out of the cockpit locker, fire up the engine, and crawl in to find the leak. If the pan could fill up that fast, it shouldn’t be that hard to spot. Gentleman and ladies, place your bets.
I’m very optimistic that I will shortly be back on the road south and writing about topics like all the beautiful things I have seen and experienced in the past few days. However, black depression and pessimism has always seemed to work for me before. Let’s hope this sunny new outlook doesn’t screw up my karma.
The evening check of the engine oil last night showed just a hint of the beginning of darkening. Not bad for nearly 25 hours of running. We had a beautiful run down the river in morning fog lifting in the rising sun trying to make Port Jefferson before the hard south west winds predicted for tomorrow. They met us at the breakwater. We should have turned around but it was one of those dumb decisions influenced by some commitments Lee and Lynn have in the Big Apple and my desire to stay with them for the LIS trip. (Their cooking is a big factor in that.)
We were met by conditions way, way worse than forecast. I didn’t even want to go back through the seas in the breakwater once we were in them. We settled down to a long miserable slog thinking it must be a morning thermal wind that would subside to the forecast conditions.
Strider is a great powerboat. I called them in their Bristol 38 to ask if they could pick up the pace a bit and they said they were flat out at 2700. I was pulling away from them at 2300. Their boat is faster in flat water but the way Strider goes through nasty stuff keeps her speed up even if it makes me wet.
About an hour and a half into the slogging, just as we were thinking about turning around, the oil alarm chirped. I shut down and looked in the engine compartment to find oil everywhere and the drip pan full. Lee and Lynn turned back as well and went back up the Connecticut River. I wanted to get to Mystic where there are more options and I know people. I rolled out the jib and immediately was having a beautiful dry sail with the windvane steering and me on the cell phone trying to line up TowboatUS and a place to land.
It was heartbreaking how beautiful it was and thinking that this could well be Strider’s last sail. It’s true what they say about cell phones. I looked up from one call to see a buoy go by about 50 feet away. I almost sank my boat. BTW, those of you watching my SPOT, please don’t call when you see me stop and then turn around, I’m probably dealing with something difficult.
Conditions got worse. I soon had the hatch boards in and was getting soaked running downwind. That hasn’t happened before. I also missed the security call for a sub leaving Groton and nearly got busted by the USCG. I was doing 3.5 knots under bare poles when TowboatUS tried to pick up the tow. We decided I could just sail that way into the lee of a point and do it there.
I spent the afternoon calling and visiting mechanics. It is depressing how divergent expert opinions are. A doctor friend once told me that is the dirty big secret of medicine. The oil was pure black this time with no sign of water. The mechanic who replaced the head said he didn’t think there was anything wrong with the engine. It is installed at an angle beyond the Yanmar specs and I drive the boat into stuff few people would think about doing. He said he was sure it was just the heavy pitching and a dipstick housing very close to the oil level because of the extreme shaft angle.
At his suggestion, I did a standard oil change, which it was about time for anyway and cleaned the bilges and drip pan. I then warmed up the engine, put it into gear and ran it hard. Sure enough, five minutes running with the dipstick removed and there was no sign of oil in the drip pan or coming out of the dipstick.
I called the mechanic to tell him he was a genius. While we were talking and phone backslapping, I took another look. There was oil running down alongside the engine beds. I looked at the drip pan again and it was half full. I told him I would call him back.
I looked in the engine and confirmed that the dipstick tube was clean but oil was on the engine behind it and sprayed up on the sides of the compartment. There was oil showing around the bell housing. Then, it hit me. The water pump seals were blown out by the pressure of the water intrusion. The rear oil seal, ironically what I first thought of the when I lost oil last spring, must have been strained just enough to hold until this morning when it blew out.
I called the mechanic back and we agreed that must be the problem. He thinks that it could be replaced by just moving the engine instead of taking it out of the boat. Only another grand.
After I hung up, I pulled everything out of the quarterberth converted to clothes storage compartment and looked in the engine compartment access where I can get a better view of the bell housing. There was a pool of oil on top of the bell housing. No way it could have gotten slung up there by the flywheel slinging it around from a leaking rear seal. The vent openings of the bell housing were clean and dry.
There is a high pressure oil line running just above this point. The line was looking quite dozy and worn when we took it off and put it back on. It’s not clear that yet that it is the leak but the oil seems to be coming from somewhere high up on the engine which makes me very optimistic that this will turn out to be some easily replaced external part that got stressed during the gasket replacement. I don’t see any evidence that it is a broken ring or other cylinder problem as I spent hours this afternoon in black depression about.
BTW before anyone asks, I checked the whole breather and water trap system. Absolutely clear. I could blow easily through it and there was no more oil in the bowl than in the picture in my previous post. The hose at the connection to the intake manifold was so clean I didn’t even taste oil when I blew through it.
Tomorrow, I’ll pull everything out of the cockpit locker, fire up the engine, and crawl in to find the leak. If the pan could fill up that fast, it shouldn’t be that hard to spot. Gentleman and ladies, place your bets.
I’m very optimistic that I will shortly be back on the road south and writing about topics like all the beautiful things I have seen and experienced in the past few days. However, black depression and pessimism has always seemed to work for me before. Let’s hope this sunny new outlook doesn’t screw up my karma.
