It’s going to be showers all day here in Dominica. It’s been raining on and off lightly during the night, and is raining this morning. The weather reports show up to 100% low cloud cover later on today and tomorrow. At least the salt from the passage is getting washed off. Right now there is a nice break in the clouds and the sun has come out. I was in the middle of a conference call a while back when I heard a loud noise behind the boat.
I looked outside to find that a cruise ship had just anchored behind me. At first I thought it was a Star Clipper, but it looked too shiny. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be the Club Med II 5-master. Alexis just came by to pick up my laundry and the engine is running up to temperature and charging the batteries. I will have to wait for the batteries to be almost fully charged before measuring the IQ again, as the alternator puts a load on the motor which, in turn, increases the amount of fuel needed at idle.
Breakfast
I’m taking a break from work and making some eggs for breakfast, since the engine is already running and producing excess electricity.
Noon
It took several attempts to get the outboard started. That’s anther task for my list, but top priority is the diesel. Once started, it ran smoothly and I tied up ashore. My goal was to find an ATM in Portsmouth proper. I needed the local XCD$ to pay for the laundry and other items, even though they do accept US$ here. The two passing showers luckily hit me when I was in quick reach of shelter. Returning from town I stopped at the Purple Turtle for a sandwich. Then returned to the boat in order to finish off my business work day and then on to the diesel.
I’d found some STP Diesel Fuel Injector Treatment at an auto store and thought it can’t hurt to add some to the fuel. Once I’m ready to work on the engine I’ll remove the line from the secondary fuel filter and see if the small electric pump is working and supplying sufficient volume to the fuel injector pump. If that is the case, I’ll remove the cut-off solenoid and check for blockages there.
Afternoon
I’ve now replaced the two Racor filters and checked the fuel flow from the little pump. This draws fuel from the tank through the Racor filter and pushes it into the high-pressure fuel pump. The pump filled about 250ml into a bottle in the time it took me to turn on the ignition, race down to see if anything was flowing, and then run back up topside to turn off the ignition. That is more fuel than the engine can take at full throttle, so I’m discounting this as the problem.
The engine uses Oetiker clamps and I had to destroy one to get at the fuel line. I was in the process of replacing this with a hose clamp when I remembered that I’d purchased a selection of clamps and the special pliers. It took a bit of rummaging, but I found both and then found I had to remove several appendages from the motor in order to fit the clamp. Boat engine maintenance is difficult because the access is so limited.
The next check is the cut-off valve. This is hard to get at, I’ll have to remove the whole ECU box and cabling for that. And since it is in the bowels of the engine I need a cold engine for that without risking burns. I will run the engine now to see if changing the old filters and checking the secondary filter made a difference to fuel delivery. If this didn’t make a difference, then I’ll check the solenoid tomorrow.
Happy Hour
Well, not so happy hour. Another day has gone by and I’ve made no progress at work or on the boat. The list of small and medium boat tasks keeps growing and I’m spending all my time on the #$%!@#$% VW diesel inboard.
Alexis just came by with the laundry. The price was significantly higher than I expected (by a factor of 3); but I’m not going to negotiate after the fact. At least I’ve now got clean bedclothes again!
Evening
The cruise ship departed at sunset and the winds have picked up, so I won’t be going ashore this evening after all. My options for dinner are getting more and more limited as I haven’t gone grocery shopping in a while. But I can make do and certainly could do with skipping a meal or three.