Posted by Ed
When cruising, it seems as though everyday is Saturday, no appointments, no schedules to keep. The biggest decision is based on the wind direction and what part of paradise do we want to visit next? Yes, everyday is Saturday until something goes wrong and you find your carefree schedule is now dependent on the schedules of others who live and work in an everyday world, even in the islands.
A few weeks ago in St. Pierre, Martinique while performing my usual engine pre-departure routines, I discovered what would be a serious problem in a matter of hours. I checked the engine oil and water levels checked the Racor filter for water and sediment in the Racor fuel sight bowl checked the engine drive belts for the refrigeration compressor, as well as the drive belts for the alternator and water pump.
Then for an instant, I was brought back to the days when I worked on automotive engines as a teenager and recalled what an engine’s fresh water circulating water pump looked like when the pump was kaput and decided to give the pump pulley a little tug. Much to my surprise the drive belt pulley began to wobble and was quite loose. This is more than a clear indicator that the bearings in the pump are shot and the pump needs to be replaced ASAP.
Usually the water pump will leak the coolant water and cause the engine to overheat and in the worst case situations, the overheating will cause the engine to seize-up. We were very fortunate to discover the faulty pump before it began to leak and any damage resulted.
The pump needed to be replaced in order for the engine to continue to keep working. The engine is like the heart of the boat, especially for us, because we currently do not have any alternative energy systems (wind generators and solar power – which we intend to employ very soon). Without the engine, you can’t recharge the battery bank, which means you have no refrigeration and water-making ability. And of course the obvious, you can’t go anywhere if you need to do it under power.
St. Pierre is a lovely water front community in Martinique but it does not have facilities for yachties to make repairs. Part of our trip preparation was to envision what may go wrong and try to prepare for these eventualities. We have two spare engine circulating pumps and a pump re-build kit. To rebuild the pump requires special tools to press the old bearings out of the pump and press the new bearings in, so rebuilding the pump was not an option today.
Of the two spare pumps one has a drive belt pulley already on the pump and the other does not, so the installation choice is easy: we’ll use the pump that is complete with the drive pulley already pressed onto the drive shaft. However, the drive pulley needs to be pressed onto the shaft an additional 10mm so it will line up with the pulley on the engine and the alternator, otherwise, it will chew up drive belts very quickly.
Now, back to everyday is Saturday! “Island time” is quite different than time schedules we had been used to in our business life. Most shops in the French islands close-up for lunch and perhaps a little siesta. They close from noon until three in the afternoon, so don’t expect to get anything done during this time of the day. My not having the ability to speak French and Liz working through her high school French, Liz was able to locate a machine shop that may be able press the drive pulley further onto the shaft to meet my specifications.
After waiting about an hour for the local bus, we arrived at the machine shop that could hopefully help us out. By the way, we later found out the machine shop was only about a 15 minute walk back to town. The gentleman in the machine shop was a little rough with the pump and I cringed when he dropped it on the cement floor but it was fine. After a lot of discussion on how to best press the pulley further onto the pump, the job was done.
With the needed tools laid out in orderly fashion, it was time to remove the old pump and install the new. Easy, right? It seems every job has one nut or bolt that is more stubborn than the others and will require an inordinate amount of time to disassemble it. Three bolts and one stud with a nut on it is all that secures the pump to the engine, looks easy. The nut on the stud was already partially stripped and it took a full 24 hours of penetrating oil (WD40) to allow any real movement of the nut.
With the pump now removed, Liz was busy preparing the pump surfaces with a putty knife and applying the gasket cement. The pump was bolted back to the engine and now has about 10 hours on it and is working well. At first opportunity, we will attempt to have the old pump rebuilt and kept as another spare.
With engine grease under our fingernails, (even Liz’s !) and the engine purring again, we were happy and on our way.
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