Went up to see Windsong this weekend to get some of the remaining chores done before we take her down the coast. I was solo, so didn’t get to take her out for a ride unfortunately. I gave up on the electric oil change pump and purchased a manual vacuum pump to replace it. West Marine was having a sale on some other items so I also purchased a few things that I needed before we headed out: a backup handheld VHF, handheld GPS (Garmin Oregon 400c was on sale), new flares and the oil change pump.
When I got to the boat I tried my newly rebuilt manual bilge pump and discovered that it had stopped working for some reason. I just replaced the major parts on it so I had no idea why it wouldn’t work anymore. It takes two people to remove it, so I’ll have to wait for a friend to come to troubleshoot it. Needless to say, I was pretty upset to find it not functioning once more. Last weekend it worked perfectly after we finished installing it. But now…nothing.
I also began to remove bungs and some trim around the boat to take home and begin more wood restoration. I figured that there is a lot of wood that needs to be stripped and varnished, better start now than later.
Then it was onto the engine: oil change and stuffing box tightening.
Pumping out the oil:
The oil change was smooth and uneventful. Getting it finally done was a happy occasion though. After the oil change I focused on the stuffing box. It was still leaking slowly, not as fast as when we stopped the engine a week ago. But still leaking more than it should. The problem is that the locking nut is stuck on its threads and wont budge. I can loosen up the packing nut (causing water to flow in fast), but I cannot tighten it anymore (needs to be tightened to stop water) because the locking nut is in the way. I used PB Blaster on the locking nut but that didn’t do much to help. I didn’t leave it on there for a long time before I tried, so maybe it has had some time to work and will be easier next time…but I’m not confident in it. Does anyone have any ideas on how the heck to get the locking nut loose?
Here is the whole unit:
Here it is with the packing nut loose, and you can see the locking nut stuck there:
Any help on that problem would be appreciated. I’ll be heading home this weekend to see family for Thanksgiving. Then the following week I will come back out to the boat and begin preparations for the journey South. December might be tight to get her out of there due to busy weekends, but January should be favorable to finally move her.
To see more visit Windsong’s blog at http://erickswanderlustblog.blogspot.com/
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