Good Mood #3/22

Because I’m Covid-negative again, I spent Monday in Deganwy having another non-sailing day on Good Mood. I pulled up the list of outstanding jobs and cracked on. Top of the list were a couple of ‘done’ jobs from my last visit:

1. Run up the engine for the first time this year! (not sure the exhaust was popping correctly though)
2. Check the state of the freshwater leak

The engine/exhaust issue has been nagging at me for the last week and a half, so the first thing I wanted to do was to check that the exhaust was popping correctly. This is an important function. As well as pushing out engine fumes, the exhaust is also a water conduit from the engine cooling system. This is seawater that has been sucked up, been circulated around the engine, and is then ejected through the exhaust system. If there is no water/popping out of the exhaust, the engine isn’t being cooled. And that’s how a lot of marine/shipboard fires start – in the engine bay – due to an overheated engine.

I videoed the problem, the fix, and the solution here. Surprisingly, it took less than 20 minutes to find and fix the problem, but this meant that I could cross the first job off the list. Again.

By the time I had to leave, the joblist looked like this:

1. Run up the engine for the first time this year! (again)
2. Check the state of the freshwater leak (again)
3. Powerwash and scrub the decks (looking lovely now!)
4. Clean out the cockpit drains
5. Check the Nav lights
6. Check the deck lights
7. Check the anchor lights
8. Check the water pump/taps
9. Check the water heater
10. Pull out and inspect the liferaft

I’m gradually whittling the jobs down. 🙂