I'd got a couple of free days on board with the aim of dealing with the essential maintenance tasks ahead of the winter
The first job was a minor rearrangement of the plumbing system to give us the facility of flushing the heads with fresh water. The smaller aft water tank has been dedicated to this purpose and will also deliver a temporary cooling water feed to the engine. This enables the engine to be run on the mud berth and the fresh water flush avoids picking up the silty water that tends to make a mess of the loo even when the tide is in and it can be used. We still can't use the loo when the tide is out though
The major task was the annual / 250 hour engine service. The oil and filter change went without a hitch and then I pulled the heat exchanger tube stack to examine it.
As I half expected it was more than a little choked up with crud and even some weed that had escaped the clutches of the water filter
Off I popped to the DIY store to pick up five litres of brick cleaner acid, a sovereign remedy for cleaning tube stacks and into the rubber bucket went the stack and half the acid.
Much bubbling ensued for the next hour or two with an occasional stirring of the pot to keep things going. The received wisdom is to leave it to soak overnight but it wasn't necessary as the stack came up good as new after less than three hours
With the now pristine tube stack reinstalled and the alternator belt re-tensioned, the job was done and it remained only to test run the engine utilising the fresh water feed to the seawater system for cooling
The engine ran perfectly once I got it started however the engine start battery is clearly on its last legs as I had to cross-link the domestics in to fire up the engine.
Happily there were no leaks and everything was just as it should be.
Unhappily, the Sterling battery charger took umbrage at the batteries being cross-linked as I'd stupidly forgotten to turn it off before starting the engine. Even so, it shouldn't have gone phut but it did.
So that means a new battery charger and a new engine battery. Expenses we could do without as matters are moving on apace and we now expect to be looking for a new home for Erbas within a matter of months.
Hey ho!
The first job was a minor rearrangement of the plumbing system to give us the facility of flushing the heads with fresh water. The smaller aft water tank has been dedicated to this purpose and will also deliver a temporary cooling water feed to the engine. This enables the engine to be run on the mud berth and the fresh water flush avoids picking up the silty water that tends to make a mess of the loo even when the tide is in and it can be used. We still can't use the loo when the tide is out though
The major task was the annual / 250 hour engine service. The oil and filter change went without a hitch and then I pulled the heat exchanger tube stack to examine it.As I half expected it was more than a little choked up with crud and even some weed that had escaped the clutches of the water filter
Off I popped to the DIY store to pick up five litres of brick cleaner acid, a sovereign remedy for cleaning tube stacks and into the rubber bucket went the stack and half the acid.Much bubbling ensued for the next hour or two with an occasional stirring of the pot to keep things going. The received wisdom is to leave it to soak overnight but it wasn't necessary as the stack came up good as new after less than three hours
With the now pristine tube stack reinstalled and the alternator belt re-tensioned, the job was done and it remained only to test run the engine utilising the fresh water feed to the seawater system for coolingThe engine ran perfectly once I got it started however the engine start battery is clearly on its last legs as I had to cross-link the domestics in to fire up the engine.
Happily there were no leaks and everything was just as it should be.
Unhappily, the Sterling battery charger took umbrage at the batteries being cross-linked as I'd stupidly forgotten to turn it off before starting the engine. Even so, it shouldn't have gone phut but it did.
So that means a new battery charger and a new engine battery. Expenses we could do without as matters are moving on apace and we now expect to be looking for a new home for Erbas within a matter of months.
Hey ho!
Possibly just an overload fuse tha is blown ?
ReplyDeleteSadly not, it's got a dead short now on the 240v side of things. It might be repairable though so I'll have it to bits before shelling out on a replacement (I'm not keen on splashing out well over £200 on a suitably sized charger at this stage of the game)
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