After a long week I finally made my way out to On the Brink on Thursday for a sail with one of my best friends. At the boat I noticed that it was covered with dead aquatic midges which were quickly cleaned up due to the poly-glow finish we put on last weekend, boy does this old boat shine! I warmed up the engine and noticed more of the same, impeller wasn't pushing water but no big deal, I just need to jog out of the harbor and get the sails up.
My friend arrived and we did just that, headed out and lifted the sails. The NOAA was calling for 10ks of wind with 1-3' waves, beautiful weather for a sail. What we got was 0kts of wind and 3-4' waves, much less fun. Seeing boats further out sailing we decided to motor out a bit further. No such luck on the wind, however we did manage to get the motor nice and hot judging by the steam. We eventually killed the iron wind and decided to wait for mother nature to take over. After bobbing(slamming) about in the higher than predicted waves for about an hour we gave up and headed back... with the iron wind.
About half way back the steam from the engine compartment got a bit thicker and I decided to turn it off and let everything cool for a bit. We did and after another 10 minutes were back under way; this continued most of the way into the harbor. We finally reached the harbor entrance (finally the bashing about could end!) and the engine started getting REALLY HOT! The steam/smoke had filled the cabin and it was starting to sputter more than usual. At this time I looked at the oil pressure and it had dropped significantly and I could literally see the needle moving... bad news. We continued with the on-off period for a bit but in the harbor there were other boats around so we pushed it. The engine was starting to sound like hell in addition to the low pressure and complete lack of power when we finally coasted into (and hitting due to lack of reverse power) the dock. Screw it, I'll check it tomorrow was my attitude, especially since the cabin was smokey and very hot. Got home ordered a new water pump and thermostat/housing, hopefully those cure this disease without too many side effects.
Despite the bummer of a night I really did enjoy spending some time one on one with a good friend whom I haven't seen much of lately.
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