Too Good to Be True, the Saga Continues

So, that which sunk a ship had other consequences.  Once I discovered that the engine had been under water, I resigned to the notion that all of the electronics had to be replaced and so it was true.  The final piece of electrical gear to go was the starter.  Surprisingly, it wasn’t the starter itself, but the solenoid. It developed an internal short and didn’t have enough pull to engage the bendix and close the contact to the starter.

Greg, a friend with scuba gear, volunteered to dive into the 49 degree water and change out her prop.  Just to say I helped, I dawned my wet suit and a snorkel and almost like a Loony Tunes character I was out of the water before my fins hit.  Brrrrrr!  Incidentally, on a near high rising tide, there wasn’t a hint of salt in the Everett marina.  So we dried off and I hit the starter.  The engine roared to life and then died. I only had the speed control set at perhaps 30%.

I decided that it was a governor problem, so I pulled the speed control plate to investigate.  Under it there was a bar, that was clearly part of the governor and was sticky.  I worked it with a screw driver until it was moving freely.  I thought perhaps a piece of corrosion was making it sticky, which appeared to be the case. 

So, Carrie, the girls, and I took her out for her first sail since the repower.  It worked pretty well, but he engine stalled a couple of times at idle. We had a relaxing sail on a 72 degree light breeze under mostly overcast skies.  After the spring weather we’ve had, I had not complaints. Afterward, we proceeded to Jetty Island. This time, it wouldn’t rev up, so we limped back to Sojourn’s slip instead.

Later that night, I took the fuel injection pump out.  What a mess! There was rust in it and one of the springs had shattered into a dozen pieces.  I can only surmise that corrosion caused stress risers which cause the spring to break.  I’m amazed at the number of pieces the spring is in and have no explanation. The rest of the pieces are still in it as I was fearful of not being able to put Humpty back together again in the absence of a clean work bench. It is Memorial day, so I’ll have to wait until later in the week to see what the damage to my wallet is going to be.