Success! (sort of)

What a day! It was a very lovely day in Daytona Beach today. At least the little bit I saw of it when my head wasn’t stuck in the engine compartment of my boat! I started with some blogging. (Finished up the To The Keys entry, finally.) Then did some yoga at the lovely Riverfront Esplanade (which is a fancy way of saying riverwalk!) I explored a bit more of it today, and it is truly beautiful. There’s even a small playground and splash pool for the kids.

Further along I came to a lovely war memorial with bronze replicas of our nation’s founding documents.

It was surprisingly emotional for me. As some of you know, I am a military retiree. I started out in the Army in 1983 and did a tour in Germany before getting out in 1988 and joining the Coast Guard. This was just before the Berlin Wall came down, the war in Bosnia started, and then the almost continual wars in various and sundry places ever after. I feel extremely fortunate to have missed having to go to war; the remaining careers of most of my comrades that remained in the Army consisted of almost constant deployments into dangerous areas. Hard on the soldier, hard on the family. Some paid the ultimate sacrifice. And those were whom this memorial was honoring.

I’ve always felt a bit guilty getting the same military benefits as those who have seen combat. I almost cringe when I take advantage of a military discount and the clerk says, “Thank you for your service.” I want to say, “No, the thanks go to those who have been scarred for life, serving in combat.” Yes, there were dangerous times in the Coast Guard, and we served the public when we rescued people. But, it somehow just isn’t the same. Just feeling empathetic and grateful to those who were forced to face the enemy while doing their service. If that fits anyone reading this, I want to sincerely thank you for your service.

After yoga, I went back to the boat intent on concentrating on replacing the fuel line from the tank to the primary filter, but realized that I really needed to do dishes after like three days, because they were taking up space I needed for my tools! So, I knocked those out first, and then started on the engine.

And here is where something serendipitous happened: Just as I was about to start cutting my new fuel line to fit the configuration I had decided upon, I was called by Steve Mitchum out of the blue who was just checking up on how things were going. I was in a quandary because based on the Racor filter instruction manual, I was supposed to install the electric priming pump downstream of the filter so that the filter could properly separate the water out of the fuel. (If fuel is “pushed” into the filter, it can emulsify the water into the fuel preventing the filter from accomplishing one if its main functions.) So, I had decided to keep that pump where it was. But then I couldn’t figure out how I was going to prime the system. How would I get fuel from the tank, up to the Racor filter? I really didn’t think the electric pump was strong enough to pull it all that way. (These pumps work better pushing than pulling.) So, right at this juncture, Steve called, and so I asked him about it. Like Lance’s recommendation of a few days back, Steve also recommended moving the electric pump to right after the tank so that it could push the fuel through the system. Not only would this allow priming of the entire system, but would almost eliminate the suction part of the system when the pump was on to make it easier to find the crack or loose fitting where I was sucking air. In other words, it’s very difficult to find where the system might be sucking in air, but much easier to see fuel seeping out somewhere.

I mentioned to him the Racor instructions about installing the electric pump downstream, and he pointed out that I wasn’t going to have the pump on all the time–just to prime and bleed the system–so the water emulsification thing wouldn’t be an issue. Duh! Of course, he was right, and so that solved the priming issue.

However, moving the electric pump closer to the tank meant that I needed to use 3/8″ fittings rather than the 1/4″ fittings that it needed where I first installed it in the system. I didn’t have what I needed, which meant that I’d have to go back to Ace Hardware and hope they had them.

So, grabbed the bicycle and rode the 2.6 miles to Ace, only to discover, after trying to find a solution with the helper, that they didn’t have anything that would work. The Ace guy suggested I try Osceola Plumbing, just a mile down the road, because “they have everything plumbing related.” So, I hopped on the bike and headed there.

What an interesting place! Felt like I was going back to the ’50’s!

It certainly had every kind of fitting imaginable! I wish I’d have known about this place a few days ago, because I would not have needed to go anywhere else!

The thing that most made it feel like going back in time was the old “take the ticket to the window” thing. The guys at the counter quickly found what I was looking for and “rang me up”, producing a receipt, which I then had to take to the window 10 feet away to actually make my payment. Very quaint!

I beat feet back to the boat, excited to have a plan, all the components, and the confidence that I might actually pull this off! I took my time, was very deliberate, did the plumbing and then the electrical and when it was finally done, I hit the On switch for the pump to see if I was actually going to be able to pull fuel from the tank and get it to the now-empty Racor filter cannister. Sure enough, up came the fuel as advertised. I quickly bled the system, grabbed the screwdriver to jump the starter to see if the engine would actually start again and….

So, the good news is that the engine started. That I successfully replaced the main fuel line and added an electric priming pump and a shutoff valve, and everything actually works! Amazing.

The bad news is that after tracing every hose and every fitting to try to find any leaks (which is how air could be getting into the system), I did find a small leak on the fitting where the fuel hose leaves the mechanical lift pump before going to the secondary filter. That would have to be fixed.

I decided to call Lance up to get his opinion about it, and we ended up talking for a couple of hours, sending photos back and forth, brain storming ideas, pulling out the old mechanical lift pump that I removed when I was at anchor last weekend and comparing it with the new one I installed, etc. I’ve decided the simplest solution is to change that fuel line from compression fittings to thread and barb types with a flexible hose instead of the rigid one there now. That means back to the stores to find the right fittings. Unfortunately, Osceola Pluming isn’t open on the weekends, which means that if Ace Hardware and none of the other hardware or auto parts stores have what I need, I’ll either have to wait until Monday, or exercise my other option, which is actually cutting away part of the fuel pump to make the existing compression fitting work better–something I don’t feel very comfortable doing!

So, it’s been a long day! I skipped breakfast to get started on the engine, had a quick lunch at 3:00 pm, and am just now (10:40 pm) throwing together some dinner after a quick shower. Tomorrow, if I’m able to find the fitting I need, throw them on the engine, and re-bleed it, I will try (if the tides are right) to take the boat out and test it under load at high RPM again to see if all this work has solved the problem. Stay tuned!