South from Alaska - Skagway
Skagway 3rd June 08
It is Tues 1030 hrs and we are preparing to leave. It is 3 weeks today that
we left Victoria.
With the engine smoke problem now solved, we hope, we are waiting for the
tide to rise so we are not against the current too much as we head South for
the first time.
We speculated about the cause of the smoke. As the engine appeared to run ok
at lower revs it did not seem to be a basic engine malfunction or breakdown.
there are no mechanics in Skagway, just handy men and women. we could not
reach Ben Gartside in Victoria until after the weekend, yesterday, in fact.
It seemed to us that the engine did not have enough air or too much fuel at
the higher revs. We looked at all the filters we could think of. John donned
his wet suit and went to inspect the propeller to see if it was damaged but
it was as clean as a whistle and the shaft undamaged. We tested the
injectors by bleeding each one individually and then restoring. No air
bubbles.
Then Ben returned our call. Thankfully the cell was working on my anywhere
in North America plan. After listening to John describe the symptoms and
tell him about the tests Ben related a story about a similar engine he has
sold new which had developed similar symptoms. After tearing the engine
apart he had finally looked at the manifold and found it carbonned up.
john true to his industrious nature immediately set to work to strip off the
manifold and exhaust. As room is limited to one in the confined space I went
shopping for groceries and my 3 rd attempt to email my reports. I returned
laden with bags form the mile and a half return trip and no success with the
emailing to find John, sitting on the dock busily chipping away at the
inside of the manifold. He happily showed me the slag attached to the inside
walls of the manifold that he was chipping out with an assortment of tools
artfully bent by John in pursuit of getting around the bends in the casing
There was quite the assortment of bent screwdrivers, files, coat hangers and
anything else likely to be useful.
After 3-4 hours the pieces were back together on the boat and reassembled in
the correct order and dutifully tightened with the clamps, screws and bolts.
Then the big test. With the boat moored to the dock the engine revved to
3200 without any load. No smoke. This is promising. Then in gear and the
prop driving water passed the stern the engine revved to 2900 and no smoke.
It seems that like people engines get clogged arteries and can not function
at full revs. It pays to keep those arteries clean!! This must have been a
developing problem as John mentioned that he had been aware that the engine
had been getting a little slower. With the extra use over the last few weeks
we accelerated the deterioration. The manifold will need a proper cleaning
when we return but for now we hope all is well. We will know later today.
Skagway currently has 4 cruise boats and expects 6 tomorrow. In the three
days we have been here we have seem 7 different boats. there are hundreds of
thousands of people afloat on the cruises as I type. Broadway is the main
strip and lined with stores selling expensive fur coats, silk carpets and
jewelry not to mention native arts and crafts.
In my perambulations I discovered some good restaurants 3 blocks off that
are open year round and we have had a couple of really good meals out. I
temporarily forgot about those arteries I must keep clean.
I have copied all the emails to a disk and all the photos as well. I will
mail off to Kevin and he will be able to post to the blog site. It is not
easy to get a good connection but I’ll keep trying.
Love and regards to All
Dad/Tony
