Month: June 2019

With Blue Opal alongside for the week, and the new water pump installed, I figured it was a good time to change the oil and the oil filter. Borrowed the oil vacuum from the club, and started the engine up to warm up the oil. As I’m pottering around waiting for the engine to warm…

The new pump arrived late on Thursday, and reached my desk on Friday. It’s a nice looking bit of kit, though completely absent of markings to tell you who made it, or what the part number is! Appears to be a cast unit, with a slightly rough surface; not painted in Yanmar grey, but I…

One of the things missing from Blue Opal is power in the master cabin. She was built at a time when USB ports were barely a thing, and cigarette socket power was usually provided by the engine (which she has). So, simple project – take advantage of my new-found ability to run power into the…

Getting Blue Opal’s water pump off was a bit harder than I expected; the last time I did it, I made sure to grease the threads so that things would move easily. Things did not move easily, and I had to resort to a hammer tapping the spanner to get the bolts to move. I…

I’ve noticed a little rust mark on the engine pan, right under the raw water pump, for the last while. There’s been the occasional drip, and I was getting ready to take the pump off and check the gasket and impeller as part of the routine maintenance. Last night, as I tidied up from the…

Last weekend, Dad and I spent most of three days taking out the head, and the old hoses, and laying in new Vetus sanitation hose. We hooked everything up, tightened up any jubilee clips where there were leaks, and promptly discovered that the Whale diverter valve had failed. I ordered one from a UK company…