The boat got hauled out of the water this morning. Two guys came out in a panga to pick me up and pull me in. The guy that came aboard with me acted as if he had never been on a boat before. It was actually pretty funny watching him take pictures and wave to all his friends.
(Cost to haul out in San Carlos, Mexico $348 USD: panga service $25, hydraulic trailer $217, power wash $58, work yard 2 days $15, trailer move to storage yard $33. Plus dry storage fees for August 8/7-31 $146.)
All right, so I decided not to follow the advice of simply replacing the engine—which may be a mistake because it really would have been nice to just take the old one out today and put a new one in—but instead went about getting the water out of it and preparing it for leaving for a little while.
Big thanks to Dean, with comment number thirteen answering my question perfectly, and even going so far as to answer a few e-mails throughout the day.
I could go on and on about the steps I took, but basically it came down to cleaning and filling the engine with diesel. I would have never thought of this. Then after removing the fuel injectors (something I’ve never previously done) I got ready for the scariest step. I’d been assured the engine wouldn’t start with the injectors off, and I had to believe him. I clinched my butt and turned the key. The engine cranked and cranked, moving the diesel through the system and removing the last of the water, but didn’t start. Which considering the boat is in a parking lot up on jack stands is probably a good thing.
The whole point of this little project was to keep the engine from rusting while I’m away, and I feel confident that that has been accomplished.
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There are roughly one million steps involved to preparing a boat for summer storage. It’s something we’ve seen cruising couples take weeks to do, but today I did it in one. And I am basically ready to die, because of this:
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So today my wife got on an airplane to Mexico with a nearly two and a three year-old to move into a house that she’s never seen before. When I told Ali she was awesome and commented that I have never met another woman who would even consider doing something like that she seemed completely nonplussed. She doesn’t even think things like this are out of the ordinary any longer.
19 Comments on “Out of the Water”
Bumfuzzle has wonderful lines! And the pictures of you sailing along before all the madness started were great.
Go Ali. I’ve been doing what she’s doing my whole life, following my dear, sweet husband all over the world to sometimes scary, awful places, but more often then not on wonderful adventures to awesome, beautiful places. We did, however, do most of it not on a boat, but they were adventures nonetheless. Women rock!!!
Hi you guys. Wow! Bumfuzzle has proven herself in a pretty nasty blow. And the Captain, well , I’m kinda biased on that issue, but once again you figured things out and made it to port.
I am no diesel mechanic, or I would offer to come down and rebuild that sucker. I guess like any gas engine, I would get it apart after some R&R and cooler days, and see what is going on in there.
Maybe one or two of the many Bum friends, would be willing at some point, to take a little trip to Mexico and help out?
It sounds like a helluva adventure and a great story. I would be willing to pass tools, eat tacos, and watch the fun.
I would need to have that chiller working, but I am sure Ali has “reminded” you of that already. 😉
Time and time again you guys have proven yourselves to be strong and resourceful. The word luck has popped up many times over the years, in the forums etc. With the many parts on boats, vans,cars, an even people, that can mess up, ” luck” seems to me to always be in the mix. Thing is, when you are in Wisconsin, and your Jeep does not start in February, folks all over the world ain’t reading about it and telling you you shoulda, woulda, coulda. When you are out with your family having amazing adventures, and laying it out there for folks to read, well you know.
You will do whatever you decide as a family, and it will be just right. OK! So who out there is ready for a little Mexican adventure, to get this motor fixed?
Love you guys,
Magic
You do indeed have one awesome wife and two precious children. See all you nay sayers out there Pat has this great family that loves him and shares in this dream. Time for a bit of R/R with the family…Enjoy the moments!
I have only been following your blog for about 8 months…found it through a link from a tiny house website. I must admit I know nothing about sailing and have never been on a sailboat but have enjoyed every blog entry. I actually can’t believe I read all the mechanical stuff but I do. Love your photography. How cool to pet a pelican and get a picture of it while sailing alone. 🙂 Thanks for being candid and real it has been a pleasure to get to know you and your wonderful family.
Have a great day!
Susan
Hi Ali,
Since you decided not to change the engine, three things you cna do are:
1 – Adjust the intake and exhaust valves lash.
2 – Measure the cilinder compression to certify the engine is still ok.
3 – Measure the fuel pump pressure and have it serviced.
I’m sure you will find way more things to check !
