I got the engine rebuilding blues… Part FOUR!!??

The Andiamo's beloved Perkins Diesel, "post-rebuild"

That’s right, previously unbeknownst to me, there is another chapter to what I thought was a long finished saga. Since the apparent success of this engine rebuild between June and August of this year, we’ve completed 7 trips between here and Panama. The engine has run virtually flawlessly save for an annoying minor oil leak that cost me about a quart of oil each trip.

On our latest run to Panama from Cartagena, things seemed to be fine. We were motorsailing at a brisk 6.5 knots out of Cartagena, virtually on schedule to arrive in San Blas. We had five guests on board for the trip, and all seemed to be fine. At sunset we broke out some cervezas to salute the coming night of sailing.

Then, there was a noise.

The engine, which a minute ago was just humming away nicely at a low RPM, started making this horrendous metallic clacking noise. The minute Karen and I heard it, I told her to put the motor in neutral while I went below to check it out. By the time I opened the hood, it was too late. The motor locked up, with smoke billowing everywhere. Not good.

By the time all was said and done, it was clear we were going to have to sail back to Cartagena. We were just a little over 40 miles away and I could get repairs done there. I broke the bad news to the guests. So I came about and set sail back, hoping that the wind would hold up.

Ironically, with the brisk winds and the current, Andiamo was skimming along at 7 knots or so. Too fast now. It was now nighttime, and going into the harbor with just sails at night was a risky proposition. There was a lot of shipping traffic at this time in and out of Boca Chica, Cartagena’s other entrance. So, I reduced sail in an effort to slow Andiamo down enough to give her a good arrival time after first light. Still didn’t work, we were still cruising along at almost 6 knots. Too fast yet again.

With all the shipping traffic, I decided to cut north and hang out there for the rest of the night. There was a bit of storm activity south of us anyway, so heading north would get us away from that. It proved to be a good move, and kept us clear from shipping traffic the rest of the night.

Heading back was a bit of a problem since by morning time, the wind had died out. So we bobbed in the water for a good couple of hours until the winds picked up. From that point on, the winds stayed with us long enough to get us into the harbor under sail. I have to admit, it was kind of nice to see that I can still navigate Andiamo in tight quarters only under sail. Hadn’t done that in awhile.

So after bidding our regretful goodbyes to our guests, we got Elvis onboard to have a look. He clearly wasn’t happy with what was going on. Particularly since he knew he was going to have to guarantee the rebuild we’d just completed just a couple of months back.

The next day, he was onboard opening up the engine, trying to ascertain what happened. Ultimately, it turned out that the oil pump had failed and in a short time, the oil pressure dropped to nil. This resulted in a major breakdown. This was a point of contention between Elvis and me during the rebuild. I thought the pump should be rebuilt or replaced, and Elvis didn’t think it was necessary.  Luckily, only a few key parts suffered, and would have to be replaced. There was some damage on the engine block that would need to be repaired as well. While this was all bad news, we all breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that things could have been much, much worse.

So after an interesting two days getting the engine dismantled and off Andiamo while at anchorage, it’s back in Elvis’ shop. We’re awaiting parts we hope to have this weekend. Elvis should have her all closed up and back aboard Andiamo within a few days after that. Andiamo will be on the move again, and soon.