| Easter On Rockhopper - continued |
A quick glance at the diesel's coolant temperature gage showed that it had been over 230 degrees and the
steam was the coolant, boiling off. The engine room was a toasty 105 degrees. Clearly, there was a problem
with the coolant, but what?
First things first - stop the boat from going anywhere. The boat was drifting with the current, very slowly,
toward the southern shore of the river. Frank went forward to the anchor and Suzanne read off the depth
soundings as the bottom slowly came up. When the gage read 20 feet, Frank started letting out the anchor,
eventually putting out 100 feet of chain. The boat slowly rounded up on her anchor and came gently to a
stop. The steam was clearing out of the boat, the rain had stopped, the boat was secure and out of the
channel - time to rest and think about possibilities.
It seemed that there were four possible problems. Possibility 1 (and the most hopeful) - the raw water pump
had thrown its impeller - Frank had been to a diesel repair class recently and this had been covered in
depth. Possibility 2 - the coolant system had sprung a leak. Possibility 3 - we had sucked up something into
the raw water system that had totally blocked flow.. Possibility 4 - something Frank hadn't thought of yet had
happened.
On a positive note (actually, a whole positive chorus) - we were less than two miles from the slip. We had the
dinghy and, if worse came to worse, we could dinghy back to the marina and see if we could get someone to
tow us back. In addition, if it was something repairable, we had access to West Marine.
While we waited for the smoke to clear and the engine to cool, Frank decided to take a look at the gas
generator, since it seemed that we might need it more than we had originally thought and just sitting was
irksome. Frank pulled out his tools and started to work on removing the carburetor to clean it out.
steam was the coolant, boiling off. The engine room was a toasty 105 degrees. Clearly, there was a problem
with the coolant, but what?
First things first - stop the boat from going anywhere. The boat was drifting with the current, very slowly,
toward the southern shore of the river. Frank went forward to the anchor and Suzanne read off the depth
soundings as the bottom slowly came up. When the gage read 20 feet, Frank started letting out the anchor,
eventually putting out 100 feet of chain. The boat slowly rounded up on her anchor and came gently to a
stop. The steam was clearing out of the boat, the rain had stopped, the boat was secure and out of the
channel - time to rest and think about possibilities.
It seemed that there were four possible problems. Possibility 1 (and the most hopeful) - the raw water pump
had thrown its impeller - Frank had been to a diesel repair class recently and this had been covered in
depth. Possibility 2 - the coolant system had sprung a leak. Possibility 3 - we had sucked up something into
the raw water system that had totally blocked flow.. Possibility 4 - something Frank hadn't thought of yet had
happened.
On a positive note (actually, a whole positive chorus) - we were less than two miles from the slip. We had the
dinghy and, if worse came to worse, we could dinghy back to the marina and see if we could get someone to
tow us back. In addition, if it was something repairable, we had access to West Marine.
While we waited for the smoke to clear and the engine to cool, Frank decided to take a look at the gas
generator, since it seemed that we might need it more than we had originally thought and just sitting was
irksome. Frank pulled out his tools and started to work on removing the carburetor to clean it out.
Penguin Dreams
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