Starting our Journey Second Time -- June 27 - 28
Our first attempt at leaving on our cruise was cut short when the engine overheated and we returned to Tidewater Yacht Service Center (TYSC) on June 12. We were waiting for service on what we thought would be the engine thermostat. Since the wait involved many days, we returned to our home to wait it out and unloaded the refrigerator and freezer.The mechanic ordered the first thermostat and we had a week of waiting. Turned out that one was the wrong one for our engine. What was really disturbing is that we did not even have a thermostat installed! We wondered if the previous owner had removed it to hide overheating problems before selling the boat. The second one (another week of waiting) finally arrived. But it wasn't that simple because it didn't fit either. Finally it was discovered that this engine model has two possible places where a thermostat could be installed. The mechanic found the actual thermostat installation in our engine and replaced it. The old one was bad so it was good it was replaced.
Engine thermostat being replaced
Monday June 26, 2017
When Jeff arrived at the marina he was wondering if this week the work might get started. He was surprised that the mechanic had worked on Saturday and installed the new thermostat. Today we could take Aisling on a sea trial. With the mechanic on board, Jeff motored almost to the Key Bridge at 3000 RPM. That was almost an hour. Unexpectedly, toward the end of the sea trial, the engine temperature started to rise. That was a bad omen, but we let it go without addressing it as an issue.
Since the successful sea trial, our departure date is finally upon us. We jumped into high gear getting stuff ready to depart -- the dogs gear -- the freezer goods -- the refrigerator goods -- clothes -- stuff we have taken off -- sewing projects.
After working all day, we decide to sleep home rather than on the boat. Sleeping on the boat would enable an early morning takeoff, but we just couldn't do it. We hadn't placed our gear on the boat yet, but we could do that in the morning
We begin our big cruise (for the second time) leaving the dock at Noon. The weather was great -- light winds from the West. We were running at a fast cruising RPM of 3000 -- hopefully with no worries of overheating. However, within one hour we are disappointed that our engine temperature is 225. This is very disappointing since we know the temperature should be around 200 in this engine. But having had a successful sea trial the day before, we rationalized "This engine must be a hot running engine -- this is probably normal for us" Watching the temperature carefully, it came down to 223 -- we were going 8.1 knots. Satisfied, we kept going at fast cruising speed.
Passing under the Key Bridge, outbound
At 5:00 PM we stopped at Bohemia Bay Yacht Harbor for fuel. It was nice to re-visit where we had been on our first time starting of the journey. While we were fueling a Ranger Tug R-27 came in for fuel -- "Gratitude" with Paul and Kat. They and another boater were asking us about our plans and we described our America's Great Loop journey and that we were on Day 1 of the journey. We gave them the 10 second tour of Aisling and talked for about an hour.At 6:30 PM we departed Bohemia River. We were somewhat concerned about engine temperature and also wanting to save on fuel, so we ran the engine at medium cruising 2660 RPM. Temperature was 224 -- too hot but we had been running hot all day.
At 7:20 PM we were in the C&D Canal and only a few minutes from our planned overnight dockage at Chesapeake City. Suddenly the Engine Alarm sounded! That indicates a temperature of 230! We could no longer rationalize that our engine was OK running at high temperature. Our engine was definitely in trouble!
Slowing to idle, we kept going while waiting for the temperature to drop, which it did. By 7:25 we were able to cruise slowly at 1800 RPM and maintain the engine temperature at around 202.
When we docked at the Chesapeake City Town Docks, we met a couple who were in the boat docked next to us. They were from Cape May which would be our next leg of the journey. We learned from them that they planned to leave as early as possible in the morning to avoid heading into the afternoon breezes coming from the Atlantic Ocean which blow directly against your course.
We had a nice dinner of steak and rice. We cooked the steak inside rather than getting our grill into service.
Town dock at Chesapeake City
Wednesday June 28, 2017
At first light, the cruisers around us were departing to go down the Delaware River to Cape May. We didn't hurry ourselves and had a nice breakfast as usual. Jeff checked the oil and was surprised that it did not register on the dip stick! Just two days before, at the sea trial, it had been fine. One and a third quarts were added to bring the level to the top mark on the dip stick.
Jeff checked the coolant level. First he checked the coolant overflow tank -- all was fine and there was no oil residue there. Second he checked the engine coolant cap -- everything fine there. Unexpectedly -- it was low on coolant. Jeff added about three quarts of coolant to bring it to the required level.
At 9:40 we left the dock. At first we limited our speed to medium cruising at 2600 RPM. We watched the temperature carefully and it was steady at 194.
Southbound in the Elk River
At Noon we increased our speed to fast cruising at 3000 RPM and watched the temperature carefully. It was steady at 199. Thankfully our engine was running at the temperature it should be running. We are confident that overheating will not be an issue as long as we have the proper level of coolant in the engine.
We reached our marina by 5:00 PM and tied up at the space we had left two days before. We are back waiting for service. But since the engine is not overheating, we wonder why we didn't just go on to the Delaware River because by now we would be in Cape May, NJ. But we didn't know that our engine was going to run so cool today. It had given an alarm the day before. We will have the engine looked at just to be sure. At that time we did not know that the engine actually did have a major problem as we would discover the next morning.
Thursday June 29, 2017
At 7:00 AM, after the engine had cooled all night, Jeff checked the oil level. It was down to midway between the marks. Having topped it off the day before, we thought it unusual that we had lost some oil. Jeff then checked the coolant level starting with the coolant overflow tank. The translucent tank which is normally pink (like the coolant fluid) was appearing BLACK (like engine oil). A paper towel dipped into the overflow tank, came out coated with black engine oil.
Engine oil is in the coolant recovery tank
So now we are waiting again to repair our engine. This time we are not really worried about overheating -- that seems under control. We are worried that there is a leak of oil into the coolant. There are three possible explanations for the problem -- leak in the oil cooler assembly -- leak in a head gasket -- crack in the engine somewhere. We realize that this is going to delay our trip significantly -- probably at least two weeks. July 4th holiday is next week -- the marina will be shut down most of next week since they will not operate at all on Monday as well as Tuesday, July 4, Independence Day.
Waiting for the engine repairs
So we must be patient and wait. We moved our gear off the boat and started living back at our home. At least we were not stuck in a far-away port.
