Doctor Diesel

I know, I know. Who would hire a guy who calls himself Dr. Diesel and was recommended by a guy named Shrimpy?? I guess you have to be a cruiser, or a total loon. Actually, Shrimpy is really Mike. The dog is named Shrimpy. Dr. Diesel is a former Canadian fighter pilot named Bob who lives on his boat in Simpson Lagoon. I hired Bob to fix the problem with my Westerbeke engine. Seems I sometimes have more oil than I started with, and the oil seems really thin. Not water, maybe diesel fuel. Also, engine vibrates a lot, and engine mounts are shot.

Dr. D decided to start by fixing fuel injectors. This would help it idle better, and, if the injectors were leaking or dumping too much fuel, solve the "making oil" issue. Also, need to rebuild the v-drive which needs new seals. Ordered injector nozzles and seal kit from Hansen Marine in Marblehead, MA. Took about 7-8 days to arrive. Then rebuild injectors, rebuild v-drive and replace engine mounts. All in all, about 3.5 weeks. Engine was recommissioned 2/7/14. Yeah!

On 2/8/14, we decided to move to a cleaner part of Simpson Lagoon over by the Mercure Hotel. Our friends from Day Dreamer and Elin were there. The trip over was another adventure. The channel markers that marked the crappy channel we ran aground in on the way in are gone. We tried to guess where we were last time and missed completely. Hard aground in 4.5 feet of water. (Music needs 7 to float.) Ended up kedging off, i.e. haul the anchor out with the dinghy, drop it, and use it to pull yourself off. Love my Simpson-Lawrence Sea Tiger 555 MANUAL WINDLASS!!! (As Joe Piscopo and Dana Carvey would have said "I'm going to PUMP! YOU! UP!)

On the way to the new anchorage, engine sounded like, well, not good. Called Dr D who could see me on Monday. In the meantime, decided to replace the temperature gauge, ignition switch and pre-heat switch that hadn't worked right since ingesting their share of the Bermuda Triangle on the trip south. When I test started the engine before Dr D arrived, it made a HORRIBLE SCREECHING NOISE. Of course, when the Doctor listened to it, it sounded fine. No noise. Bye bye, that will be $$$. (Actually, he tightened and adjusted a few things and didn't charge me.) I am a Dr Diesel fan!