The morning seemed to drag on waiting for the pump to come from the Yanmar dealer. A friend had suggested that we use a magnet to try to pick up metal filings that came out of the pump assembly. We found a magnet and Clark tried using it to no success. He had used an oil-soaked rag, and he thought that probably took care of it before he even tried the magnet.
Clark realized, looking at the parts breakdown manual, that the pump came with no gear assembly. He checked with the dealer, but they did not have the gear and woodruff key nut or washer in stock. He did remember to order the O-ring which was in stock. Finally, at 1:00, a person from the dealership arrived at the marina with the pump, and Clark enthusiastically jumped into the task of pump installation. He decided to try to reuse the old gear, nut, washer, and key. The key was the most questionable and required filing to get it to just fit in the slots.
Unfortunately, when he tried to assemble the old parts and screw the nut on, he discovered that the shaft threads were burred – no nut was going on there! During shipping, the shaft had poked out of the side of the box and become damaged. He called the dealer who said they would take back this pump and order us another one and, this time, ordered a new gear, nut, washer and woodruff key.
Time, once again, to sit back and wait!
Since I now had time to focus on the task, I went online to do my Christmas shopping. I did it all in one session. While I was spending money for gifts, Clark warned me to leave enough money to pay for the boat repairs. After I finished my shopping, I decided to pull out my art supplies and create some handmade cards for my grandchildren. Every time I talk to Lily, she asks me for a particular picture for her next card. Since I have a hard time coming up with ideas, I greatly appreciate her input.
While I was happily entertaining myself, Clark seemed at a loss given he had planned on an afternoon of pump repair. I suggested he pull out his guitar. He did exercises, finished processing some mail sorting and finished up stuffing and mailing holiday cards. After that he pulled the guitar out and that kept him occupied until dinner.
Maintenance run to test repair work on port engine
I had one job on my to-do list that I had been putting off. Since I had time, I decided to tackle that job. Our fridge on the boat was driving me crazy by being so poorly organized things practically fell out as I tried to get to what I needed. Well, my “big” project took at most 2 minutes to complete. After that I was completely at a loss as to how to “entertain” myself.
Finally, at 12:30, we got the phone call we had been waiting for – the replacement pump was on its way to the marina! While the dealer was there, and before bringing it back to the boat, Clark checked out the pump to be sure he could get the nut on the shaft. Success! By 1:00 we were back on the boat with pump in hand excited to get back to work.
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| Brand new, shiny pump |
When Clark requested the replacement pump, he ordered the gear assembly. Unfortunately, the Yanmar dealer said that the gear itself was out-of-stock. We did get the key which was the truly important replacement part. Tired of doing nothing all morning, I joined Clark in the engine room to assist and very quickly found myself put to work.
Clark started the reassembly by applying “lapping compound” to the shaft. I did a Google search on that one. The compound is an abrasive substance used to polish the metal surfaces. After polishing, Clark used Q-tips to remove the compound. Once that was done, Clark added the gear assembly to the shaft and marked it. Then he removed the gear and inserted the key and reinstalled the gear and verified that it went all the way up to the mark.
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| Adding the gear to the pump |
Next came the hard part of the process that Clark had been dreading. We had to use a torque wrench to tighten the nut to around 55-foot pounds of torque. This took both of us and a lot of ingenuity. By the time we were done, we had a vice, vice grips, a wooden wedge to keep the shaft from turning, and wooden blocks to keep the pump from getting damaged while being held in the vice. While Clark held the pump in place, I used the torque wrench. It took at least four times of the pump not cooperating before we finally managed to get to the specified torque limit.
Time to put the pump back in place.
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| Pump goes in here! |
When Clark inserted the fully assembled pump into the designated space in the engine, he suddenly said, “Oh no!” I wondered what had happened. It seems that Murphy’s Law was working overtime! While working with yesterday’s new pump, Clark had prepped it for installation. The brand new O-ring that he needed for the pump installation was still on yesterday’s pump that was now back at the dealers. Dang!
Clark practically flew up the steps to his phone to call Trish at the dealership. He and Trish are old friends now and on a first-name basis! He did not want his new O-ring being sent back to Yanmar with the pump. Fortunately, Trish agreed to take yet another trip to the marina to bring us back our O-ring. Whew! We had ground to a halt for about 30 or 40 minutes, but with O-ring back in hand we were back in business. God Bless Trish for dropping everything and bringing it over right away!
After getting the pump re-installed, Clark connected everything so we could do a test run of the engine. He left one hose disconnected so he could check for water flow through the pump. Practically holding my breath and with fingers crossed, I started the port engine. He gave me updates through our headset connection – “nothing yet”, “Okay, a trickle”, “Great – good, no really good waterflow. Shut it down.” Success!
It was now 3:45 and daylight was getting away from us rapidly. Clark reconnected the hose. We started the port engine and let it run for a while watching the oil pressure and the engine temp gauges carefully. As I watched the gauges, Clark inspected the area around the engine. The gauges read favorably, and no liquids sprayed around the engine room. Time for a real test run.
With the port already running, we started the starboard engine and took the boat out for a test run on the open water. We were halfway out the channel to the inlet when the boat started seriously shaking. Clark ran down to the engine room and found the starboard (good) engine shaking. He was thinking something was wrapped on the prop when he spied the handle on the fuel filter had accidentally been knocked to the off position. He flipped it back on and within a few seconds, the RPM picked up and the engine smoothed out. That's a good thing since bleeding the engine would have been a pain and there is a lot of current in St Augustine inlet.
With that problem resolved, I drove while Clark looked for problems or leaks related to the port engine. He had the engine room camera on, so I could watch him moving around. He did find a problem of antifreeze leakage associated with the hose we installed to replace the one with the hole burned into it. We returned to the marina at 5:00 declaring our test run mostly successful. Clark fixed the leak around the connection points on the hose to the antifreeze overflow tank by tightening the hose clamps and installing a second clamp.
Now that we had a new pump in place that appeared to be successfully deployed, it was time to change the oil and filters. First step, drain out all the old oil. Fortunately, Clark had a collection of old, empty oil containers to hold the used oil. It is always a messy job, so there was a lot of cleanup associated with this job.
Last, he reinstalled the pully guards on the front of the engine. He had been concerned about getting clothes caught in the pullies and getting sucked into the moving machinery when he was installing the hose clamps. Having seen no antifreeze leaks from the closed circuit water pump on this short run, he was hopeful that the pump would not leak like a sieve when we set out tomorrow.
Since we do hope to leave here tomorrow, Clark checked the holding tank and water tank gauges. The holding tank needs to be emptied and the water tank needed to be filled. He filled the water tank and poured several gallons of oil into the port engine tonight. The holding tank will have to be addressed in the morning before we continue on our way.
We have enjoyed having electric for the boat, so we could have heat during the past few, very cold days. However, we are beyond ready to get going again.
Clark anticipates further work associated with this repair -- remove and paint the pump, change the oil again after we have a few hours on the engine to check for metal filings and antifreeze in the oil, replace the ill-fitting hose attached to the antifreeze overflow tank, take a look at the starboard engine pump, ... the list goes on and on! For now, though, we put those jobs on hold as we head out tomorrow to continue in a southerly direction!
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