Repairs and more repairs, August 2015, and September
Warning, this is a long one
We are ready to go again. It is Sunday. We will go up and anchor off of Lautoka tonight. Tomorrow we will take the dingy into town and stock up on groceries and then we are off. We need to get gas first and of course there is someone at the gas dock so we float around waiting our turn and as we do so, Alan realized that the engine is running hot. It has been a little hot ever since the fan belt broke in Waya, but this is really hot. Hot enough that we really should not go without checking it out to find the problem. Darn and double darn. We fill up with gems and it’s back to the slip. And off to the bar for a drink or two. We are jinxed. We are never going to get to Wallis.
Next day, Alan takes a look to see what he can figure out. The water reservoir is milky and smalls funny. The overflow tank is full of black gunk. Luckily there is no water in the oil. No obvious leaks, unfortunately. So it is off to consult with the mechanic. Over the next several days, bit by bit the engine is taken apart and every piece is tested. Of course this is accompanied by much swearing. Bolts break. Bits fall into the bilge. Parts have to come off to get to other parts. Mechanics have other rush jobs and then get sick. And still no obvious cause of the overheating. Alan discovers that he has a brand new water pump and impute packed away so he decides to put them on. He will keep the old ones for spares since they seem to be fine. About day six, we discover that the thermostat is no good. Of course this time there is no spare so now he needs to track one down and have it shipped in from somewhere.
Several days into this, I come down with a dreadful cough and flu and take to the bed for about four days. Seems as good a way as any to spend the time. When I finally have some strength back, I head downtown and spend the day getting a hot stone massage, facial and haircut. Feeling so much better.
Next day i head to town again, this time to see if I can find a new thermostat. I have the old one with me so that I can ask for “one of these” and not have to try to explain. Although it seems like everyone speaks English, when it gets right down to a conversation, it is surprising how often people do not know what it is that I want. As usual, I trekked all over town. Fijian do not like to say no, so everyone sent me to another store which they were sure would have it. Eventually someone told me that there was actually a Perkins dealer, all the way back at the other end of town. When I finally made my way back there, he said that they could order one, but it would come from Singapore and take about 2 weeks. He also said that the old one looked like it was working just fine.
Back at the boat, we decided to put everything back, using the old thermostat and see what happens. Maybe the process of taking everything apart and cleaning it fixed something. everything eventually put back. NOT. Engine started right up and within a few minutes the water in the overflow bottle was bubbling like a tea kettle. We summoned the mechanic again and he said that it is probably the head gasket. Just what everyone else has been saying and Alan did not want to hear. He says that we need to take it all apart again and he will come and take off the head gasket. This time I do it while alan supervises. I love having everything painted different colors. Makes it so much easier to figure out what I am doing. When it is all apart, the mechanic comes and takes the head off. Sure enough, there is rust on the head gasket and several small pits, just enough to allow hot gas to bleed into the exhaust water. The head and the valves are taken off to be polished while we see if we can come up with a new head gasket. We know we have lots of spare gaskets that came with the boat but we have never looked at them to see what is what. Once we did them out we discover 3 all of them rusted. Way back on the passage from Bora Bora to Tonga, we took several big waves that filled the cockpit and splashed right thorough the air vent into the engine room. We have since covered the vent but we are still dealing with the aftermath. We should have ordered the head gasket from the shop in town but another cruiser recommended a place in England called Parts4Engines. They have a huge inventory and great customer service. His parts came in 4 days (to Australia). Should not take that much longer to Fiji, right? So we sent the order and then we waited and waited and waited. Periodically we would get travel updated. Seems our head gasket was taking a world tour; England, Germany, China, Singapore, Australis where it disappeared for several days. Meanwhile we puttered around doing little jobs but not wanting to get involved in anything major in case it suddenly arrives. We are still watching the weather and hoping that we can get to Futuna before cyclone season sets in.
Finally the head gasket arrives, almost 2 weeks later. We rush to the mechanic only to learn that the head and valves which were sent off to be polished are not back. They actually seem quite bemused as to why not. Several phone calls later we are told that they will be on a truck tonight. Don’t know what truck they were on or where it went but it is almost another week before they finally arrive. The mechanic brings every thing to the boat and gets to work, only to discover that one of the bolts is missing. Apparently it was left in Suva (Suva is at the other end of the island, 300 miles away) Eventually, finally, it is done. Alan turns the key and it starts right up. No bubbles inthe water. The temperature gage is normal. We are good!! We just need to put 25 hours on the engine and then come back to have it re-torqued.
25 hours, not too long. Out of the marina and across the bay the long way to Denerau That’s 6 hours. We go in for beer and shrimp. Next day, out sailing around the bay, another 7 hours, half done. Except when we get back we discover way too much water in the bilge. Something is leaking and it is not the hull. Next day, after the engine cools, Alan pokes and looks and cannot find it. Finally We girls take a look, Jacqui from Jean Marie and I. Within minutes I find a hose that does not seem to go anywhere, just an end hanging out. When we trace it back, it turns out to be coming from the anti-syphon valve on the raw water pump. Apparently the valve is either dirty or broken and is no longer anti-syphoning but is just syphoning all of the sea water used to cool the engine right onto the floor under the engine. In the interest of getting Rhapsoody going again, Alan ties it into the cockpit drains where it should drain out the back. We discover the next day, when we again sail around to put more hours on that the drain is not really big enough and instead of just running right out the back it comes up into the cockpit and then runs out. But it should last until we get back to the marina, where it will be one more thing to fix before we can leave.
Finally we have enough hours. We take off for Vuda, across the bay and because we have enough hours, we turn off the engine and sail. After several lovely hours with a brisk wind, we call the marina to tell them we will be coming in and start the engine. Except that the engine won’t start, nothing. We can’t get into the marina without an engine, there are fairly large swells and a good wind. We will need a tow. Back on the radio to the marina who tell us to stand by while they send a boat out for us. There is already another boat on the mooring ball. We cannot drop the anchor because we won’t be able to get it up without the windlass which runs off of the engine. So we heave to to wait and wait and wait. Slowly we drift up the coast past First Landing. Still no one comes to the tow us in. We can see that they have gotten the other boat off of the mooring ball and towed it in. Surely it is our turn. Finally a small boat shows up, not the shore boat that we were expecting but a small pilot boat. After checking out the situation they decide that they need to send a bigger boat, because of the wind and swells. Unfortunately the pilot is in Lautoka having lunch. They will have to call him and wait until he gets here. After some more discussion, Alan decides that we can at least sail back and tie onto the mooring ball, now that it is free. So that is what we do. Alan does a magnificent job of sailing with the jib right to the mooring ball and we tie on to have lunch and wait. After lunch, Alan decides to give it one more try. Lo and behold, it starts right up. So we quickly drop the line and motor in where our old slip is waiting for us.
Next day we got the head re-torqued and had an electrician look at the starter. It got a clean bill of health. Alan and he finally figured out that we neglected to turn off the alternator switch when we turned off the engine and it drained the batteries. Alan also was able to buy a new anti-syphon valve and install it so that is taken care of. Finally, finally 6 weeks later than we planned, we are off to Savusavu and then Futuna. Hope there are no more problems
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