FT. LAUDERDALE, FL USA
Saturday and Sunday went by nice and smooth. I finished some small projects, but nothing serious. There really wasn't much to write about. I feel like the boat is getting closer.
Monday morning I went and picked up the owners son at the airport. Jack, our diesel mechanic, showed up to finish the work on the engines. We wanted to make sure everything was put back together perfectly before starting the engines. Shortly after getting back from the airport Jeremy showed up and got right to work on the pilot house doors. After a few lightning fast hours the starboard engine turned over. We bled the lines, cranked it, bled the lines, and just like that she lit up like a Christmas tree. Everything sounded great and we ran the engine up to 2100 rpm's. We shut her down and got to work on the port engine. Meanwhile Jeremy finally had the door hardware for the pilot house doors latching and locking. We tweaked them a little here and there and other than a few more adjustments that I have to make tomorrow they are on and functional! It has been since Sarasota that we have been trying to get those dang things on so it was such a relief.
Not too long after the port engine fired up and everything seemed to be running great. On another good note we cracked off the fuel check valve on the starboard main engine and noticed that it may be our problem to our fuel draining out of the racors. We switched the check valves from port to starboard and will see if the port side racors begin to drain. In the meantime we will be ordering a new check valve as we are certain that this is our problem.
Jeremy looked at our air conditioning units and we found that one of the compressors is in fact failing. We will be ordering a new one immediately and that has now become our main priority.
Jeremy, the owners son and I flipped the boat around at the dock. We can now lift the tender that has been sitting in the water for a month now. The bottom is filthy and it is on tomorrows agenda first thing. We finally got a good quote to put down a runner on the fly bridge deck. Hopefully we will be moving forward on that tomorrow as well.
The race is on and hopefully by this time next week I will be writing from somewhere in the Bahamas. It was very encouraging to me today to hear the engines fire again, and I even went for a mini boat ride...I pulled the boat out of the slip, spun it, and backed it back into the slip. I still remember how to drive a boat too!!!
Tomorrow we lift the dinghy and wash it. I need to install a fuel lift pump on the port engine still as there is a temporary bypass valve in place right now for todays activities. Once we get the air conditioners squared away, finish a few small projects and give the boat a good scrub inside and out we will be ready!!
Sound Waves Out
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