Productive day of maintenance with a few setbacks
Posted By RichC on November 10, 2013
I spend most of today in the “spacious engine room” (that’s a joke BTW) working on basic diesel auxiliary maintenance. The aging 27 year old diesel has worked hard most of it’s life pushing our Westerly Corsair II around the world bit by bit. Just as with most older gals, Encore no longer measures beauty by age or an hour meter … she no long has one. Still, the 3-cylinder Volvo 2003 runs strong, even if her 28 HP can’t always power her forward quickly in heavy seas or strong currents. I repaired the alternator (temporarily), changed the oil and filter as well as installed a new primary Racor and secondary engine fuel filter (unfortunately there was debris). Speaking of debris, I also cleaned out the raw water strainer basket and tighten a couple of the double hose clamps.
The depressing news is that I’m finding out my four batteries are not charging? I’m hoping maybe the Heart Inverter/Charger isn’t working correctly, but deep inside I know that our 7 year old deep cycle batteries (3 – 650AH) need to be replaced. What really bothers me though is that my newer (relative term) 4 year old engine starting battery is only showing 10.05 volts which probably indicates a bad cell. Any experts?
Speaking of experts, I’ve been “consulting” with Mark and Dar (well at least they have replaced everything on their boat … an inside joke). They had me over for a great spaghetti dinner on Friday night so I returned the favor tonight by taking them to Chili’s. They are liveaboards at the marina and we seem to enjoy each other’s friendship … at least I do theirs. Great people and genuine friends.
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