The Engine

Cambria has a Nissan SD33 6 cylinder diesel engine.  Reportedly it lacks stellar performance, but is a good, reliable low maintenance engine.  It produces just under 60 horsepower at 2000 rpm and burns about 3/4 of a gallon per hour at a 6.5 knot cruise.  She has nearly 4,900 engine hours on her and, with proper maintenance, should last another 5,000 hours or more.

The engine has had a couple of traumas over the years, including a mechanic induced syphoning of saltwater into the engine (that mechanic was never invited back aboard), a failed impeller, a pulley arm failure (which led to a water pump problem), and the transmission which unexpectedly became detached from the engine.  That last one was entertaining.  It happened just after leaving customs at Friday Harbor with Devin and 2 of his buddies aboard.  We quickly launched the bullfrog, lashed it firmly as far aft as it could be, and Jodi, much to her amazement, was told to take the helm of Cambria.  I was in the Bullfrog using its motor to bring us in and Devin and his buddies readied the lines.  We landed nearly perfectly, right in front of Jim Whittaker, first American to summit Mount Everest.

While nothing has gone wrong lately, I had Stewarts Marine come out and do some preventative maintenance.  Sure enough, they identified some problems requiring attention.  First (and most expected) was the exhaust.  Corrosion, the fitting coming off the engine needs to be replaced.

The next most expected thing was the saltwater pump.  The impeller showed some wear, but the pump itself was nearly shot.  I think it's the original, so it's about time.

The thing that caught me by surprise was the fresh water pump.  Leaking.  Needs to be replaced.  And the oil cooler pipe shows corrosion and needs to be replaced.

The fresh water pump is turning out to be a $700 thing.  $500 for the pump and another $200 in labor to replace it.  Blah!  The oil cooler will be another 200ish.

All in all nothing major, but the list of little issues is a bit more than I had expected.

So, we're in the process of divvying up the list.  What needs to be attacked now and what is on the 'watch list' for future replacement.  According to the mechanic, the engine, overall, is in good shape.  No oil leaks and no major problems.

This week we'll get the saltwater pump rebuilt and installed as well as get the exhaust fitting replaced.  Both are clearly in need of replacing.  He also found the likely cause of the hydraulic leak in the steering which is both good news and bad news.  It may be that it simply needs to be tightened but the leak is from the end of the ram -- an unexpected place as typically the leaks come from the hose fittings.  If tightening the ram doesn't fix things, then the ram itself will need to be replaced.  Groan.

Next week we'll tackle the fresh water pump and probably the oil cooler hose.

After that we'll take a breather.  Next year we'll likely go through all the hoses.

So not terrible news, just not great news.  And, it's far better to fix things at the dock with no time pressure.  It would be miserable to be in the straits, in nasty weather, and have the exhaust let go.  Or the fresh water pump fail.  Or the saltwater pump fail.  Or the oil cooler pipe fail.  Each one of these could render the engine unusable and under the right conditions, a couple of those failures could result in bringing in salt water into the engine room.

After envisioning smoke in the cabin, no engine, the engine room flooding it'll be easy to cough up dough to get these things fixed and fixed right.

Mechanically Cambria will be back in good condition by the end of the week and in great condition towards the end of next week.

Ah.  Clean filters, clean oil, and a strong engine.  I wonder how the rigging is doing these days?

It's always something.....