Captain's Log

December 07, 2002

Hello all,
 
So while you were all sleeping last night, Leg II of the Around Alone was very much a work in progress for me. At 10:30 p.m. I started the engine for the purpose of charging batteries to keep all the electronics on BTC Velocity running. After 10 mins the engine started to hesitate, this is not a good sound as it means trouble, then I heard an alarm on the engine panel, high temperature, on no, checked to see if water was coming out the exhaust, as it should be and it was not. Big problem. Then I shut the engine down.
 
So its late, I am looking forward to a nap and instead I am presented with a problem that must be fixed or I will lose all battery power quite quickly and have to hand steer the next 36 hours to Cape Town.
 
Luckily for me this occurrence happened in Newport, just before the prologue race to NYC and it was a burnt out impeller that caused it. ( An impeller is like a propeller that moves cooling water about the engine therefore maintaining a satisfactory temperature ) When this was replaced by a gentleman called Patrick Childress, who just stopped by the boat and asked if I needed help, right after the Newport burn out, I said yes to the help and watched him during the repair. Not as closely as I should have, but enough for me to have confidence to take apart the pump and ' have a go '.  ( Also to get some spare impellers, I bought 2 )
 
Well its 3:30 a.m. and the problem is fixed. It was the impeller that was in little pieces inside the pump. To get to this pump was a major undertaking. It involved removing fan belts, hoses, clamps, and numerous things that were ' in the way ' of the repair. Lets face it. I am not a mechanic, so this probably took longer than it should. Just for fun and not on purpose, after putting everything back together and starting the engine with fingers crossed, it became apparent that I had put the pump back the wrong way around !!! oops, I did not see a left and a right when I took it apart !! so the whole assembly had to come off again, turn around and finally it's working.
 
Great lesson in self sufficiency and that is what this race is all about. Pushing your self in many ways beyond ones normal life experience. Next time this happens, it will be an annoyance only.
 
Nap time now.
 
Alan
BTC Velocity