day 8

_Day 8: “minor disaster day”._

Total miles for today: 11 miles, 9 of which are backward!!

We weighed anchor at 08:40 and were motoring out of ‘small inlet’ and
traversing Kanish Bay when I noticed that the engine temperature gauge
was at maximum. We immediately shut down the engine. It was obvious from
the smell coming up from below that this was a real problem and not a
problem with the gauge.

Before we got to troubleshooting, we raised the sails to ensure we were
not pushed onto the rocks by the flood current( i.e. south going in this
part of B.C.). When I got opened the engine room door and the smoke
spewed out, I immediately thought the engine was trashed. However, I
quickly went through the logical troubleshooting sequence:

Ø sea water (cooling water) inlet strainer was not plugged

Ø low cooling water flow alarm had not sounded

Ø removed cover to raw water pump and checked impellor. ( thank goodness
for the recently installed SpeedSeal cover)

Ø Opened sea cock and confirmed water was getting to raw water pump.

Ø Checked engine oil to see if antifreeze was in oil ( this` would be a
really, really bad sign..cracked head or bad head gasket) but seemed O.K.

Ø Let things cool before I tried to open the cap on the heat exchanger;
once it was open, I could see that there was little to no antifreeze in
the exchanger.

Quick Aside for the readers who are non-boaters: the heat exchanger is
similar to a radiator on a car. The difference is that on a car, air
flowing through the radiator takes away the engine heat absorbed by the
coolant ( antifreeze). On a boat, sea water ( raw water) is used to pass
over tubes carrying the coolant and the raw water picks up the engine
heat ( hence the name “heat exchanger”). The hot sea water is mixed with
the engine exhaust and it goes out the boat back into the sea.

I refilled the exchanger and tried to start the engine, which it did. At
least the engine was not seized and there seemed to be raw water being
expelled out the exhaust ( a good sign- raw water pump is working and
there are no obstructions). We immediately shutdown to ponder our
options; 3-4 litres of antifreeze is missing; no sign of it in the bilge
or in the engine oil…. So it must be the heat exchanger leaking and
sending it out with the hot exhaust water.

There are no facilities to the North, so we gybed and starting sailing
back towards Campbell river. We would have had some challenges in trying
to sail through the narrows, with traffic and possibly a counter current
if we did not make it in time for slack. On the way up, I had noticed a
small marina just north of the Narrows; if they had space, we could duck
in there for repairs. It would mean a 20 km trip by road to Campbell
River, but at least we would be positioned further north and more
importantly north of the Narrows. This would give us flexibility in
leaving without worrying about slack times.

The next part of this story illustrates my theory that most people just
want to do the right thing when it is needed.

After reaching Brown’s Bay marina on the VHF radio and explaining our
situation; I asked if there would be someone there to help us once we
sailed into the marina. The marina operator told us to take our time
arriving and give him ½ hour. Within 20 minutes he had organized a
fishing boat to come out and tow us in. After we were docked, I asked
the boat crew and skipper, Lee (from Ripple Rock RV park) what I owed
them and they said nothing, just “pass it along and help someone else
sometime”. I offered to at least buy them lunch but they said they had
to get back to work.

When I went to check in at the marina office, the manager offered us his
phone to contact a mechanic. When I then asked the marina manager what
the moorage rates were, he said “you don’t pay if you are broken down”.

The service manager at Altech Mechanical said he’d rearrange his
mechanic’s schedule to be sure he got out to see us before 2 pm( he
arrived at 13:30)

After working with the mechanic from Altech and doing pressure tests,
etc he came to same conclusion that it had to be the heat exchanger
although there was no obvious problem other than there was a slightly
loose clamp that may have allowed coolant to escape into the exhaust
water. I told him I wanted to be sure before we took off further North
and he agreed to take the exchanger into the shop for proper testing. We
had organized for a rental car in Campbell River and asked if he had
room to drive us into town, which he agreed to. When he got to the shop,
he told us to wait and someone from the shop would drive us the last 8
km to the car rental.

Before we left, I asked the marina manager what Lee’s favourite drink
was and he said he is a Budweiser man. On our way back with our rental
car, I picked up 2 24 packs of Bud for Lee and a bottle of Crown Royal
for MANAGER to show our appreciation. I’m going to write a letter to the
local paper as well; we were both overwhelmed at how well we were
treated by everyone.

The happy ending to this story will be that there is no major mechanical
damage on the engine. We will find out tomorrow afternoon when the
mechanic returns.

PS: Ralph has accused me of executing a very devious scheme in order to
be somewhere to watch the final game of the Stanley Cup…which ended
badly. There should be a ban against any city having a hockey team that
comes from an area that does not have any natural ice in the winter.