Life on the Hard

It has been a busy and wonderful 3 days at the Breakwater Cove Marina.  The Boatyard took us in on Weds and we are back in the water on Friday.  There was always a lot of stuff happening at the boatyard to keep us entertained.  The crew was terrific.  It almost feels sad to leave them.

This was the view we had this morning as we took an early morning walk. The day only got better.

Angle did all of the fiberglass repair on our damaged keel.  He was very focused and skilled in what he was doing.  He worked hard to get us out by Friday. Here Angle is doing his magic!

               repaired keel!

Dan cleaned the barnacles off the prop.

Here is the view from our boat while it was on the hard.

Dan lowering down our washing bucket to wash dishes.

Here are two "salty dogs" - Dan and Scott.

I enjoyed sitting on a bench here and there were tons of jellyfish in the water below.  You can see the Coast Guard boats in the distance.

There were many, many jellyfish in the harbor!

Malo is getting moved and put into the water.

Misty hooks a line!

We aim to please around here!

The last and most important thing was to get our engine running again.  Kevin, our mechanic came over around 6pm and installed the new fuel injectors.  It seems to run great now.  If all goes well in the morning, we will take off for Catalina Island.  Thanks Kevin and all the crew from the Monterey Boatyard!

We will certainly miss this beautiful place called Monterey Bay!  But we are ready to sail onward.

Hauling Out in Monterey Bay

We were scheduled for a 1:30pm haul out at Monterey Boatworks.  I rode my bike over early to lock it up on their racks so it would be available once the boat got on the hard.  The harbor looked beautiful.

We tried starting the engine a number of times and no luck.  Finally we called in the harbor patrol to give us a tow.  (I had already alerted the harbor master, of our  plan and that we might need their assistance.)  They arrived immediately in wet suits!  Apparently they had been working on a dive project and were called off to help us out.  There were three men who were experienced mariners. I tried to stay out of their way and took a few photos.  Dan was asked to take the helm of Malo for a little help with the steerage.

Our boat was tied to the side of their boat which was a difficult feat with the current and wind.  While on their side, we were towed to the nearby boatyard.  It was all done with great professionalism.  We were greeted by several dock hands to grab the lines and tie us up at the boatyard dock.  What service!  All for 100$!  I felt much better doing it this way, as right now I am not trusting our engine - even if we did get it started.

"We heard you wanted a tow?  The harbor patrol is here to help!"

"We will pull your boat along side our boat."

Watching for boat traffic.

You can see how Malo is tied along side of the harbor patrol boat.

Here's a line to catch!

Thanks to Monterey Harbor Crew!

Next is Malo getting hauled out at the boatyard with the travel lift.

Malo's bottom gets a power wash.

Eric is checking the damage to the keel from the anchor rode.



Malo is getting brought to her new spot at the boatyard by the travel lift.

Here is Malo's new spot with a ladder to get up into the boat.  We are able to stay in the boat while she is getting worked on.




Angle start working on the repair work to the keel.  We decided to have the boatyard do the repair as they have all the equipment, sanders, vacuums etc to meet the safety and environmental regulations.  They hope to get us back in the water in  two and half days. This is much faster than I thought.  But no complaints.  



I decided to take a bike ride along the bike path to unwind from the day.  Also, the sanding and pounding noise on the keel was not that enjoyable to listen to. It was a beautiful and scenic ride.


























Misty coordinates the crew at the boat yard and she lives on her boat at the yard.  The best thing is, she cruises around on her pink bike!




While on the hard, we cannot put water down our drain.  I reheated some stir-fried rice for dinner, but then to do the dishes, I put the dirty dishes in the blue pail, and lowered it down with a rope.  I did the same with my showering stuff.  The biggest safety hazard is the ladder, so I am being very careful.  Having both hands free is most helpful.  And....the shower room was clean and the water felt delightful.



We finally heard from Kevin the mechanic around 7 pm.  He was on his way over to take out the fuel injector.  He plans to bring them to a tractor shop in Salina in the morning.  Our engine is a Universal, but it is really a Kubota engine.  Apparently, there are many farms in the vicinity, so that is fortunate for us.  

Kevin is a small guy that can do "boat yoga" very well.  He is actually from CT and went to New   England Technical College for diesel mechanics in Warwick, RI.  It's a small world, as that is on the East coast not far from my home town in CT.  He went right to work removing the injector.

It was a busy day for us in Monterey Bay.  What will tomorrow bring?

Moving and Killing Two Birds With One Stone

Monterey Harbor from Municipal Wharf

Malo has had a great spot on this dock.  But 14 days is enough.  She will be moving tomorrow - not far - just to the other marina that is in Monterey Harbor.   

