The MD11C, 2 cylinder, 23 hp, diesel Inboard installed orginally in the 1976 Westerly Centaur, that I own has known problems if not flushed with acid once every other season or so, in order to clear the small coolant passages along the head and cylinder walls. I'm not saying the last owner failed to properly store the engine, but I am having a hard time coming to the conclusion that the engine had the ability to seize after one time out, on top of the engine showing signs of over heating on the last trip. Although it started find and had been overhauled in 2005 with a new piston rings and sealant rings, they did not install new springs or any inner parts of the head. The rebuild would of been more efficient in my mind to spend the extra hundred dollars on new springs.
On top of proper engine maintenance there is the fact that I tore apart the front furling sail, which was rope tied to the side obviously showing signs of problems in the past. After disassembling found two completely seized bearings. This shows that the previous owner new of furling problems and failed, no neglected to fixed said maintenance. The front furler was spinning the front stay in circles instead of furling with the drum, causing unneeded wear on the standing rigging.
I wish I would of owned the boat prior, as it seems the boat had a fantastic owner from 1993-2003 which did major upgrades and installed new electronics. The boat shows the guts of having a "stowe" brain installed with the instruments to match, but the surveys since show each owner neglecting the problems and doing easy fixes in order to continue their journey with no out of pocket expenses.
This is further shown by the external VHF speaker, which was in-op when I stepped onboard. I took it apart and melted the old speaker out and had a new one installed in less then an hour. The previous owner found it better just to cut the wire....cut......instead of unplugging, or fixing the problem. This reaches even further to the speed inductor which was just filled instead of diagnosed.
Maybe it was the lack of knowledge by the previous owner, or it was the apathy. It seems that his mistakes are becoming my demise. For all you boat owners out there, take the extra time in order to properly fix the aging boat beneath your feet, and I assure you, you will have a sound vessel, and sleep better at night. Let alone the inherit fact that the next vessel I choose to purchase will show me that there are good boat owners out there. I suppose shopping for a boat over the internet, never meeting the owner, and using a surveyor I found over the internet didn't help the fact. When you are chained to the desk, with no time or money to fly in-between countries, this is what you are left with though.
This journey will not continue to be at the mercy of failed maintenance by its owner, as there is new management. Our next post should be of us departing Sagres, Portugal in route to the Canary Islands. Talk soon.
Our wood needed some oil, as well. I have messed with sealer on a previous boat and decided I would only teak oil my boat, but found a bottle of wood sealer on the boat and mistakenly used it on the teak surrounding the hull.....messy business. At least in this time of rest we were able to fix the other misfortunes as well. We also fixed the toilet, TMC manual. That I am not sure if anyone was aware of, as it was not inputting sea water from the input, but it turned out to be a gasket failure, which is fixed by manually applying suction until the bowl fills.
The amount of posts before were a sign of beating against the wind. We will try to be more informative of what is occurring the issues we are running against. We will do a cost analysis as well and post our current projection of costs. This will be higher than expected due to the clogged engine, which cause overheating, which caused the seizing.
Until Tonight.
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