Kevin Cullen from Gallery Marine in Seattle showed up at 8:30 for the 50-hour service, including an alignment adjustment, valve adjustment and fluid changes. Over the winter, Kevin did the extensive work to install our new Yanmar 4JH57 horse power engine. He was now back to ensure that it was serviced properly after the 50 hour breaking period.
Kevin was able to complete the 50 hour service items, but he was not able to get the engine room fire extinguisher working properly. We have a Fireboy fixed fire extinguisher system in our engine room. It monitors the heat in the engine room. If the temperature exceed 175 degrees, it automatically discharges the extinguisher in the engine room to put out the fire. A boat fire is a serious threat. Boat fires spread very rapidly and they can be hard to escape, if you are on the water when they happen. Most boat fires start in the engine room, so having a automatic fire extinguisher in the engine room is an important safety precaution. The Fireboy system includes a sensor to detect when the fire extinguisher goes off. The sensor then automatically stops the diesel engine. This is vital, because if the engine keeps running, it may suck the fire suppression chemical out of the engine room. This may allow the fire to restart. Kevin was missing a part to make the Fireboy sensor work properly.
Mary did some shopping and sketching.
Phil ordered a water maker seal rebuild kit from Defender Marine in Waterford, CT. Katadyn no longer offers the seal rebuild kit for the Katadyn 160E, but they do offer a seal rebuild kit for the smaller Katadyn 40E water maker. Some of the parts in that kit fit the Katadyn 160E. We hope that those seals will get our water maker running again.
Phil rented a car, and went in search of various boat parts.
At Fisheries Supply, we purchased a kayak rack to allow Mary's kayak to hang just outside the boat's life lines. This makes it easier to launch and retrieve her kayak. It also gets the kayak off of the deck to make it easier to get to the halyard winches on our mast. The halyards are the lines that run to the top of the mast and then back down to the tops of the jib, staysail, and main sail. The halyards allow these sails to be hoisted to catch the wind.
We purchased an anchor swivel to make it easier to hoist the 73 pound Spade anchor. Previously, the anchor and anchor chain sometime came up twisted when we retrieved them from the sea floor. The twists made it hard to stow the anchor properly at the bow. We hope that the new anchor swivel will solve the anchor twisting problem.
We purchased a longer floating dinghy painter. The dinghy painter is secured to the bow (front) of the inflatable dinghy and then to a secure point on shore. The longer dinghy painter makes it easier to secure the dinghy when we go ashore in places with a big tidal range between low and high water.
We purchased a new toilet seat to replace the old failing one. Sitting on the toilet seat when underway is no longer an "E Ticket". For those of you too young to remember, an "E Ticket" was the most expensive ticket at Disney Land when it first opened. It was the ticket you used to get on the most exciting rides.
We purchased a patch kit and spare oars for the inflatable Achilles dinghy. This required driving over an hour north to Everett through heavy traffic and over an hour back on the return.
We stopped at the Amazon lockers at the local Seven Eleven convenience store to pick up our overnight Amazon order. Amazon is a real boon for cruisers. It makes it easier to order and receive gear for our boat. In this case, we ordered Ram mounts to hold the iPads we use for navigation. Navionics sells software for our iPads that displays charts (maps) for the areas we cruise. We rely on these charts to to see our current location and to avoid shallow water and dangerous objects in the water. Navionics updates the charts frequently, based on the latest information from the US and Canadian governments. This ensures that we always have the latest charts with the most current information. This makes it much easier and safer for us to get around on the water.
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