| Last updated 10/10/08 |
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Finally Time to Repower!
In April, we decided to do a sea trial to the Keys, prior to heading to New England again this year. Since our Keys trip in 2007 where the engine had some issues with leaking heat exchangers, I replaced a lot of the engine plumbing, but not before the oil cooler failed and dumped all the oil into the exhaust stream (and water into the engine of course). We were confident though, that things were fixed and had logged about 15 hours on the engine since the repairs.
After a pleasant 12 hour motorsail to Miami, we turned into the inlet and experienced a major RPM drop on starting the refrigeration compressor. Debug in the anchorage told me we had lost compression in one cylinder - the one that was still a little low after the valve job. If we could coax the boat up speed at 2500 rpm it was fine, but below that it developed little power.
Waiting about a week for a favorable wind to sail home, we limped back and made it to our dock after much anxiety. Just in case we signed up for BoatUS unlimited towing plan, but luckily did not need it.
Anyway, to make a long story short - we are in the process of installing a new Westerbeke 44B and have recently hauled out for the swap. Since the new V-drive has a different down angle than the Volvo, I am having to modify the beds. Also we will be doing new exhaust and muffler, engine panel, and lots of other stuff like hoses and wiring, and the Maxprop will be changed in both pitch and direction of rotation. The project will be documented here on the website, and we hope to be out of the yard in another couple of weeks with a new engine, ready to put everything back together again.
Check out the engine photos here