On Sun, 10 May 2015 21:51:36 -0400, "Flying Pig"
wrote:

Shake and Break, part 9 - May 10, 2015

We left you wondering whether we'd see wind and sun, and, maybe, how we made
out on water. We'd been blessed a couple of weeks ago with full tanks, and,
as we had more "weather" (weather among boaters generally means wind and
rain) coming, we didn't feel we had to economize. For the week or so
involved, we were profligate with our water.

The low which is now expected to make shore in the Carolinas, not yet named
Ana, brushed by us. Nearly no wind, but torrential rain. Again, we opened
our tanks, and, shortly had our forward tank full, and also opened the
supplemental 50 gallon gravity fed tank. That filled in about 15 minutes,
giving you an idea of the force of the water coming in through the only-3/8"
pipe. - but that was days ago...

We switched to our aft tank, which had been filled the day we left Vero
Beach, to begin emptying it in the hopes that we'd get another dose of rain.
If we did, we'd start diluting the municipal water we'd put in. We also
hoped for more wind, so our batteries would continue to benefit from the
KISS wind generator.

After the deluge, we tended to the 1-2-3's which had accumulated. Our new
oil pump didn't pump, so we made the trek into town to make an exchange. We
also were in need of a laundry run, as well as some question about our
cellular hotspot. As the marina with the laundry (more convenient than
hauling into town) closed at 4PM, for security's sake, we left Lydia there
at 2:45. We'd parked the dinghy on the public floating dock next to their
fuel fill, and had access to the road. If they were closed when I returned,
I'd take the dinghy around to the marina laundry's ladder.

Which turned out to be a good thing, as Napa/True Value Hardware did,
finally, exchange my pump, but it took 40 minutes. While I was waiting, I
chatted up another couple and learned that they needed a bow roller. We
redid our bow roller system to something entirely different when we went to
our 73# (33kg) Rocna anchor, and I still had several new rollers in stock
which I'd never again use.

Of course, as a fellow cruiser, I immediately offered one to them.
Discussion ensued, and it was determined that my roller could serve until
they got back to the US and could source the type of roller they needed.

Of course, I chortled to Lydia when I returned, as there's the typical
cruisers' fight/struggle about what gets to come aboard. Those things I'll
never use, but someone else may well need, are many among my various spares.
It's times like these that makes hunting for a cubby for whatever-it-is
worthwhile!

On up the road with my replacement pump in hand, I find that as is
frequently the case, it's PEBKAC - problem exists between keyboard and
chair - meaning that there were tricks I'd not yet learned about this new
phone and the technology involved. My previous leap into cell technology
was a flip phone so I'm still confused :{)) The other item of concern was
usage; our plan seemed ample, but the way we were ramping up the electrons,
it looked way too small. It turns out that the phone routinely
overestimates usage by half. We'll see when the first bill arrives,
allowing us to log on from that point and check as we go.

Thus armed, it was back to the laundry; it was well we had done it that way,
as Lydia was just finished, and because it was after 4, stuck outside the
office. I took the dinghy around, and we headed back for our dinner aboard.

As it turned out, we never got another rainstorm, and even the very small
showers were brief. We'll get more water, I'm sure, but as it appears clear
and "settled" (cruiser-speak for no rain and not much wind) for the next
many days, just how long it will be before we can refill remains open to
question. But even if it never happens again, we've been entirely blessed
to have had our tanks filled a month from our departure.

So, onward, we tried out the new pump after running Perky (our diesel
auxiliary engine) to get the oil warmed. On my battery drill (which is what
drives the pump) I have two speeds. I discovered after I'd panicked about
my prior pump not working, and again the new one, that I'd had my setting on
"1" - and, apparently, it wasn't fast enough to create the suction in the
tube in order to get the oil moving.

Because I used the "1" position on the pump I'd just tossed in the trash, I
fetched it back out and ran it on high, figuring I couldn’t ruin it, given
that I'd just tossed it. But it worked, and we made short work of our oil
change.

It turns out that most gas stations will accept waste oil, resolving that
conundrum. We're not quite brave enough to do as some cruisers have, and as
the US military does quite regularly, and that's recycle it in the diesel
fuel. It's basically filtered, dirty oil, and diesels will run on nearly
anything, recycled chinese restaurant oil, among them, or french-fryer oil,
fish fryer oil, and the like. Still, with a water cooled exhaust I'd worry
about what sort of accumulations might occur, so we recycle ashore.


Perhaps it is a little "picky" but the idea that since a diesel will
run on about any fuel - I believe that the original "diesel" engine
was built to run on powdered coal - can be a bit deceiving in that
while the engine will run on about anything the injection pump is a
high pressure piston pump (in the older designs) and that pump will
not stand a lot of abuse. As an example: Way back when the Indonesian
government subsidized kerosene as a cooking stove fuel many truckers
found that their diesel trucks ran very well on kerosene... But
kerosene is a extremely poor lubricant and in about a year all those
canny truckers were replacing their injection pumps :-)

I suggest that for the price it is better to run a diesel engine on
clean, filtered, diesel fuel.

Or perhaps budget for an injection pump replacement every year or so
:-)

--
cheers,

Bruce in Bangkok