More boat projects

When we came back from our trip to the UK and US we brought with us a Sailrite sewing machine. Some might think that strange having a sewing machine onboard but it actually makes a lot of sense as it can be used to repair the sails and a host of other sewing projects.  Jude had set about making hatch covers in Mazatlan and now started on making Sunbrella canvas covers for our two outboard motors. Uncovered the strong sunshine soon damages the plastic. I made some repairs to the boat covers and we have to make a sail bag for the staysail and some covers for the kayaks. 

I decided it was about time to give our main engine a flush with Rhydlyme, a solution that dissolves any mineral build up in the raw water heat exchanger. With all that salt water going through the engine it can get quite a build up and cause the engine to run hot as the heat exchanger become less efficient. I am a real fan of Rhydlyme as it has saved me on a number of occasions and can also be used to dissolve and unblock the hoses that run to and from the head (lavatory). 

As is quite often the case, you start a project and it turns into many other projects. When I was draining the saltwater out if the heat exchanger one of the drain plugs crumbled in my hands leaving part of the old plug in the heat exchanger cover plate. Now I would have to remove the plate and extract and replace the old plug, this in turn would mean that I have to remove the whole turbo charger assembly. Things are rarely simple. On the bright side I am glad that I found this problem as at sometime in the future the plug would have fallen off and with it the salt water in the heat exchanger would have leaked out causing untold damage. I decided that as I had removed the turbo charger it would be prudent to have it serviced since I doubt it had ever been serviced.