In order to provide some motivation to keep our boat instead of placing it on the current sellers market, I joined two Facebook groups, and you might have found this post by being a member of one of those groups.
I'm encouraged by many of the nice comments in regard to the pictures I always like to post to accompany any post. I feel like a picture draws a reader into the story if the total alone doesn't do it.
It would be a great stretch of the imagination for anyone to think that this photo would encourage anyone to to anything except run like hell, but our small engine room housing two Caterpillar 3116's, a Westerbeke 8KW generator, two fuel tanks, one water tank, a bunch of batteries, a holding tank, and all of the other stuff that goes along with it to make it all operate has been the impetus for many of my stories. If you stay until the end, you may enjoy the reward.
But first, the subject at hand is advice. On both Facebook groups I belong to, many members will ask the advice of other members in regard to mechanical issues that they might be experiencing. I'm finding this highly entertaining.
If it's not the first time I have admitted this, let me state here again that I am not a mechanic. I don't pretend to be a mechanic, nor do I play one of T.V. But, boy I've sure had a lot of experiencing trying to fix stuff that break on Swing Set. That's where you'll find the search engine on this blog to be helpful, in terms of how to fix stuff, or also in terms of what NOT to do. Both methods have their value.
Entering the engine room of our boat is similar to stepping down into a viper pit. I don't want to do it, but ya do what ya gotta do. As if our dog Holly somehow found herself stuck in a viper pit somewhere, someone has to go in there to rescue her, and if Crocodile Dundee isn't readily available, be assured that I'll jump in. This is sort of how I view most repair issues on the boat, although if it's standard stuff, I'll get in there more readily, like if the vipers were asleep and I can get in and out in quick order.
Anyway, what I have never done in this age of social media, is ask anyone on a Facebook page on how to fix anything, and I've been at this blog thing for a long time.
I understand it if a neophyte will ask a question to complete strangers, and by neophyte, I mean someone who barely has an understanding of where the wheel and throttle are, let alone the rest of the components that make the boat go.
But folks, if a guy asks why his "bilge" isn't working, you have to consider what you tell him, or her. If someone says their boat is acting like it's "starving for fuel", you give him the easiest answer possible, you don't have him rebuilding carburetors and adjusting timing. That guy needs a mechanic.
What I'll never do is disagree with someone else's mechanical advice that is given to someone else, even if it is in opposition to an answer I've given already. The 27 different opinions that an author will receive in answer to a simple question will all be sat aside as evidence under the label "stuff to check next time this happens".
I've been places, The Bahamas for one, where finding a mechanic was a story in itself, and I have some doozies, so I've fixes some things that otherwise I wouldn't have attempted. But listen, you might be trying to save a buck by asking complete strangers on a social media site on how to fix what ails your boat, but if you don't understand most of the answers, get a professional to your boat ASAP, and try to be there when the work is done. You'll be paying for the expertise and you might just pick up some knowledge for yourself.
The photo I posted at the top of this blog was taken just after I painted the floor of the engine room, and I mean only the areas I could reach easily. The rest you can't see anyway. Why I wound up painting the floor of the engine room in the first place was because a couple of years ago a part fell off of our fairly new generator which was installed in late 2013. I called Pitman Yacht services, the local yard we had used for a haul out when we first arrived here in the Clearwater area. They told me to call their mobil mechanic, Alan Pitman himself, who agreed to meet me a a marine nearby where he was currently working on a boat.
We arrived at the marina and Alan came down to our boat, and all the pride in ownership that I had in what I thought was a shipshape vessel evaporated when Alan not only told me the part in question not only had fallen off due to rust, he began to point out various other things that I had been overlooking in regard to the basic care of Swing Set. I was mortified.
We set up a date for him to come to our marina to replace the part that had to be ordered, but I was intent on getting all of the things he pointed out back in order before he came back. One big item was the fact that the handle for the cockpit hatch into our engine room was the source of water entering the engine room and dripping on the generator where rust was thriving. So I made a shield out of isinglass that covers the front of the generator that roles up easily for quick oil checks, but I could see through to note the information of the generator control panel. The isinglass doesn't touch the generator, so melting is not an issue. I also replaced the soundproofing on the undersides of not only the cockpit hatch, but also the main hatches in the salon. I scrubbed all the areas I could reach, scoured the bilges, and I installed oil socks under each engine and oil pads under the shaft seals so I could detect how much water was leaking through those "dripless" shaft seals.
I touched up a lot of white paint on the Cats, and some red paint on the Westerbeke, and I sanded some areas on the inside of the hull where paint was flaking, and otherwise prepared the inside of the hull for some epoxy paint where I could reach.
It was a bright sunny day when I decided to paint the floor of the engine room. I decided to use a small roller, and also a small brush for where the roller couldn't reach and I got to work. I had put the paint in a small tray and kept refilling the tray as needed, placing the can aside in a place where it couldn't be tipped over if I bumped it.
Do you see the train coming?
As I painted, and this I will state unequivocally, the fumes from the epoxy paint clouded my judgement, and I reached for the paint and gave it a quick shake before dumping some of it into the tray.
The train is now about to run me over.
Of course the lid flew off and gray epoxy paint coated the whole front of my near naked body, as I only had on a pair of gym shorts, and what didn't go on my chest and shorts, wound up inside my shorts, over EVERYTHING.
The timeline here gets fuzzy, but epoxy paint burns like hell. I found myself out on the boat dock hollering for Rosie to bring me the acetone, the paint thinner, and the turpentine. They all burn too. I peeled off the shorts immediately, not too concerned that it was in the middle of the day and other boat owners were present, arriving to their boats with wife and kiddies in tow for some wholesome fun.
I'm not sure how long it took to remove enough paint to begin scrubbing down with the hose and enough Dawn dishwashing liquid to do the job, but it took days for Rosie to completely remove all of the paint from every nook and cranny of my body, and I've got a few nooks and crannies.
I will say that the floor of the engine room looks pretty nice.
Not sure what to think of the fact that I was naked on a public dock for at least an hour and no one complained. If you think about it, no one is too upset when mosquitoes fly around naked all the time and no one says a word about that fact that they're not even wearing gym shorts.