Slowly we are zooming in on our engine starting problem.  We got a new starter in Half Moon Bay which was our last port.  Now in Monterey, we have unsuccessfully tried to leave 3 times but we cannot leave because of air in the fuel lines.  We have figured that the fuel injectors are bad and need to be replaced.  Our mechanic Kevin and his "parts person" is trying to figure which type we need to then order them.  I mentioned to  Dan that this could be a long wait to get sorted out. Why not get our boat pulled at Monterey Boatworks and repair the keel that experienced damage from an anchor rode   that wrapped it while we were in Drakes Bay.  He thought it was a great idea and jumped right on it. This would save us from hauling out in Ensenada, Mexico which is what we were planning.  So that is why this post is called "Killing Two Birds With One Stone".

Dan and I did a lot of cleaning and investigating our engine to try to locate this air leak. We could start the engine after a lot of bleeding the air.  But the next morning, it would not start again.   I noticed a small amount of fuel under the nuts of 3 of the 4  injectors.  Based on this and some further research, we have hopefully determined the problem.  The pencil below is pointing to the leak.

Dan and I walked over to the boatyard to see if they had any openings to get the boat hauled out.  We are scheduled for 1:30pm tomorrow afternoon.  The mechanic will be able to work on the engine even if it is "on the hard" or up on land.  He plans to take out the old injectors tomorrow late afternoon to be sized for replacements, since we cannot really go by part numbers.

Meanwhile,  I have gone to the beach the past few days.  It has been hot here, and it has been enjoyable to get wet, even if only part way.  I have also enjoyed bringing a book and reading, as the waves crash onto the shore.

Today, it was not as much surf and I actually got totally wet for a few seconds.  The water is cold, there is a strong current, and thus it is not great for swimming.  But it is peaceful to sit on the beach.

Do you notice that BIG monstrosity in the distance?  Yup, another cruise ship snuck in during the night.  Monterey was invaded with lots of people again.

This morning I took the SUP board out for a paddle.  I did not go for long, as the water seems a bit swirly for me, and there were boats coming and going that I constantly watched for.  Plus the harbor is loaded with wildlife and there is always the chance a harbor seal, sea lion or sea otter will pop up nearby.  I really have not seen a harbor with more visible and active sea life than Monterey Bay.  It is truly amazing.

When you can't sleep, you blog...

I've been trying to sleep for 5 hours now and decided it just wasn't working.  So I got up, edited photos and decided why not write a blog?

We are hopefully heading farther south tomorrow morning.  Perhaps my nerves are up I do not know.  We have tried to leave Monterey Bay a few times already and found our engine was not working.
We've worked  a lot on the engine ourselves, trying to bleed the air out of the fuel lines after an oil and filter change.  We've enlisted the help up 3 mechanics.  Each one contributed something to the  dilemma.  Finally the third one hit the nail on the head.

Mechanic #1 

Mechanic # 2 - Eric - Monterey Boatyard

Mechanic # 3 - Kevin  - Blue Water Marine

I've already talked about mechanic #1 in a former post.  Eric from Monterey Boatyard came and worked on the engine.  He was good, methodical in his approach but finally said it was a bigger problem than he could tackle.  He called Kevin from Blue Water Marine and gave him the scoop.  We called Kevin who suggested a new copper washer on the bleed valve of the secondary air filter.  Immediately, Dan and I hopped on the bikes and off we went to find this little "copper" washer.  We went to 4 places with no luck.  We bought something similar but not the real deal.  We installed it, and it worked better.  The next day the engine still would not start.  Dan decided, we needed to ask Kevin if he could stop over.

Kevin put together a few washers he had kicking around in his truck, he adjusted a few things like the idle and worked magic on the engine in only a few minutes.  He preferred copper washers however did not have any, but it worked.  He really knew what he was doing.

Dan and I went off on our bikes again in search of these "copper" washers, to eventually find them at a motor cycle shop.  We went back, Dan switched to the copper washers and the engine has run well since.

Thank you to all you mechanics that helped us out.  In the meantime, we learned a lot more about our engine.  Needless to say, I am glad it is working.

We took an early morning walk along the beach and the Pelicans were going crazy feeding on fish.  They were amazing to watch them dive into the water.  I really could not catch it on my iPhone.

The Pelicans were very happy after their breakfast.


















This morning,Dan and I took a great bike ride on the bike trail that heads south of Monterey into a town called Pacific Grove.  The waves were up and the coast line was stunning.  I continued on a little farther on my bike, as Dan turned back to protect his deteriorating knee.  Here are some photo's from that trip.

Dan is happily resting after the engine problems and a nice bike ride.  The boat and crew is ready to depart in the morning.  Now perhaps I can go to sleep.