Boat work, boat work everywhere – April 18, 2022, St. Augustine, Florida

Sailing Hubby started with engine week.  Before we left, while the boat was still in the slings, he pulled out the sail drive sensor and got a two-inch geyser of water.  Guess it was a real leak and not just the sensor!  First thing he started this week was he immediately pulled the port engine and took it apart.  We needed to get our parts ordered as we had no idea how long they would take to come in.  As luck would have it, there was a Yanmar dealer close by to get everything we needed in a few days. 

When he got it all apart, it revealed not only had one of the seal bands broke, but the main seal had a huge crack about 1.5 inches.  The crack was much worse than we thought and should have caused a much larger leak then we experienced.   Perhaps we should purchase a lottery ticket?   

Day two he pulled apart the starboard side…this reveled a ½ inch hole in the secondary seal.  Oh joy, this news was not much better that the port side.  Ugh.  We knew we were replacing both sides anyway, but boy, we thank the sailing Gods for getting us back as we could very easily have lost both engines and neither of us can believe we made it home.  I think all those superstitious toasts to Neptune have paid off!  We were able to order all the parts and get them within a day which was fantastic and better than we could have imagined!  

Sailing Hubby put together the port side and it is all back together and, in the boat, again.  We have the starboard side still apart and waiting on one of the seals to come in on Monday.  Things are looking good on that front, but we are certainly poorer from this process.  It is a gift Hubby can do all the work himself.  Meanwhile, I have defrosted the fridge/freezer, packed up all the food and it’s in the Airbnb, taken all the clothes and linens home, and all have been washed.  The kitchen is clean, however, I am not making a huge cleaning effort since our next project is grinding fiberglass inside.  That stuff is like drywall and gets everywhere with the added bonus of making you itch uncontrollably.    This will keep me from doing the cleaning twice.  More boat work to go…