Maintenance

By Scott Dodgson

The next morning I handed the keys to the scooter to Laura and a pile of cash to go food shopping. In general finding a large grocery store is difficult unless you are in a big city. Luckily Rhodes has a relatively large store five km from the port. Laura and Beth left on their little adventure while attended to the maintenance. I changed the oil and filter on the Ford Lehman six cylinder. Over the years I have found most boaters hate to change the oil. I hate changing the oil because it requires hand pumping five quarts of oil out of the engine. It is messy and time consuming. So I installed an electric pump. If you buy a boat, build a boat make sure you have a system installed. Trust me you will thank me in the end. It is a simple procedure. At the bottom of the oil pan I took out the drain plug and installed a brass fitting. Using oil resistant hose and two clamps I ran the hose up to a pump which I mounted in the side of the bulk head. Make sure the hose is free from constriction as the motor vibrates. I used an old water pump I had laying around, but mini fuel pump will do. I grounded the switch to the engine and a hot lead. Then I took a five foot section of clear water hose, mainly because it is easy to coil and store attached it to the pump. I always have an empty five gallon oil pail to discharge the oil into and a full pail to fill the motor again with oil. One other note I used a wine cork to seal the end of the hose. The procedure is simple start the engine let it run until warm, turn it off, put the hose in the empty pail and throw the switch. Five minutes later you are pouring oil back into the engine. Next I checked the sea strainers. While the sea cock was closed I checked the zincs. I especially paid attention to the zinc in the heat exchanger. For some reason they seem to go fast. Next I checked the fuel filters. I repeated the same procedures with the generator. One other area of concern was the water maker. I changed those filters without fail. On a charter boat we use a lot of water and although I held nine hundred gallons of water ten to eleven people can run through that water in a day and a half. With the hatches closed and my pails of used oil sitting on the quay I waited for the fuel truck to arrive. The fuel truck would take used oil and recycle it for a small fee. I made a check of all the heads, water faucets and lights. When I was satisfied I went on deck and check all the rigging, lights and sails. I hired a kid who was looking to earn some money to polish all the stainless steel and brass. By the time Laura and Beth returned I was enjoying a beer satisfied my yacht was ready to go.