Breeze On

We were fortunate to find a restaurant in Spanish Wells that was serving a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner— turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, and mashed sweet potatoes. We were also fortunate to be able to share dinner at the Shipyard with our friends, Dee and Ron. The food was good and the view, with so many colors of water, was absolutely stunning.  Today we did some laundry on the boat (more on that in another post), bought eggs and produce, fuel, and a new power socket to charge our phones, iPads, etc. Then we moved to a quieter location that is not on the path of the many tour boats and fishermen that came racing by us outside Spanish Wells.  I thought it might be time for an update on the various problems we have experienced since leaving home.  Water in the bilge— we have found just a tiny amount of water in the bilge. It could have migrated from other parts of the bilge where it was hiding. The true test will be when we are s...

Our passage from West End, Grand Bahama to Spanish Wells, Eleuthera went well as far as passages go. We traveled 144 nautical miles overnight and arrived at Spanish Wells at 11 am. We had enough wind to sail most of the trip and the seas were relatively calm. Not long after we left West End we were hailed on the VHF radio by ZoZo, another sailboat. They wanted us to take a picture of their boat and email it to them. We did and they returned the favor.  There were numerous ships coming and going in our route but none that we had to evade. Just before midnight—as George was preparing to come on watch and I was preparing to go off watch—I noticed what looked like a large comet streaking across the sky. I called for George to come up and see it before it disappeared. It was too fast to be a comet and we assume it was a meteorite. The tail was so wide and long, I have never seen anything like it.  Photo of Breeze On taken by the crew of ZoZo.  ZoZo and her crew. 

Who said we would never make it here? It certainly seemed like it to us many times over the past month. We are relieved to be here but also feel like we are waiting for the other shoe to drop.  We ran the engine for most of the trip. There was no evidence of a fuel leak nor did the overheating alarm sound again. The engine has stalled twice, which is a new problem. We hope it is one that can be easily fixed, perhaps by tightening all of the fuel connections that were loosened when we were working on the fuel leak.  We checked in at Old Bahama Bay in West End, Grand Bahama. The immigration officer gave us each 120 days in the Bahamas which is what we wanted. There has been a new controversy in the Bahamas over length of stay for tourists. It has always been a bit unpredictable but since September they are requiring each person requesting an extension to pay $200. Since we received the length of time we wanted we won’t have to pay the extra $400. In addition to the extra money i...

We are just about half way to the Bahamas and the engine seems to be running without any problems. George has frequently checked the fuel system for leaks and has not found any. We had a bit of a scare, though, when we left at 4:00 am yesterday morning. The day before—Friday—we left Brunswick Landing to motor and anchor 6 miles closer the inlet. After we pulled the anchor up yesterday morning,  shortly after revving up the engine to exit the inlet, the engine overheating alarm sounded. What!?!?!? George checked the temperatures using the infrared gun and found that the thermostat was around 170° and the sensor was around 188°. I thought that considering the cold air temperature—44°—perhaps the engine needed more time at low speed to warm the engine to enable the thermostat to open and send coolant through the system. So, we shut the engine off, turned it back on, and very slowly increased the speed while monitoring the temperatures. Once the thermostat reached 180° we increased the...

Today George reassembled the fuel system of our engine. Before starting we had to resolve the confusion regarding the order in which the parts should be reassembled. The diagram in the Volvo parts list didn’t make sense and didn’t agree with videos we had watched. Nor did it agree with the order the parts were in before George took them apart.  After verifying the correct assembly with an experienced Volvo mechanic, George completed the reassembly with the new gaskets and we nervously started the engine. No leaks! We ran the engine in the slip for an hour and still no leaks. We might have felt overjoyed but are still puzzled by what caused the leaks in the first place. The leaks appeared to be coming from the area between the nut on the fuel pipe and the retaining nut.  Normally a leak from that location would be due to the fuel pipe nut being too loose. One of the first things George did was to loosen, then tighten a fuel pipe nut but it made the leak worse.  Needless to...

