Motor Work

 2/22- Vero Beach 

    Yesterday I sent Alayne off the boat and I gave Mr Perkins some love. I have been trying to maintain a schedule for maintenance on the motor and while I was a little early this was a good place for some attention. I have been changing the oil every 100 hours on this trip. Usually back in Maine I would change it every fall before putting the boat away for the winter. That would mean changing it every 40 to 70 hours. So 100 hours seemed like a good interval. The motor was at 80 hours when we got here so I figured what the hell and I can get the supplies much easier here. 

    Along with that are several other maintenance issues such as the fuel filters. These are pretty critical and so I will change the secondary filter soon. I usually change these every other season so they can go 200-300 hours. I also filter all the fuel before it goes into my tank in the hope of keeping any impurities and water out. 

    Then there is the impeller which pumps the water through the motors heat exchanger. This is a rubber vaned object that spins inside of a pump body. I had put a new one in a while ago just to be safe. When I went to check this one the very first vane I checked ripped right off  so I installed a new one. 

    I did a few more checks but it felt good to get this done and so we should be good for at least another 100 hours which would put us somewhere in North Carolina. It would be nicer if we could get more sailing in but it just isn’t possible. I now have a power boat with auxiliary sails.

    We are getting some projects done for when we start to head back north again. It is much easier to do them here where we have access to mail and supplies. I also made some running lights for the dinghy as we have been doing some night time dinghying. 

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