Karen and I spent the past Saturday “all day” completing the bulk of Spring Maintenance. From an engine perspective we are Summerized and ready to begin.
I still need to re-check the zincs – they seem unfazed by the fresh water. Friends are suggesting we move to Magnesium for fresh water. I’ll have to study up on that.
We need to put some coolant in the overflow. We used all we had to fill the engine based radiator system.
We need to wash out the bilge and put down new absorbent mats. Upon completing those tasks we’ll be 100%. It was interesting that the engine turned over immediately on the starter press.
Before we put any experimental (Fortune Hill developed) hardware or software on Muse 10 we need to reset the baseline on the electronic infrastructure.
Over the 2014/2015 winter we developed a plan to refresh the network, add an AIS transceiver, add WI-FI to the boat, and add a NMEA 2000 backbone to bring the boat to the 21st century. This post will describe in brief this little journey.
I’ve diagrammed out the current state of affairs. One thing I’ve found on this boat is an abundance of wire that goes nowhere. I’m either marking it or pulling it out when possible.
In preparation for Spring comissioning I started examining the coolant hoses for leaks.
The four main hoses appear to be original (1997). After a close examination of them, I decided they had lived a full life and decided to replace them.
I checked the parts in the Westerbeke parts catalog and the damage came to about $320 to replace all.
My colleagues on the Sabre forum suggested I take them to the local auto parts store and see if they might have some that would be cheaper than the Westerbeke hoses.
They were right. I was able to replace 3 out of 4 hoses with Carquest hoses saving me about $ 125. That’s enough to pay for the globe impeller, the barnacle buster, and some other key maintenance parts.
I did purchase the Westerbeke 039821 hose which has an internal reinforcing coil and was a little hard to source. Thank you Hanson Marine for stocking it even though it was pricey!
With a little luck, we’ll have Spring cleaning done soon and the boat for sea trials.
Change oil and filter (done
Change zincs (engine, freezer) (inspected)
Impeller (done)
Check / clean air filters
New coolant hoses (done)
Bleed and replace fuel filters (done)
Top off coolant (done)
Flush fresh water system with Barnacle Buster (done)
Install new anti-siphon hose (done)
X fingers and fire the baby up!
The expensive hosePrevents hose from colapsing under water pump suction- between water pump and heat exchanger
