Oh woe is me -- trip is on indefinite hold

I'm still back at my marina in New Bern, NC. Engine trouble.

I thought I should better troubleshoot the mild antifreeze leak here rather than on the way and have to stop at another marina and pay 80 - 100 dollars a day while effecting repairs and/or awaiting repair parts.

Well I got back and was sure the leak was coming out of the fresh water circulation pump due to the antifreeze seen in the mat under the engine -- directly under the pump however, there was no sign of a leak on the pump.

Saturday morning I thought I would get started and remove the pump. In preparation to drain the antifreeze I removed the mat and I found it covered on the underside on the port side with antifreeze! The deepest puddle was under the area below that circulation pump so now I was not sure it was the pump. In describing the findings to some "dock loafers" I was reminded that the absorption mats do not absorb water -- only oil!! Aaaack that was it. The antifreeze dripped from somewhere right through the mat and collected at the lowest point which was directly under the cooling pump.

I decided more investigation was necessary. I cleaned the catch pan and lined it with plain white paper towels. I then ran the boat in the slip for an hour and no leak appeared. After lunch I went out on the river and ran the boat hard for another 2 hours and still no leak. I thought one other thing I could do was discharge the house batteries very low and then take the boat out and with a heavy load on the alternator belt -- which also turns the circulation pump -- maybe the leak would then appear.

Sunday morning I took the boat out on the river and ran it hard up to Union Point in New Bern and anchored for lunch then returned to the marina. Still no leak. Grrrr. Monday morning still no leak showed. I decided to order the new pump and just take it with me -- they promised me the pump on Tuesday. I checked the catch pan again Monday night and no leak.

Well Tuesday morning while waiting for the pump to be delivered I did some small cleaning tasks and just as an after thought checked for the leak --- damn some paper towels were wet with antifreeze!! They were on the port side near the rear of the engine. After looking very hard I found a drip hanging from a freeze plug at the rearmost position of the exhaust manifold. It was difficult to view since it was upside down and only 2 inches clearance under it. It was badly corroded and no way could it be replaced in position. The exhaust manifold would have to be removed.

Well I wasn't doing anything today and I have never undertook a major diesel repair before. However having rebuilt 6 car engines and 4 automatic transmissions over the last 30 years I thought I could tackle this project. It went surprising well for an old fat man. I forgot that when I had done those other projects I was much younger and probably 40 lbs lighter and much more flexible. Ohh well.

Once it was out I ordered all the parts I'll need to replace all 8 of the freeze plugs in the unit and associated hoses and gaskets, and I'll clean the heat exchanger since it is integrated into the the exhaust manifold housing. I'll do that from home since I have all the necessary tools in my garage. Karen will come get me tomorrow so I'll be working from home these next week to 2 weeks. At that time I'll decide if we continue the trip. I might just scrub the trip for this season.

This morning I was looking at the box with the new circulation pump and trying to decide where to store it when it occurred to me -- why stow it? The current unit is 24 years old and has 3000 hours on it. Probably not far from failure anyway so I decided to "stow" it on the engine... Yep I removed the old one today and will take it home so I can transfer two hose bibs to the new pump and then paint it to match the engine.. I like fresh paint.