I got up with the sun today and Zanshin is hunting around at anchor because the winds are gusting through the anchorage. There are even mini whitecaps around the boat as the gusts top out at 30 and make the lines in the rigging whistle a bit.
It is a windy day so I’ll stay aboard and do some work on cleaning up the generator.
I had left my hair trimmers in the showers at St. Lucia and need to buy a replacement as I feel like a hippie. My normal indicator that I need a haircut is if what remains of my hair remains damp for more than 10 minutes after taking a shower…
Generator
I can’t believe that I am still sopping up diesel from underneath the generator after all this time. The picture of my boat without the generator show a flat surface underneath the metal supports, so I had thought that the motion of the boat at anchor and while sailing was just moving the diesel to a place where I can soak it up, but considering how much I’ve removed so far it must have been a significant amount of leakage.
I wanted to remove all diesel before doing the impeller change and locating the diesel leak so as not to mix water and diesel, but I don’t think that this is going to work out. I will get out my Home Depot Bucket Head shop vac and suck up everything and then separate the water from the diesel afterwards. I changed my mind and used my manual pump instead.
I managed to pump out about 1 liter of diesel and think I have most of it now. I might use Joy and water to emulsify the rest and make it easier to pump out (plus it will smell better). If I let it soak overnight then the motion of the boat anchor might assist in getting to all the corners of the generator pan and the bilge underneath.
After adding the water and Joy mix to the pan and bilge I let the boat motion drain the majority of solution from the pan into the bilge and cleaned up under the generator. I then removed the impeller pump assembly and was surprised to see that the impeller blades are all still in place – so the overheating and low water flow must have another cause. I couldn’t find any pieces of old impeller in the heat exchanger and thus don’t know what the problem might be.
I think that the screw on the bottom of the fuel filter is leaking. I removed that and suddenly had another 500ml or so of smelly diesel in the pan which I sopped up with a roll of kitchen towels and some shop towels.
I’ve now spent much of the day with my head below deck level and breathing in heavy fumes from spilled diesel. I’ve got an incipient headache and, for the moment, hate boats and everything associated with them. I’m giving up for the day and will go ashore for a drink and dinner and continue on the morrow.
I had a beer and a burger at Club Sushi ashore at the AYC and returned to Zanshin by 20:00. Despite hearing the sound of music from several places ashore I do have a bit of a headache and won’t be going back ashore tonight.