August, 2008:

It’s getting a bit frustrating for me. It seems like Elvis is showing up for less and less time each day. One day, for instance, he showed up at 11 AM, worked until 12:30 and then took off for lunch. He didn’t come back until after 3 and worked another hour and a half. It was particularly annoying because he was starting to complain about how long the job is taking him. Whenever he complained, I dryly suggested that maybe he should show up earlier and get more work done in the course of the day rather than the short days he’s been working. Perhaps he’d get done sooner. I don’t think he caught on to the sarcasm. (more…)

Elvis and his guys were fairly quick in getting the engine apart. He was sure he could get everything apart on the boat to the point where he would just leave the bare engine block on the boat, and take everything else to his shop to get prepared and rehabbed. Didn’t quite work out that way. When he tried to get the pistons out of the cylinders, it proved to be impossible. (more…)

Since buying Andiamo almost five years ago, there was only one thing I dreaded and feared. Ok, there are actually alot of things that I dread and fear when it comes to boat ownership. But there is indeed one particular thing I really never ever wanted to deal with when it came to owning Andiamo, and for five years, I was able to stave it off. That is, until now.

The thing I’m talking about here is the real possibility of having to do a rebuild of Andiamo’s beloved and revered Perkins 4.236 diesel. Though all the odds were that I was going to have to do the rebuild sometime soon after buying Andiamo.
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There are several reasons why I dreaded this whole fearsome subject. For one, Andiamo’s engine compartment leaves much to be desired. To be honest, there is no real “compartment” or engine “room” like most boats Andiamo’s size. The engine is literally in the floor of the salon. That’s right, smack in the middle of boat’s main space, between the galley and the salon seating, there is a cavernous hole. The engine fits inside quite nicely and is covered from sight and sound by a galley counter section and a settee section (a sofa type of furniture).

It also didn’t help that the engine had about 800 hours on it since its last rebuild in 2000. This meant that the engine would probably need a rebuild soon. Most marine diesel engines should be rebuilt every 1000 hours or every 8 years or so, if you listen to the “experts”.

Because the engine is in this “hole”, it makes accessibility and maintenance a huge pain in the ass. Changing a belt or having to do something near the underside was a trial of patience. If I ever had to pull out the engine for say, in the event of a rebuild, I would have to basically dismantle the salon’s skylight and hoist the engine out that way, using the boom as a leverage point. Just the thought of ever having to do this gave me vivid nightmares of the worst kind.

I managed to stave off this inevitable catastrophe by giving the Perkins decent maintenance and care. Sure, I had lots of trouble with alternators and starters, but that wasn’t the Perkins’ fault. Couldn’t blame it for that. In fact, much of the problems I had with them were just due to my own ignorance, and/or stupidity.

Anyway, things were going relatively hunky dory for the Perkins up to now. Despite the usual quirks and issues that goes with having a diesel engine in an environment that well, hates diesel engines, she always started up when I really need her to and delivered. Out in the anchorage, I was barely running her since I now had my trusty Honda generator handling Andiamo’s essential power and charging duties. If I started her more than once a week, it was a miracle.

And then in March, I brought Andiamo dockside. This was originally supposed to be just a 2-3 week stint to get some heavy duty cleaning and some much-needed interior work done. Alas, it turned into a 4-plus month dockside sojourn.

Ok, I admit it. I got spoiled. I liked not having to jump into the dinghy to get ashore. I liked having somewhat reliable wireless internet available all the time so I can get lots of writing work done and tackle my ever-growing list of side projects! I liked being able to stumble back to Andiamo in the wee hours and not worry about if the outboard is going to stall on me. so, despite my disdain for marinas, I stayed dockside.

Since being dockside, I found myself not really needing to start up the diesel as often as I had been. Every couple of weeks or so, I’d fire her up and run her for a half hour or so. I guess I slacked a bit last April and May, when I was traveling a bit around Colombia, getting involved in various landlubber activities, and didn’t keep to my schedule as much. Incidentally, about this time, it appears that the diesel’s vented loop (a funky hose contraption that allows air to escape from the engine, while keeping the seawater that cools the engine IN) became clogged with dried salt and ceased letting air escape. This, in turn, created a siphon out of the sea water intake and started slowly sucking seawater into the engine. This is NEVER GOOD, make a note of that. Anyway, the engine gradually filled up with seawater. The next time I tried to start it, she wouldn’t turn over, thanks to the fact that my pistons and valves were frozen shut from all the new corrosion from the sea water. Oy… I cringe at the memory.

The irony of this is had I been just starting the engine up on my usual schedule, the engine probably would have survived. It would have at least survived long enough for me to fix the problem and keep the water from flooding the engine to the point of certain, slow death.

After several desperate and feeble attempts to get the crankshaft freed up (if you manage to do this, you can actually SAVE the diesel from turning into an internal rust heap), I knew I was in deep shit. Here in Cartagena, there is really only one reliable marine diesel mechanic in all the land. His name… Elvis. I’m not kidding. Elvis Castro, “El Doctor de Diesel” as his peers blithely called him. After discussing the situation with “The King”, as I liked to call him, we made arrangements to start the rebuild in a few weeks after I got back from the states. Karen and I had already made plans to head stateside later in May to do some visiting and take care of some business.

Though we had a fantastic time in both Florida and SoCal, I looked at returning to Andiamo with dread for the first time since I’d gotten her. I knew that this engine rebuild was going to be a BEAST of a project, I just didn’t know how bad or protracted it would be. Elvis claimed he could get the engine rebuild done in a week. As much as I trusted The King’s instincts, I just knew that wouldn’t be the case. I really did not look forward to this project. It was a black cloud over my head during the whole stateside trip.

Anyway, we’re back now, and Elvis and his crack team have started the project in earnest. Hopefully, this will not be as bad and drawn out an ordeal as I so fear.

We shall very well see.