Maintenance day

Saturday 18 Jan, BHS day 19, Cape Eleuthera Marina: A day in the engine room, servicing the Volvo and Rydlime flush the engine and generator.

The wind was howling all night and still as strong this morning, 25-35kts. Our notion of heading out of the marina after just one night clearly isn’t happening. The sea outside is boiling. And obviously it’s not a sit-by-the-pool day. So it will have to be a maintenance day!

First off, after desalting the boat yesterday, I apply some polish to the new vinyl stripes. I was thinking of just using normal polish but decided on polish made for the dinghy rubber, given it’s formulated for UV protection on Hyperlon and PVC. It’s not the most pleasant of tasks, dangling through the life lines upside down, but it looks like new again once done. Very pleasing to the eye. Silly really, because first good sail and it will be covered in salt again!

Next task is the Volvo service. It’s 200 hours since the last service in Puerto Rico back in April. I’m really not in the mood of setting up shop in the hot engine room. Or for any maintenance for that matter. Beautiful Eleuthera has really got us into a relaxed mode. But it has to be done. And in the back of my brain I know it’s also a good time to do an anti-calc flush, using Rydlime, on both the Volvo and the generator raw water systems. It’s 15 months since last done. Keeping the raw water flow path clear of mineral buildup is vital to their healthy running, but it’s a job I really don’t like.

With the engine warmed up, it’s time to take the oil out. Start with a challenge as my small hand pump used to remove the oil isn’t sucking. So that has to be fixed first. For once I do manage to remove the oil without getting it everywhere. Next, I take fuel samples from both main and “spare” tanks. Main is perfectly clean whereas the spare has some bits in, but no more than usual. This is likely because the main tank is constantly getting “polished” as we run the engine whereas the spare tank contents never get cleaned.
Next, the auxiliary Racor fuel filter is changed and the bowl drained for water check. And again, for once, I don’t spill any, but my hands still seem to manage to get soaked in diesel 🙁
With the main fuel filter and the 2 large oil filters off the Volvo, I can get access to the impeller housing …. just. It’s still rather tricky down the side engine. With the impeller removed (which takes some swearing to wheedle it out) and the housing replaced, I setup hoses to circulate the Rydlime through the entire raw water system. I circulate it the wrong way around to ensure any stuck debris gets flushed out. I use a small bilge pump in a bucket to do the circulation. Once started, the engine room looks and smells more like a chemical plant!

Meanwhile Oana is off on one of her own “favorite” (not) tasks, to the marina’s laundry room. The lady at reception tells us to use the side door to the laundry but as Oana pulls on it to open, the whole door falls out and on top of her! Now, I knew Oana was strong willed, but didn’t imagine she could pull a door clean off its hinges! It turns out that the wood is totally eaten by bugs and was just waiting for the right person to fall on 🙁 The rest of the laundry session goes without a hitch, apparently. When she gets back from her successful mission, she takes advantage of the shore power and bakes another bread.

After 2 hours of Rydlime circulation on the Volvo, I switch the system to do the same for the generator. And while that’s running, I set about rebuilding the Volvo. As I install new anodes inside the turbo intercooler, I notice that the raw water passages look like new now. All gleaming brass surfaces. That Rydlime is brilliant. But it’s got to be circulated to be effective. Just sucking it once through the engine does nothing but waste your money and time.
With a new impeller installed and new fuel and oil filters on, it just needs the oil to be filled. Following that, we run the engine for a while to make sure there are no air locks in the fuel system nor any leaks. All good for another 200 hours of Swedish built reliability.

With the generator Rydlime flush it’s quite noticeable the change in flow rate. At the beginning there was barely any flow. By the end it was gushing out. So looks like the flush was very timely. If the cooling circuit around the main coil is not effective then there is danger the insulation on the coils could melt. We already came close to this situation 2 years ago, in the days before I knew how to flush the system correctly.

Now, the above all sound pretty straight forward. But reality is that I started in my crouched and cramped workplace in the engine room at midday. And I’m finally finished and cleaned up at 11:30pm. Quite a marathon. Hands are scratched and cut, cuts are sore from the Rydlime, fuel and oil and every muscle in my body seems to have had a workout! You really need to be a little guy with long strong arms and a neck that allows you to see around corners to be a marine mechanic!

Needless to say, I don’t remember my head hitting the pillow. As for Oana, other than saving her from being totally crushed by the laundry room door, I really neglected her today. I will have to make it up tomorrow 🙂