Malo, A Boat Named Bad

We are still in Monterey, a little longer than expected.  In fact, we tried to leave twice already and this morning proved no different.  For some reason I do not understand, Monterey does not want us to leave.  This morning we were all set to depart.  There was a beautiful sunrise, the boat was ready, we were ready......

BUT... the engine would not start...still air in the fuel lines.   Oh no, so Dan and I walked over to the boat yard to see if another mechanic could help.  It was another beautiful morning in Monterey Harbor, but my spirit was a little down.  I really do not do well with lots of engine problems. And it seems we have our share.

At he boatyard, we met their mechanic Glen, who seemed knowledgeable about diesel engines.  It sounds like he might come over tomorrow to take a look at the engine to determine what the problem is.  We have our fingers crossed.




In the meantime we walked along a pier and came across these sea lions basking in the sun  and/or doing their protective rock barks.

 

And this one is barking to protect or claim his rock!



The bigger collection of sea lions is on the rock breakwater.  There is a gate to keep people away.  We think it maybe the younger sea lions so it might be their school.  It is certainly more crowded.



Now that I have time to do my blog, I need to back track a few days, over the weekend.  There was a Californian High School State wide sailing regatta right off our marina.  It was very exciting.  Here are some photo's from that event.



The boats are CFJ's which stand Club Flying Juniors.  The high school teams came from the entire state of California.  The boats are 12 feet long.  This event lasted for 2 days.



The weather was terrific and a pretty strong wind made for some interesting launching of the boats.
















It was fun to see all the action of the sail race.  Dan enjoyed it too, as it brought back memories of his younger years when he used to enter regattas in San Diego.






I use my bicycle to run all sorts of errands.  I am so glad that we brought the bikes as they have been invaluable for me.  I have shopped at Trader Joe's several times while here in Monterey.  It is probably a good thing, that my panniers are not too big, as it prevents me from stocking up on too many groceries.

We needed to get an additional 5 gallons of diesel fuel from the fuel dock.  I offered to go with my little red wagon.  I followed the bike path to the next marina where the fuel was.



When did we start having engine problems?  Our engine was running pretty well.  The starter went in Half Moon Bay and that held us up so we bought another one and replaced it.  Malo was happy after that and the engine worked well.

The problem all started with some preventive maintenance called...changing the fuel and oil filters and doing an oil change.  This was something Dan thought should get done, as we were approaching the 100 hours of use on the engine since we sailed her up from Alameda 18 months ago.

The picture above is Dan removing the fuel filters.   You can see how messy our salon gets when maintenance is done.  Tools, supplies and spare parts get stowed throughout the boat.  Then I have to tare things apart to find them all.



The picture below shows Dan pulling the oil out of the engine with a special oil extractor.




The marina has a locked shed where all of the used oil, filters and other hazardous materials get put.  It was a clean, organized and well labeled room.  Below Dan is dumping the used engine oil into a larger 55 gallon drum.



Once this was completed we thought we were ready for departure the next day.  But:  the engine didn't want to stay running.  Dan researched the internet, read his book on diesel mechanics and we tried to bleed the lines of air.  I worked with him as best I could.  We spent 4 hours on this and it was still not right.  It was a Friday after 5 pm, so we knew the boatyard shop would be closed.  It meant waiting until Monday to get some help.

I was walking off the dock and started to chat with Anthony who was doing outside sanding on another boat.  I asked if he knew of any mechanics around?  It turns out his boss knew a lot about diesel engines and he gave me his card.  Immediately, I shared the card with Dan who called Brick from Bricks Marine Service. They chatted about engine stuff and set up an appointment for Saturday morning.  Great I thought.

Anthony

Brick and Dan worked on the engine for some time.  Brick said once air gets in these old Universal engines, it takes a lot of bleeding to get the air out.  (great I thought, at least there is a solution).  They both worked on bleeding the fuel lines.  Eventually the engine started and stayed started.  The following day, we finished the deal and Dan and Brit shock hands.  Great I thought!  Little did I know, but the engine was still not totally right and we ended up going to see the boatyard mechanic today.



Meanwhile, we chatted with our live-aboard neighbor Jim.  He shared a lot of fishing stories as he likes to fish off his sail boat.  He also knew a lot about the various fishing boats at the marina as he has lived here for a while.  I found the information very interesting. Here is a picture of Jim and his boat below.




So we are still at the Monterey Marina and have not left to go sailing.  Instead I got to finish my blog and not leave it dangling.  It takes lots of patience to have a boat with an engine.  I think that is why all of my previous boats were of the self-propelled variety: kayaks, row boats, rowing shells, windsurfers, surf bikes and canoes.  Monterey is certainly a beautiful place to be for the time being.

Today, I feel like these paddlers on this outrigger canoe have the right idea.  No motors!