We have spent the past two days ordering parts, studying diagrams and videos, walking to the hardware and auto parts stores, taking an Uber to other parts stores, testing the engine, and taking the fuel system apart. We are at the point of reassembling the engine but have decided to stop for the day. It is dark, we are tired and we want to make sure that we get it right.  Setting up the toilet paper test to determine where the leak originates.     All ready to test.  This is the gasket that was on the engine. We believe it is aluminum.  The replacement Volvo gasket is copper. 

We used to enjoy playing the game Whack-a-Mole with our kids at Ryan’s Arcade in Newport, RI. We don’t enjoy playing it with Breeze On’s engine problems. The good news is that we made the entire trip from Beaufort to Brunswick without the overheating engine alarm sounding once. The bad news is that we now have a new engine problem. Yesterday afternoon we noticed the odor of diesel fuel in our cockpit. It was definitely the smell of fuel and not exhaust. George looked around the areas of the engine that are most likely to have a fuel leak and found three out of four of the injectors were leaking fuel. The reason the odor was so strong in the cockpit—instead of the cabin—is because the blower moves air from the engine compartment to the cockpit.  After arriving at Brunswick Landing this afternoon we spoke to the manager of the boatyard at the far end of the marina. He gave us a few ideas but said he is scheduling work two months out. We then looked into what parts we might need so th...

We left our slip this morning at 6:37 am, hoping that the engine was truly fixed. Less than ten minutes from Homer Smith Docks and Marina, though, the engine overheating alarm sounded. We were motoring at 1000 rpm. George checked the engine temperature using the infrared thermometer and found that it was lower than 181°, the temperature at which the thermostat opens and allows coolant to flow. We increased the rpms, the temperature went up, but the alarm still sounded. We were confident that the new thermostat was functioning and should have opened so we turned around. Breeze On was back in her slip within a half hour.  With a new water pump, new thermostat, new sensor, and new hose reducer, we both wondered if the problem could be due to a poor electrical connection. The sensor connects to an engine computer—called an MDI, Marine Diesel Interface. The primary function of the MDI is to collect information from sensors and send it out to the engine display. We have been carrying a s...

Caleb came yesterday afternoon and installed the new sensor. While he was at it, he installed our spare thermostat. After Caleb finished we ran the engine again and found that it was running at lower temperatures than it did before he completed the work.  We believe everything is now fixed but won’t feel sure until we leave the marina. Speaking of leaving the marina—we negotiated one extra night and had planned to leave tomorrow and motor a few hours to the anchorage at Cape Lookout. That way we would be able to test the engine without going too far from Beaufort. We planned to stay at Cape Lookout until Saturday then sail to Brunswick, GA. However, there is a very strong area of low pressure coming our way on Friday and the forecast is worse with every update. The last forecast predicted sustained winds in the mid-forties with gusts near 60. So we extended our stay until Sunday and may leave sometime on Saturday if the winds calm down. It is disappointing but seems like the sensib...

The good news is the inverter is working. It does not communicate well with the new monitor and controller—Victron Cerbo GX—we had installed this summer. The lack of communication caused the inverter to shut down. It has been rebooted and is now working. We may have to disconnect the inverter from the Cerbo to keep it from shutting down again but that is a minor issue.  The bad news is the engine is not fixed. The new part arrived just before noon yesterday. Coincidentally, the mechanic who was scheduled to come to Breeze On Friday was available yesterday. George installed the new hose reducer and the mechanic, Caleb, arrived a short time later. Caleb checked everything, said it looked fine, and we fired up the engine. We ran it for about 45 minutes while Caleb continued to check the engine. Everything looked good so Caleb left. Wouldn’t you know it, high coolant temperature alarm sounded before Caleb even got off of the dock. George called him, he came back and said he suspected a...

Just when we thought we were making progress with the engine, another problem arose. Our inverter, which allows us to use AC power on the boat, has stopped working. George is planning to communicate with the electrician we use in MD and try to sort the problem. As I write this George is attempting to gain access to the inverter that is hidden behind a locker—no easy task.  The engine test we conducted yesterday was a success. We are on track to attach the new hose fitting once it arrives tomorrow.  If it all works well after that we will leave the marina on Wednesday. Today we attempted to replace the hose that collapsed with a hose that has stiffer walls and will be less prone to collapsing. Because it is so stiff we were unable to attach the hose to the water pump. We even tried soaking it in hot water. A man on a YouTube video suggested using a tailpipe expander to stretch the hose so we have one on order. Luckily Amazon deliveries to Beaufort are quick.  I also wanted...

