Hi All
We are getting our bearings in Sri Lanka. I have been addressing boat fuel issues and this morning I changed out the engine saltwater pump and realized I had the incorrect rebuild kit for the old oil leaking one which is made different from the one I replaced it with and had bought the kit for. Marlin, the “go to man” outside the gate has the old one along with one of my engine fuel filters to see if he can find replacements for me.
I have been polishing (filtering) the 400 gallons of fuel in the main tank since we arrived and have drained at least one gallon of sludge out of the filter housing. I’ll bet I’ll make it a point to never leave port without making sure we have clean fuel.
Last night there was more drama as we attempted to start the gen-set. It would run for a little while and then cut off. Knowing I had fuel issues I changed the Racor and the engine filter but it still would run for a few minutes and then cut off. I noticed the oil pressure gauge needle and the temperature gauge needle were flickering back and forth in time with each other. I had not noticed this before.
I decided it was the auto shut off stopping the engine. I sent off an email to Barb at Hatton Marine in Seattle where I had bought spares for the gen-set and main engine describing what was happening. At 1:00 AM I got up to check my email and she said the problem is easy to fix. Find a 10mm bolt on the side of the gen-set with wires going to it and tighten it up. I couldn’t believe it could be that simple but when I did fine the bolt it was extremely loose and the wires were ground wires. I tightened it and the gen-set ran perfectly.
We are attached to a very flimsy plastic dock. It is the equivalent of tying the reins of a horse to a horseshoe. I’m afraid Dora Mac is going to wonder off like the horse would invariably do. If we can get moved to a concrete pier when some of the boats leave we may leave Dora Mac for some inland traveling. Just because we did not plan to stop here does not mean we cannot enjoy some of the sights.