Willy goes South

I was going to post this on Voyaging but Marin suggested here so ...
Had a long (8 hr) run to Ketchikan bucking tides (much 4.5knot running). Gotour errands done ... Eating out ect and made it to Foggy Bay. Shared the little inner cove w a big white boat and crossed Dixoin yesterday. Had some rough going and much smooth water including glassy oily seas.
Had/have an issue w a bad smell in out hot water. It's not of much use. I've determined it's not from engine coolant but related to the RV AF I put in for the winter. I used LOTS and it may have loosened up bottom sediment from the old tank .... One of the few things on Willy that didn't get attention during the refit 6 hrs ago.
Going to the west coast of Porcher Is and Pitt Is next. Then Estavan Sound ect until we get to Fjordland and then to Shearwater where I may check in next.
Ate in Smiles Cafe this morning .. Established in 1937. Many pics of the old days on the wall. All the sizable fish boats in the pics had Navy anchors and ALL had rounded sterns. Most all the pics of boats underway were obviously light in the stern.
Anchored in Very Inlet by Foggy Bay. Was next to another boat so used a conventional anchor ..... Claw.
Later
Eric

Thanks for the report Eric. We used to put a tiny amount of the "pink stuff" RV anti-freeze in our boat's water system over the coldest part of the winter. Even with multiple flashings of the tanks and entire water system in the spring the taste and smell would remain during a summer of weekly boat use.

As freezing is not really a problem down here we discontinued the practice after a few years and there are no more smell and taste issues. We keep a small pillbox heater in the lazarette during the winter that we turn on if it looks like there will be several 24 hour periods of below freezing temperatures in Bellingham, which happens perhaps once a year or so. Our water tanks are in the lazarette.

Eric
Looking forward to the reports of your trip, keep us posted!
Thanks.

Go Willy Go! Hang on tight and enjoy the ride!

Go...you good thing...and best of luck...

Thanks for the read Eric. Look foward to more, along with some pics of the trip.

Hi Eric,

Looks like you'll be headed south from PR just before I get up there by road. I'm about 2 days south from PR. If you are stuck there a little longer for some reason, I could look for you - at Rushbrook?

manyboats said:

I was going to post this on Voyaging but Marin suggested here so ...
Had a long (8 hr) run to Ketchikan bucking tides (much 4.5knot running). Gotour errands done ... Eating out ect and made it to Foggy Bay. Shared the little inner cove w a big white boat and crossed Dixoin yesterday. Had some rough going and much smooth water including glassy oily seas.
Had/have an issue w a bad smell in out hot water. It's not of much use. I've determined it's not from engine coolant but related to the RV AF I put in for the winter. I used LOTS and it may have loosened up bottom sediment from the old tank .... One of the few things on Willy that didn't get attention during the refit 6 hrs ago.
Going to the west coast of Porcher Is and Pitt Is next. Then Estavan Sound ect until we get to Fjordland and then to Shearwater where I may check in next.
Ate in Smiles Cafe this morning .. Established in 1937. Many pics of the old days on the wall. All the sizable fish boats in the pics had Navy anchors and ALL had rounded sterns. Most all the pics of boats underway were obviously light in the stern.
Anchored in Very Inlet by Foggy Bay. Was next to another boat so used a conventional anchor ..... Claw.
Later
Eric

Click to expand...

Hope I'm not insulting your intelligence/experience...but does it have a tad rotten egg smell?

Depending on the manufacturer/model of the water heater...some when the anode rod goes bad...your water smell like that for quite awhile...

Maybe a combo smell with all the pink?

Have a great trip...enjoyed the inside passage every time I did it! Unfortunately never on a rec boat to make it ALL fun...

Prince Rupert

Hey Eric, thanks for stopping into Rupert. it was great to meet you and Chris. We enjoyed the time together. Wishing you safe travels on the rest of your journey. Keep us posted when you get an opportunity or a connection. We can hardly wait to bring the Salty Bear south to meet up with you.

Cheers your friends Kevin and Melanie

Perhaps one day Willy will make it to the San Francisco estuary, spending a year exploring there, and then perhaps further south to LA/Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands.

Strait of Juan de Fuca, end of May 2012:

I wished Eric bon voyage from Thorne Bay. Willy barely left a ripple with that lovely canoe stern.

I was look'in at you too Tom. Got a picture of your DF at the Thorne Bay float as we departed. Was quietly say'in good by to TB too. Wish we'd left a little later though ... But weather is always the luck of the draw.
Ops"...... Looks like I've started a dupe thread .. Sorry.
The rain has stopped here in Echo Cove and we're about to head out for points south.
RC, sorry we missed you. Look up Salty Bear. Perhaps we can connect some time in Washington.
Paneled, No it dosn't smell like eggs. Completely different smell. I think I'll just replace the tank when we get home. The holding Tank is right on top of the hot water tank and I'm going to be working on that too ... So I'll prolly do the two bird thing. Sorry about your name .... The I-pad won't let me spell it any other way.