We have spent the last two and a half days attempting to find the cause of the overheating engine and believe we may have found an answer. On Wednesday afternoon George noticed that the seawater pump intake hose starts to collapse—flatten—when the engine runs over 1500 rpm.  Video of seawater hose collapsing at higher rpms. It is especially noticeable when the engine is turned down to neutral.  Although we aren’t engine mechanics, we both thought that wasn’t a good sign. We have since confirmed that the hose is not supposed to do that and have focused our efforts on finding where there might be a restriction in the flow of water that causes the hose to collapse.  The seacock—opens and closes to allow seawater in—was an obvious suspect. Things can grow in the seacock or debris can get sucked in.  George borrowed a high pressure hose nozzle from Dan and used a hose to spray water from the inside boat out through the seacock. That made no difference in the collapsing ho...

I have a few reasons to feel disappointed today. For the purposes of this blog, though, I will limit my discussion to reasons related to Breeze On and our trip.  We left Homer Smith Docks and Marina at 5:45 this morning with a plan to go to Brunswick, GA. About an hour after leaving the dock we had enough wind to raise the mainsail. As the sail was going up the engine alarm went off. That was the first time that had ever happened and we weren’t initially sure what it was. When we checked the display on the engine controls it said the temperature was too high. We turned the engine off and sailed at a very low speed in light wind for a time while we discussed a plan. A short time later we turned around toward Beaufort and George called Tow Boat US. We are now back at Homer Smith, but in a different slip. We are very grateful to Dan, the dockmaster, for finding a slip for us at this very busy time of year. We had tried other marinas that have mechanics on site but they did not have ro...

The other day I was attempting to clean a mildewed bottle brush with a little bit of bleach. I must have splashed a little on a new shirt that I had recently made. I happen to like this top so I was disappointed to see a few tiny white spots a little while later.  George suggested I paint the shirt, so today—while we were out running errands in the courtesy car—we bought some fabric paint at the dollar store. I painted a swoop of tiny white dots that I hope will look like they belong there.  We are planning to leave here on Wednesday and go to Brunswick, GA. The forecast for the Bahamas area is too uncertain (potential tropical storms) for our tastes so we aren’t even considering going directly there from here.  My shirt with its new design.  Shrimp boats across the creek.  Tonight’s sunset. 

Our day started with a visit to the farmers market where we purchased vegetables and a basket made from cotton clothesline. Next we walked to the Beaufort Historic Site where we purchased tickets for a tour on an authentic double decker bus (built in England in 1967.)  Although the weather was cool and blustery we thoroughly enjoyed the informative tour.  Our bus. It recently had a “new” (old) transmission installed. Nevertheless, whenever the driver had to back up to turn around, he had to turn the engine off and restart it to go in forward again. He did an amazing job driving around the narrow, crowded streets of Beaufort.  Our guide, Fritzy, starting the tour. She was a font of information.  The Old Burying Ground—it is actually a cemetery since it was not limited to just members of the nearby church. There decorated grave is that of the young daughter of a captain Sloos. He had sailed with her to England for a visit and promised his wife he would bring her back. ...

Our plan was to leave Beaufort for Brunswick tomorrow morning but, after checking the forecast this morning, we decided it was better to wait until next week.  George finished the through hull job yesterday by re-connecting the hoses to the through hulls. We used the courtesy car to visit the marine store once again and buy more through hulls. The plan is to eventually replace the remaining above-the-water-line through hulls.  This evening we had dinner at the Black Sheep restaurant with Marla and Tommy, a couple we met here at the marina. After dinner we visited Beaufort’s Day of the Dead celebration. It was interesting and fun. As we entered we saw people in costume and several decorated tables filled with photographs of loved ones who had passed. A large band was playing while some couples danced to the music.  Photos from the Day of the Dead celebration