| Easter On Rockhopper - continued |
The old pump went on quickly and Suzanne bumped the engine a couple of times to verify that the pump
was working. Then, she started the engine and Frank hopped into the dinghy to verify that the exhaust had
water in it. By the way, the exhaust from the main engine on a Morgan 452 is underwater, so it doesn't
matter if you get in the dinghy, you still can't tell if the exhaust has water in it!
When he went back down to the engine room, it turned out that Frank's memory of this pump was correct - it
still leaked from the shaft. It would serve if it had to, but the engine was not going to be happy, getting
sprayed again. "Oh, well," Frank thought, "at least we have cooling again."
Unable to let the first pump go, Frank continued to scape and clean, eventually discovering that, under the
grime, the shaft was matched to the impeller in the rebuild kit. Excited now, Frank went back to work with his
picks and Channel-locks and was able to remove the metal insert from the first impeller, which then allowed
the new impeller to slip into place. Five more minutes saw the pump reassembled with the parts from the
rebuild kit and another five saw the old pump back off and the new pump back on. Five more minutes of
testing showed that the new pump was working fine. Now the only thing left to worry about was whether
running the engine dry had somehow creamed the engine itself.
By this time, the tide had dropped to the point that heading back up to the slip would be iffy, especially if the
engine was going to be a problem. We held a council in the cockpit. Frank pointed out that, we could go in
on the four o'clock high tide, or catch the six AM tide the next morning. Suzanne pointed out that, although
we hadn't gone as far as we had intended, we were sitting on the hook and we had electricity, food and a
generator. Frank pointed out the fish jumping nearby. Suzanne pointed out the boats going by. Finally we
stopped pointing at things and settled down to spend the day, being lazy on the river.
We did put the mizzen and the main up, one at a time, just to lubricate the slides and make sure that the
wasps had all moved out. Several (according to Suzanne, hundreds) of wasps visited us on the river and at
first, Suzanne would jump up and squeal.
was working. Then, she started the engine and Frank hopped into the dinghy to verify that the exhaust had
water in it. By the way, the exhaust from the main engine on a Morgan 452 is underwater, so it doesn't
matter if you get in the dinghy, you still can't tell if the exhaust has water in it!
When he went back down to the engine room, it turned out that Frank's memory of this pump was correct - it
still leaked from the shaft. It would serve if it had to, but the engine was not going to be happy, getting
sprayed again. "Oh, well," Frank thought, "at least we have cooling again."
Unable to let the first pump go, Frank continued to scape and clean, eventually discovering that, under the
grime, the shaft was matched to the impeller in the rebuild kit. Excited now, Frank went back to work with his
picks and Channel-locks and was able to remove the metal insert from the first impeller, which then allowed
the new impeller to slip into place. Five more minutes saw the pump reassembled with the parts from the
rebuild kit and another five saw the old pump back off and the new pump back on. Five more minutes of
testing showed that the new pump was working fine. Now the only thing left to worry about was whether
running the engine dry had somehow creamed the engine itself.
By this time, the tide had dropped to the point that heading back up to the slip would be iffy, especially if the
engine was going to be a problem. We held a council in the cockpit. Frank pointed out that, we could go in
on the four o'clock high tide, or catch the six AM tide the next morning. Suzanne pointed out that, although
we hadn't gone as far as we had intended, we were sitting on the hook and we had electricity, food and a
generator. Frank pointed out the fish jumping nearby. Suzanne pointed out the boats going by. Finally we
stopped pointing at things and settled down to spend the day, being lazy on the river.
We did put the mizzen and the main up, one at a time, just to lubricate the slides and make sure that the
wasps had all moved out. Several (according to Suzanne, hundreds) of wasps visited us on the river and at
first, Suzanne would jump up and squeal.
Penguin Dreams
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