We were headed for Plumper Bay to wait For slack water in Seymour Narrows And saw a blurb about Brown's Bat on the west side of the channel. Checked it out and found it a very nice marina we did't even know about. Reasonable rates too but probably anything would seem reasonable after where we've been. We're waiting for the restaurant here to open at 8 so we can have breakfast and go through the narrows at 9.
Our Wabasto heater finally quit altogether so in addition to having no hot water we now have no heat. Well we do have the small bus heater while we're underway. The engine hasn't dropped off on us again but I still think it's not running the way it should. Could be all in my head though.
Most of you go down to the sea in greater comfort than what Willy offers and what we're doing frequently seems more like camping than boating. I had some nice flashbacks of life in the cabin on Camano Is when I was about 8 .... Probably about the time when dirt was forming. I remember the chill morning air in my sleeping bag while Morris Garmin (my grandmother's boyfriend) built the fire in the fireplace and the stove. Very soon us kids and women got up for breakfast. Oatmeal and the usual other things cooked on the wood stove. We usually worked a bit in the morning chopping wood and pulling on the misery whip (cross cut saw). I remember the sound of the saw and the wonderful smell of Cedar. Morris and I worked well together on the saw. Perhaps I was 10 instead of 8.
It's a beautiful morning afloat and we're looking fwd to a good days run ...... Not too long and a nice evening.

Engine finally quit. We went to Comox and spent the night. We set out for Nanimo at 0600. Got several miles south of Denman Is and she slowly quit. It slowed way down before but this time it just stopped. Dam. With great difficulty I managed to install the extra fuel pump. I lowered an anchor first from the bow and then from the stern and we still rolled in the troughs. Sweating like a pig I did all I could do and hailed another boat and the VERY nice couple towed us all the way back to Comox. We gave them money and took them out to dinner. A very nice dinner at that. They tried to give the money back several times but I prevailed and I can only hope it was an appropriate amount. Very nice people.
Now we're waiting for the mechanics to call. I'm quite sure the high pressure pump will need to come out and go to the shop but I've had other thoughts that didn't come to pass so I'll report later what evolved.
This is a very good place to wait for services. Comox is about as differen't from Thorne Bay as one could imagine. Everything is super clean, tidy and has the character of a proper English towne. Ate oatmeal on the boat and found a nice quiet bakery for coffee and stuff and read our books for awhile. This part of engine failure I can live w nicely.

Eric, I feel you pain brother. Hope you get her running again.

SD

Sorry to hear of your difficulties, but it is good to hear everyone is ok. One great thing about boaters is that most will lend a hand when needed. Comox is a great place, we stayed there for 4 days waiting for the weather to cooperate.
Maybe we will get a chance to see you around Sidney. Good luck!

Eric. We're fortunate our recent breakdowns have been under benign conditions.

manyboats said:

Engine finally quit. We went to Comox and spent the night. We set out for Nanimo at 0600. Got several miles south of Denman Is and she slowly quit. It slowed way down before but this time it just stopped. Dam. With great difficulty I managed to install the extra fuel pump. I lowered an anchor first from the bow and then from the stern and we still rolled in the troughs. Sweating like a pig I did all I could do and hailed another boat and the VERY nice couple towed us all the way back to Comox. We gave them money and took them out to dinner. A very nice dinner at that. They tried to give the money back several times but I prevailed and I can only hope it was an appropriate amount. Very nice people.
Now we're waiting for the mechanics to call. I'm quite sure the high pressure pump will need to come out and go to the shop but I've had other thoughts that didn't come to pass so I'll report later what evolved.
This is a very good place to wait for services. Comox is about as differen't from Thorne Bay as one could imagine. Everything is super clean, tidy and has the character of a proper English towne. Ate oatmeal on the boat and found a nice quiet bakery for coffee and stuff and read our books for awhile. This part of engine failure I can live w nicely.

Click to expand...

Just a thought.I'm not as familiar with marinised diesels as I am I/C diesels.If you suspect the injection pump,I would get a compression test done,and have the fuel injectors pop tested,cleaned,and balanced.The injectors being balanced will smooth up the engine some and possible provide a little more economy.A pop test,checks the pressure where the injector POPs open to spray fuel into the cylinder.Balancing the injectors insures that they all fire at the same pressure,which also affects the injector timing.When all the injectors fire at close to the same pressure,the engine will run noticeably better.This will also help eliminate the possibility of fuel dribble and washing down a cylinder causing damage.

Eric,

A breakdown is never fun, but Comox is not a bad place to wait. We are still at Shawl Bay, got 12 boats in today. Getting to be summer.