R
I wondered why your blog didn’t allow comments until you added the function a while back. I now understand. The engine post comments were F***ing exhausting to read through. It’s like the internet has emptied all of its incoherent, borderline senile givers of opinion into your inbox, and they’ve conspired to adopt hive-mind anti-logic. I’m glad to hear that at least some were actually helpful instead of just blindly recommending a new engine, ya know, “To save trouble”. Those people obviously have not the faintest idea of the amount of work that an engine replacement would entail, to say nothing of the cost. One guy even called you Ali? WTF, internet? Or maybe I’m just grumpy?
Obviously this post represent the absurd arrogance of the current generation were people assume that know you and understand why you are posting something whithout even knowing who you are, what is your experience on the subject, etc.
It’s enough to say that I’m a mechanical engineer that has being working on a company PRODUCING Diesel engines for the past 15 years.
You are right on the Ali thing and I appologise PAT for that.
Ricardo
I am sorry Ricardo, Pat/Ali, and the rest of the blog followers who had to read my comment. I was having a terrible morning when I posted that, which is no excuse for polluting an otherwise positive environment with a vitriolic comment. I regretted it immediately after hitting enter. I spread some of my bad juju to the rest of the world that morning, which is terrible and not OK. It wasn’t aimed at you Ricardo, I’m sorry- I’d delete it if I could!!
I am sending Bumfuzzle a little bit of on the hard mojo. Here’s hoping everything goes perfectly with the engine repair, the fridge, every little item on your to do list.
I hope you get to enjoy your kids, your fabulous wife, a cold beer and some ac very, very soon.
Enjoyed seeing the Coke bottle in there. Mexican Coca-cola is a much-beloved beverage here in Brooklyn (real sugar).
Enjoy Mazatlan swimming pools and hopefully a little air conditioning. You can get back to that greasy engine compartment after some quality R&R.
Glad you were able to get it completed. The bottom actually looks pretty decent in the pics. Can you still get anti fouling paint that works there? The crap sold it the states quit working years ago.
So glad you’re OK. What a resourceful guy–to say nothing about Ali! So sorry that you had to endure that horrendous trip and all the mechanical problems. However, after following you and the family for years, I know that it will all work out in the end. Enjoy the time with Ali, Ouest, and Lowe. R & R is good and well deserved. Will look forward to seeing more pics of the kids–less of the engine. You must feel the same, I’m sure. Luv, Lorraine
Pat, enjoy the rest and the time with Ali and the kids. So much enjoy hearing from you via these posts no matter where u may be or what is on the agenda. Another poster mentioned how real you keep it and I could not agree more. It is your honest and humble candor as much as your adventures and hiccups along the way that keep a lot of us waiting for the next thread. Thanks for sharing a little bit of your world with us.
Mark
Hi Pat / Ali and the kids
Having followed your blog from when you first decided to get on a boat [what was the name of the restraint / pub when that happened ] there has been more times that you have sent blogs that spell out the good times than the times that were not so good.
They have all been enjoyable blogs and it would be easy to not send the not so good ones and just paint a rosy picture.
For all the knockers out there the repairs that have been required over the years have been no more than that of other boat blogs that I have read and still reading.
How many are in their armchairs?.
There are times when things tested you [ how about the time coming in the bar on the sunshine coast QLD ].
Have a rest,keep going and get over this hurdle as you have done in the past [ the kids want to be in there home on the boat ].
The idea of living in a unit sucks as you cannot leave when a next door neighbour decides to complain about your kids behaviour or decide to have all night parties.
Keep the photos and blogs coming and we will see you when you get down south.
Regards
Bruce and Carole
A mermaid article for Quest.
http://www.unbelievable-facts.com/2013/04/a-mermaids-tail-real-life-mermaid-who.html
Hey guys! Long time since talking, but, do not listen to these wantabe sailor vagabonds. I have actually owned a ford lehman in one of my backhoes and it had over 15,000 hrs on it and still ran great when I sold it. They are finickiy though, as I did have terrible problems with both oil leaks and oil consuumption. Just pull the head and it will tell you right away where your problem is. If you don’t see anything wrong with the gasket, you might have a cracked block, or a cracked head. Hopefully that is not the case,(pun). Also, I bought a skid loader, (TOYOTA), direct from japan and put over 20,000 hrs on it before I sold it. that was one of the best engineered engines I have ever seen. I hope this doesn’t put a styme on your adventure and keep writing like Jack London!! Stewart
Postpone everything for a year, and I will come down and be your “boat slave”, and you can teach me how to trade.. deal?
I think you are a little too big to be our boat slave. But shoot me an e-mail and let me know how the trading is going.