Day 22-23 of the 1st Voyage: In which we find that much like plane crashes, bad things always seem to come in threes.

Remember how I mentioned earlier that this was our shakedown cruise (i.e. “better here than out there”)? Well come on over, baby, there’s a whole lotta shaking going on! Where should I start? The diesel engine, the battery banks, or the fire?

When we limped into Campbell River on Sunday, we knew something about the diesel wasn’t copacetic. We were hoping it was a clogged fuel filter—that the engine just wasn’t getting what it needed at the higher speeds—so off we hurried to the marine supply store to pick some up along with two new 12 volt batteries. The Captain changed out the fuel filters, went to start the engine to pump some diesel through them, and nothing happened. And no, it wasn’t just the fuel filters being mischievous, it was definitely something to do with the motor itself. Where did that come from? The Captain would have to think on that one. In the meantime, back to the 12 volt batteries. Raven has several “battery banks”—there are eight 24 volt house batteries for the big systems, a separate bank just for the engine starter, and two 12 volt batteries that not only run the various electronics (including GPS and our sailing instruments) but also start the generator (VERY important as this is where we get most of our power when anchoring and/or at a dock with no shore power.) Lately, the 12 volts had not been keeping a charge. Not being able to find replacements in any of the ports we’d visited so far, the Captain had made do with a battery charger. But here in Campbell River, we found some. So as the Captain pondered the engine conundrum, he set about pulling out the old 12 volts and installing the new ones. Easy-peasy. Or so we thought. The first flip of the switch and it blew out the 12 volt battery isolator. Not good. And the stores were closed. That will have to wait. Back to the engine. A couple hours later, he remembers a fuse that was changed out over two years ago when we were having electrical issues. He found a new fuse, switched it out, turned the engine over, and it roared to life!  One down, one to go.

The next morning, the Captain obtained a new battery switch and set to work pulling out the old one and installing the new one. No easy task. Open up a panel or a floorboard in a boat and it’s organized chaos—wires, hoses, pumps, motors, fuses, tanks, more wires, more hoses, extra bags of dog food (they had to go somewhere) all mashed and mushed into impossibly small spaces. With great effort, the Captain got the new switch wired up and installed, flipped the switch, and BLAMMO! Sparks! Smoke! Acrid burning plastic smell! We quickly shut down all the power and opened every door, porthole and hatch, and turned on every fan on the boat. It took nearly an hour for the smoke to finally dissipate. A call to a marine electrician was made. Luckily, the damage was minimal—two wires burned up—and the culprit was found. The manufacturer of the 12 volt batteries had labeled positive as negative and vice versa. It’s a wonder we didn’t blow up the whole boat! After a few hours, all was fixed, cleaned up, and working again. Success! All systems go! Except…the diesel would not go down without a fight. We tried turning over the engine for good measure and it struggled. “Fuel filters and fuses? Ha! Go big or go home is my motto!” said the engine. “I’m sending one warning shot across the bow, then I’m bringing out the big guns. Let’s see how they feel about water in the oil!”

To the uninformed (myself included), water in the oil is not a good thing. At best, it’s a messy job to set it right; at worse, it can cause your pistons to seize up which pretty much destroys the entire engine. A diesel mechanic was brought in. And the prognosis? Not good. A cracked exhaust manifold. A part that was made exclusively for Nauticat. And, further, a part that was discontinued 10 years ago. So the search has begun, and now we wait . . .