Saturday, June 7, 2014 Dinner Key, FL I am a man on a mission. After breakfast, I wrestled with my soul deep reticence to work on the engine and picked up a flat head screwdriver. I’ve found, all too often, that my ineptitude in relation to machines is similar to congresses’ negligible ability do what we sent them to Washington to do; govern. Girding my loins, I removed the engine room doors, fastened a light to my head and putting a cushion on the deck in the passageway to ease the physical discomfort I normally experience when kneeling, I switched on the head lamp. I attacked the stainless steel hose clamps that held the rubber boot that joined the water lines that connected the raw water pump to the heat exchanger. Right away my back muscles began to tremble due to the awkward position I’d put myself in. Resting one elbow on the top of the engine I aligned the screwdriver with the clamp’s screw slot. My Parkinson ’s disease kicked in and my right hand started shaking violently. Worried that I’d drop the tool into the bilge I tightened my grip which made thing worse. Can you spell exacerbate? I was beginning to think that I’d rather French kiss an alligator than work on the engine. I persisted, however and with liberal application of salty imprecations and pig like grunts, I persisted until the dang thing was removed. Extracting my old body from the engine space I went in search for the 1/8 inch welding rods I’d purchased to ream out the heat exchanger tubes. Stretching my back some and taking a long drink of cold water I returned to the fray. Right away I found that the room between the heat exchanger and the forward engine room bulkhead would not allow me to do what I planned. Cutting the rod wouldn’t work because then it wouldn’t be long enough to poke all the way through the tubes. Well, there was always the other end of the heat exchanger so laying the rod aside I took up the screwdriver and attacked the hose clamps that held the rear rubber boot in place. Naturally, these were harder to get to. With more shaking and trembling accompanied with language not fit for polite society, I sailored on. Finally the boot came loose. I pushed the welding rod carefully into each of the holes, but didn’t encounter the resistance I expected. I had thought that my overheating problem might be caused by a build up of mineral deposits in the heat exchanger tubes. Apparently not. Inasmuch as I couldn’t remove the whole heat exchanger unit from the engine, at least I didn’t think it would be wise for me to attempt what I thought would be a major overhaul effort taking my miniscule mechanical skills into consideration, I started to put everything back together. Using dish soap to lubricate the boot and metal fitting, I slid it back in place and tightened the hose clamps. Then I started work on the other boot, but found that the tubes were sticking out too far forward. Pushing didn’t help, so I had to remove the aft boot and adjust the tubes so that they were evenly centered in the heat exchanger. By now I was shaking like a dog shitting barbed wire turds. Of course, when this happens to me I get tickled and start laughing like a deranged mental case. Vibrating and laughing I persevered and got everything put back together. I went topside and started the engine and went back below to see that everything was water tight and running as it should. I had hoped that reaming out the tubes would alleviate the overheating problem, and as this was my last known possibility to getting it fixed I was left without recourse. I’ve gone through three mechanics, a couple of thousand bucks, several major pucker factor moments, and a fair share of physical discomfort, all to no avail. Well, at least the main engine, read sails, still works, so I’ll just use the engine for docking and time my ship’s movements according to favorable tides and weather. Flopping down to rest I figured I catch the shuttle boat into shore and do my laundry and make a grocery store run for lunch, some fruit and a loaf of bread. Hailing the marina on the radio I requested a pickup. I had about 15 minutes to gather up my dirty clothes, strip the sheets off of my bunk, and collect my shower stuff. I shut the hatches and went topside to watch for the shuttle boat. Ashore I put a load in and while it was running I walked over to the showers to clean up. Back in the laundry room I transferred the first load to the drier and inserted the second load into the wash. I visited with Victoria and some of the staff in the office until the first load was finished drying. Stuffing it in the laundry bag I put the second load in the dyer and headed over to the market. It is just under a mile away but as I was walking I was very much aware that my gait was becoming more and more clumsy. I noticed that my ability to walk has been steadily deteriorating over the last several months. At first I attributed it to living on the boat where the opportunity to walk any distance is restricted, however, I’ve been walking around Coconut Grove a lot so it wasn’t the lack of walking that was the problem. Contemplating the ramifications of becoming an invalid is something I’m having soom difficulty accepting. At the market I picked up some oranges, a loaf of bread, some butter, and a Ruben sandwich for supper. It was hot walking back to the marina office but I forced myself to walk as vigorously as I could. One thing I like about south Florida is the plethora of attractive women in skimpy attire. It sometimes seems that a Victoria Secret’s runway model convention is in town. My wash was finished so I packed it all up and caught the boat back to Kittiwake. Thunder clouds were building so I left the hatches closed and just turned on the fan to cool things down. Cutting a piece off of the sandwich I sat down with a bottle of water and listened to jazz on the radio as I ate. I dozed off briefly and when I awoke went topside to watch the storms pass over Miami while enjoying that fine cigar that Scott and Janet had brought me. Tomorrow I’m going into town to watch a movie and then return to the boat before the last boat at 1700. This is Captain John aboard Kittiwake thanking you for joining me on this voyage. May the winds always favor you
Posted on: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 00:18:10 +0000
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