Right outside Deltaville, Virginia, sits an historical-site sign that reminds us–every time we pass it–that so far our plans seem foolish.
Although the weather has cleared for us, Poseidon decided to jack with our little boat just a bit more. We might as well have changed her name.
As a last minute item, we asked ZMI to check the engine aftercooler just to be sure it was okay. Thinking it’d be easy and quick, we headed up to D.C. to watch some softball and enjoy Easter with the girls and the dogs. Back Sunday night for an early start Monday morning. To quote the increasingly-senile Lee Corso, however, “Not so fast my friend.”
The aftercooler uses seawater for cooling. Seawater enters the engine room via a thru-hull. A sea-cock valve is supposed to close off that opening so that the aftercooler can be serviced. The sea-cock is pretty important because if a hose or fitting fails, one would need to stop water from being places it shouldn’t be. We’re green but we still know that water outside the hull is good and water inside the hull is bad.
Unfortunately, the aftercooler sea-cock won’t close. So (1) nobody can service the aftercooler and (2) if we need to close off the hole in the hull to stop water from rushing in, we can’t. And since we also can’t decide what to grab in the minutes before sinking, we have to fix the sea-cock. Now ZMI has to haul the boat again. That means more delays of God knows how long. Grrrrr.
Good that you maintain a sense of humor. And I am glad you have a few challenges .. keep you from getting bored after escaping law practice. Hard to know why the sea cock won’t close …think they are just quarter turn ball or plug valve… maybe corroded .. Is that the only sea cock?
The other sea-cocks are fine as far as we can tell. The valve closes but doesn’t completely seal. Corrosion is a very good guess.