Friday, April 11, 2020
This weekend was supposed to be the Easter Cruise to the Beaufort, NC docks BUT, that got canceled because that town doesn’t want us.
So instead of that, we’re doing some maintenance that’s been on my list for a while, namely replacing the coolant pump on the engine.
Everyone that’s ever worked on a boat will tell you that everything takes twice as long as normal.
Well, when the town your boat is located in is on a Covid-19 lockdown that prohibits non-residents from basically going into town, that makes things even more challenging.
Fortunately, everyone in the boating community in Oriental is awesome and willing to help as they can. So we can still call businesses, place an order, give a CC number and they will deliver to your slip! Shout out to Pat, Lori and Teresa at IWPC, and Jim at Bow to Stern Boating!!
The front of the engine had some surface corrosion and missing paint, seemingly from leaking coolant at some point in her past. While the pump and belt were off, it seemed to be the right time to wire brush and enamel paint those areas. Walmart was out of Yanmar Grey engine enamel so black will have to do.
Deciding to do this certainly added a lot of time, but it was worth it since everything was accessible. I also wasn’t thrilled using a spray can inside, but we opened some hatches, turned on a fan and it was fine. Given the challenging work conditions, it came out pretty good!