PA work
In the engine room we found that the custom alternator bracket that the former owner had made was missing one of its four bolts and that there was an air line used to connect the coolant reservoir and that subsequently coolant had been leaking onto the starter terminals.
We consult Rick from Salty Boys Boat Works and he advises we buy a manual oil pressure gauge so we can confirm our oil pressure. We do and it is high so high that he is concerned about our success. I call Ben Stickle from Cook Engine in Portland for a second opinion and he recommends we change the oil. He goes on to recommend we get the engine hot and add diesel to the oil for the last few minutes of running to act as a solvint to break down any thicker oil residue. The old was changed (allegedly) along with the impeller. There is no sign of this as there is no date written on the oil filter. (you should do this) We buy oil and a filter and borrow an oil change pump from the gentlemen at the marina office and change the oil. They advise us to put in an order at fisheries before 3:00 so anything we need is there in the morning.
Oil pressure?
External oil pressure gauge we installed.
While I was doing this, Madison and Tom had started to clean the terminals on the starter. Max was checking the deck plugs to see if the spotlight worked, and Har Rai was removing the plug from the main halyard’s electric mast winch.
Electric winches can be handy on bigger boats but having the switch in the cockpit behind a full canvas enclosure is very awkward.
Leaky gasket found after replacing the coolant overflow hose with spec.
After cleaning the terminals and running the engine, Madison noticed that the coolant cap was leaking. So we added a cap to the list. Fortunately this is not a special Perkins part and it was easily sourced locally.
Got off the dock and did see a trial test on autopilot in the bay.
The oil change and flush reduced the psi to 59 at WOT (wide open throttle) when it had been 70 psi at cruise RPM.