Sunday 26th Dec, Anchored in Lake Sylvia, Fort Lauderdale, cruising day 29: Volvo service and Thai dinner.
Having done a dinghy tour of the waterways, a Christmas cycle tour and having seen our friends on S/Y Gale, it’s time to start thinking when we should move on again. The weather shows next week will be head winds, so we decide we will leave tomorrow, close to the midday high tide and get south to Marathon before those winds arrive.
Although we are now well passed 200 hours since the last Volvo service, I’ve kind of been putting off doing it. But I think now I have run out of excuses. Today I have the time before we leave, and we are safely anchored in a good place. So, with some reluctance, the tools, oils, oil filters, fuel filters, impeller and engine anodes all come out and proceed into the engine room along with me.
Actually, it didn’t happen like that. I wish it did. In reality, I grab some tools and bits and pieces for the service that I think I need, then during the process I come out and back into the engine room a dozen times for this tool or that, this part or that. So, this time, when I finished the job, I purposefully kept all the tools I used laid out on a tray. Then took a photo of it. Next time (!), I will have that photo and go into the engine room just once! Let’s see how that works… tune back in around March 2023 to find out!
The basic 200-hour service includes replacing the engine oil and oil filters, the sump filter, the raycore and main engine fuel filters, the air filter, the 2 anodes in the raw water system, and finally inspecting and potentially replacing the water pump impeller. And on top of that, every 2nd year, I will give the raw water system a reverse flush with Rydlime. But not this time.
Before the oil change, I run the Volvo for 15 minutes while we have mid-morning coffee. I’d prefer not to work in a hot engine room, but unless the old oil is at least warm it does not fully drain when I pump it out. Pumping the old oil out is the part of the service I really don’t like. However hard I try, some of the old black oil gets spilt and I hate the stuff! Likewise on the fuel filters, I usually end up covered in diesel. But this time, there are hardly any drops spilt and I’m quite pleased with myself for once.
What I’m not such a happy-chappy about is when I inspect the impeller. The impeller pump is right in the far corner of the Volvo. It’s always a struggle to get to it. And I’m very careful not to get any of the raw (salt) water over any part of the engine as I disconnect the hose and impeller cover. The impeller itself looks great, so I put the cover back on and when tightening the very last bolt I notice the o-ring seal is sticking out the side of the pump. Damn! So the cover has to come off again and a new o-ring installed. Very annoying, but better to catch that now rather than later when salt water is spraying all over the engine.
While I’m doing the engine, Oana is having a field-day in the bathrooms. They are getting a thorough spring clean. And Oana too as she does it! We are quite the industrious pair today.
By 4pm I’ve finished the service and cleaned up both tools and myself, and Oana has completed her marathon cleaning session. So we head off in the dinghy for a Thai dinner at 17th Street Thai. We manage to find a table outside where the bikes can be safely watched. Not a bad meal, but not quite what we had hoped. However, the crispy fish dish, a new dish for me, made it worthwhile. Delicious. Then a last bit of shopping at the nearby Publix before heading back to the boat, where we get it all ready for departure in the morning.
