The unexpected comes in many forms. On Thursday, when an overly high tide caused the electricity in the marina to trip off, that meant that no work could be done with power tools, unless the battery-operated drill didn't drain its charge. But that wasn't the unexpected that thwarted my progress on Robin.
I had made an arrangement the afternoon before to have an electronics company look at Robin to give me estimates on three jobs: Recharging the refrigeration, installing the single sideband radio and replacing the several electrical switch panels with one modern one. I had to be at the company's dock between 7:30 and 8 a.m.
John Morrison was on board at 6:50 to help. I'd completed my morning run, taken my shower and was just finishing breakfast when he arrived.
We set about casting off the dock lines, and when we had only three still attached to the pilings, I started the engine.
It is a habit to look over the port quarter when the engine first fires to see whether there is water coming out with the exhaust. There should be. That's the cooling water that is sucked up from under the boat, passes through a radiator surrounded by the onboard antifreeze mixture, absorbes heat from the antifreeze and then gets pumped out the exhaust. The radiator is called a "heat exchanger."
I saw water spurting out as I looked over the side, but just then I saw a stream of water also coming from the bilge pump -- a stream like a garden hose turned on full.
Then I glanced back at the exhaust and only a sputtering of water was escaping. I mentioned the fact to John just as the bilge stopped draining, and then I kept looking at the exhaust.
Normally, water should come out in spurts. That's fine. But the spurts should be rhythmical. These were puny and only occasional.
Then another strong stream shot out of the side of the boat from the bilge.
What the . . .?
Then the combination of evidence that I was witnessing started to suggest the problem.
I dashed down the companionway ladder, flung out the boards and ladder steps to open up the engine compartment, and there I saw it: Water shooting out of the heat exchanger and spraying all over the engine and the engine compartment.
I reached up to the cockpit and turned off the engine. When I examined the heat exchanger more closely, I saw that a bolt had fallen out of the front end, allowing the water inside to escape.
I found the bolt. It had broken off at the threads, which meant that there was still part of the bolt inside the heat exchanger. That meant I had to dismantle the device, find the broken bolt, clean the heat exchanger once I had it apart and then reassemble it.
If I didn't run into anything more unexpected.
But I did.
To service the heat exchanger, you have to drain the antifreeze from the engine by means of a petcock on the lower side of the engine. When I went to use the petcock, I discovered that it had fallen off, apparently from corrosion.
The engine isn't seven years old yet. This never should have happened. In fact, when I called Beta Marine, the company that made the engine, their representative, Farren, told me he'd never heard of a petcock corroding off.
I will not blame Beta for the problem. There has been more corrosion in the engine compartment than I would have expected, and I guess it must have something to do with Robin other than the engine.
In any case, I canceled the visit to the electronics firm. I didn't really have a choice. I attempted then to clean the heat exchanger, but there was too much corrosion to get it apart. So I called Farren back, he gave me the name of a Beta dealer in Cambridge, I drove to that boatyard and arranged for a professional to look at Robin.
I did get the V-berth bulkhead painted, and I did complete repairs on the splintered rubrail and caprail.
So two steps forward and one step back.