Oops

Two of my jobs when we return to the dock are to: 1-close the engine through hull and 2-put the engine battery key away. When we were getting ready to leave the dock yesterday to anchor overnight I turned the engine through hull handle to open it but I couldn’t find the engine battery key. Huh. It was still in its keyhole from our brief daysail the day before. We finished getting ready and left the dock. About 100 feet away from the dock I noticed that the engine didn’t sound right. It occurred to me that instead of opening the through hull I had closed it. I put the throttle in neutral, asked George to take the helm, and rushed down to the cabin to check. Sure enough, the through hull was closed. I opened it, we carried on, and the engine was soon spitting out engine cooling water as it should. Phew. Crisis averted, we hoped. The engine through hull allows seawater to be drawn into the engine to cool it. Without it the engine overheats. As it overheats the impeller, the little rubber propeller that spins to draw the water in, disintegrates and the pieces can be drawn into the cooling tubes and create havoc. George and I both hoped we caught the problem early enough to avoid any problems. 

After we were out of the channel we raised the sails and shut the engine off. Since we were sailing upwind the boat was heeling so George didn’t want to check the impeller just yet. However, we did want to check it before we turned the engine on again. Eventually the wind calmed down a bit so we turned downwind to flatten the boat and George removed the impeller. It looked just fine. Phew again. Since George changes the impeller once a year anyway, he threw the old one out and put a new one it. 

So, what went wrong? Why did I close the through hull instead of opening it? When we are at the dock it is our habit to close all of the through hulls that are below the water line as a safety precaution. Also, it is a good idea to open and close through hulls from time to time to make sure they work. I purposely pair opening and closing the engine through hull with the removing the engine battery key. That way, if I had forgotten to do both jobs and tried to start the engine, it wouldn’t start. My mistake yesterday was assuming I had closed the through hull the day before but had not removed the battery engine key. Another mistake was not paying attention to the position of the through hull handle. When the through hull is open the handle is in line with the pipe. When it is closed the handle is perpendicular to the pipe. The engine compartment is dark and the through hull handle is quite a long reach for me so I can’t see it and have to do it by feel. Yesterday I moved the handle from one position to the other. I assumed I was moving it from closed to open but I was actually moving it from open to closed. So, I made two assumptions that could have led to big problems. Another lesson learned. 

In the past few weeks we have anchored out a few times and gone out for a few day sails. Our first night of anchoring out was near our friends, Dawn and Ray, on Azzurra 2.0. We had dinner and played Mexican Train on their beautiful, spacious catamaran, then returned for breakfast the next morning. What a treat. Dawn and Ray are early risers and took a few gorgeous photos of Breeze On at sunrise. 

Old impeller

Breeze On at sunrise in Leadenham Creek

Breeze On at sunrise

Azzurra 2.0 and Breeze On