Back in Astoria on the boat. Fortunately one of our neighbours came over during the windstorm on Saturday and lashed everything down as best he could. One of the plexiglass visors on the flybridge was smashed into a dozen pieces and the stitching failed on some of the bimini pieces but I haven't tried to put it back up yet to see the extent of the damage. We are extremely grateful for this kind neighbour!! Even some of our seat cushions were floating in the water and he managed to get them all back on board. I also paid a guy $100 to stow everything in the lazarette, which was a small price to pay for peace of mind while we were out of town.
One of the cleats we were tied to was ripped right out of the jetty. Apparently max winds were in excess of 75mph.
Just doing some quick Googling and it doesn't sound like it'll be too expensive to get the bimini fixed when the time comes. A couple hundred dollars and hopefully we'll be back in business. In the future if there's any sort of brisk breeze in the forecast it'll all be stowed beforehand.
20kt winds are currently blowing through the marina and it feels like we're at sea with all the rolling around. I can only imagine what it would have felt like on Saturday. I think we got away with one.
As for the diesel, I spoke with American Diesel last week and Brian insisted that failure of the rear main oil seal was very unlikely, even while running with excess oil. The problem was likely elsewhere.
The mechanic came back yesterday and we ran the engine for about an hour with 10 minutes of that at 2000 RPM. Over the course of the hour it only dripped two or three times! We're wondering if the loss of oil was simply old oil that had accumulated in the flywheel housing from when I previously ran with excessive oil, and maybe now it's all gone? Perhaps the lower oil level in the sump this time around was actually due to running hard for over an hour during the two bar crossings we completed last time out, and I'm falsely linking it with the dripping of old oil from the flywheel housing.
Anyway, suffice it to say that we couldn't re-create the problem. The oil's been topped up and we are ready to head out as soon as the weather improves, likely Friday or Saturday. I will implement an increased monitoring regime in the engine room and go from there. By the way, if you ever need a diesel mechanic in Astoria, I highly recommend Mark at Coast Diesel. He's very thorough and competent.
If we get a good 3-4 day weather window we will consider another overnight passage and try to put a good chunk of Oregon in our rearview mirror. Getting a little anxious about getting down to California but also not going to put ourselves in any sort of dangerous situation.
END SITREP!!
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