Thanks all. I can feel you guys are relating to our situation. I feel better than I should about this in that I'm quite sure when I get this thing fixed it will be a far better running engine than it has for a long time. .... possibly since we took delivery of it. From an old transfer pump I think dirt got into the high pressure pump when the yard was installing it and has effected how it has run since.
Ben2go,
I think that's very meaningful stuff and I understand some of it and will talk to the mechanic about it tomorrow. Right now I just need to get it running dependably so we can get home but perhaps much can be done here. I'll spendwhateverittakes to get it to run as good as it can. I did'nt realize there was so much that can affect how a diesel runs. I wouldn't be surprised if there are others reading your words and planing work for their engines too. So thanks very much Ben2go for the heads up information. I plan to use it well.

manyboats said:

Ben2go,
I think that's very meaningful stuff and I understand some of it and will talk to the mechanic about it tomorrow. Right now I just need to get it running dependably so we can get home but perhaps much can be done here. I'll spendwhateverittakes to get it to run as good as it can. I did'nt realize there was so much that can affect how a diesel runs. I wouldn't be surprised if there are others reading your words and planing work for their engines too. So thanks very much Ben2go for the heads up information. I plan to use it well.

Click to expand...

You're welcome.There are quite a few things that make diesels run less than optimal.Usually a good diesel mechanic can catch the problem and keep cost down.

Eric
Where are you and how are things going? Hope everything is fine, looking forward to your next post....

Hi Mike and all,
Still at Comox. Mechanics got the HP fuel pump back and it does not work. Fuel to the pump but nothing comes out. Despite that I think they'll figure it out.
Ben2go,
When I get home I'm planing on doing a s Sri us tune up per your info in your last post. That's stuff I need to know. THanks again.

manyboats said:

Hi Mike and all,
Still at Comox. Mechanics got the HP fuel pump back and it does not work. Fuel to the pump but nothing comes out. Despite that I think they'll figure it out. Did the injection pump to injector lines get primed properly?If you have fuel going into the injection pump and no fuel at the injectors,then there is an air lock inside the injection pump, or something is worn so bad that the injection pump can't supply enough pressure to fire the injector(s).
Ben2go,
When I get home I'm planing on doing a s Sri us tune up per your info in your last post. That's stuff I need to know. THanks again.

Click to expand...

You're welcome.

To reinforce Ben's point, the issue of bleeding the individual injector lines has come up from time to time on the GB Owners forum with certain types of engines. We've never had to do it with the FL120s but there are some engines that apparently require the injectors be bled as well as the filters and injection pump.

Eric did a dumb thing. When the eng quit I was in a bit of a panic to get it going before the seas got any worse so when I changed out the electric fuel pump I disconnected the FI shut down solenoid while rewiring the pump. Murphy seems to always know where I am. We figured this out when we discovered the selector rod wasn't going back and forth.
Ever hear of a FT vent plugging? I think I recall a thread on that. I'm about to drill 3/32" holes in the tank plugs (on top). I'll check on the thread. Was rough enough so even our fresh water from the water tanks was brown and w crud floating around inside. Got a very brown load of water at Shearwater. Bit by bit the boat is becoming disfunctional. We're both ready to get home. At this point I can see an OB on the stern of Willy in the future.
Ben I can't bleed two of the outlets on top of the FI pump as I don't have a box ended wrench w the slot on the end to go around the HP fuel pipes/tubes. I'll probably do some more bleeding shortly. I now have a 12mm wrench for the single (main) bleed vent for the HP pump.
Don't know where I'll get Wi-fi next. But I'll check in there/then.

OK I've talked to the Klassen mechanic and he says my idea about a plugged vent isn't far fetched at all. Could'nt find any thread on that. So I drilled 7/32" holes in the tank plugs and debuted them. Then I bled the fuel system per the mechanics instructions. I also opened all the manifold valves also per phone conversation. I'll get more fuel too. Should make it closser to a gravity feed system.
I think the rough water will be over ... most likely for the rest of the trip. Missed the morning tide so we'll pull out about 1445 for the narrows and go to Ladysmith for probably a good anchorage. Prolly won't go to town. Seems like it's been a long time since we've anchored but I'll prolly be able to find an anchor.
Later ..........

If you get this before you leave there is also nice protected anchoring water at Telegraph Harbor on Thetis and in Genoa Bay off the bottom of the Samsun Narrows.

What did I miss, I thought you were still in Comox, how was the trip to Nanaimo? Lots of great places south of Dodds Narrows. Chemanius, Thetis Harbour, Clam Bay, Wallace Island, Maple Bay and Genoa Bay are some of our favorites. Enjoy!

Eric, (when you finally get this), really sorry to hear of the mechanical woes. It is unsettling enough when that sort of stuff happens on a day trip, but when you are seriously trying to get from someplace to another over quite a distance I can imagine the angst. Hang in there buddy, and don't try to do it all yourself. See if you can get an expert to get her going good. Then you will be able to enjoy the rest of the trip.