In June, 2010, Astraea was trucked across country to her new home in the Chesapeake Bay in Gaylesville, Maryland where she is now berthed on the West River at Hartge Yacht Harbor.  She was first taken to a boat yard in San Diego where her masts were unstepped, all her rigging removed, all stanchions, lifelines, and other topside parts removed and she was prepared for her long trip across country by truck.  She was then picked up by the professional boat movers of J. Daniel Marine Trucking.  Here are some pictures of her trip across country by land. 

In March of 2010 things suddently changed for Astraea and me.  I had planned to remain retired, but a great job offer suddenly came and my plans were changed.  As of March 22, 2010, I  began a great new job in Northern Virginia just outside Washington, DC.  On April 2, I contracted with J.Daniel Marine Co to transport Astraea across 3,000 miles of the United States, by land, to her new home in Annapolis, Maryland. 

This is a major change and one that was not expected, however I am looking forward to having Astraea in Annapolis where I first began to sail at the Naval Academy many years ago as a midshipman.  Astraea and I will now enjoy the waters of the Chesapeake. 

Watch this blog for photos of Astraea as she is hauled, prepared to transport, trucked across the country, and recommissioned in Annapolis, Maryland.

Finally, at last.  It seems this engine replacement has taken forever.  Astraea and I and our crew of two were scheduled to leave at the end of October last year for Mexico with the Baja Haha.  Just before departing I discovered a slight noise in the engine that concerned me, and further analysis by several mechanics confirmed my decision to pull and open and inspect the engine.  It was discovered that the engine, a year old with 160 hours on it, had an incorrrectly designed salt water cooling system that had allowed water to enter the engine.  It was ruined (see earlier posts for the gruesome details). 

The last five months has been a frustrating experience with mechanics, insurance company, boatyard, Westerbeke, ad nauseum.  Finally the new engine has arrived in San Diego at Cogswell Marine and has had the necessary modificatons made and is ready to install.  The installation is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday March 15-16.  The engine installation itself is not that complicated, as an identical engine is being installed.  The more complex part is redesigning and reworking the wet exhaust system to ensure that sea water will not enter the engine again.  I have full confidence in Pete Cogswell of Cogswell Marine that he has a proper design.  In fact, the design that he is doing is virtually identical to the original design of the old Isuzu engine that the boatyard tore out and replaced.  We are also installing a much larger custom made wet exhaust muffler.   

Now, however, a new twist has been added.  Out of nowhere I have received a job offer for a very senior executive position.  I had really decided a  year ago that my professional career was over and my future was sailing and retirement.  Now what could be a great professional opportunity has arisen.  I will spend most of next week oboard Astraea for the engine installation and decide whether to turn down the job and go cruising now, or to take the job and go cruising later.  My feelings on this shift from day to day.  This is going to take some real introspection, some soul searching. 

But for now, engine installation time.  Finally!  Next week!  As far as the job opportunity, well, as Scarlett O'Hara famously said, "I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow."

Extensive review of the engine installation on Astraea determined that the wet exhaust system was improperly designed.  In the installation of the new engine on Astraea the design of the wet exhaust system had been done such that each time the engine was shut off the volume of water spilling down from the high point in the exhaust system was significantly greater than the vertical water lift muffler could handle.  This resulted in salt water from the wet exhaust backing up into the muffler system and then into the cylinders.  This process had apparently been going on since the engine was installed and the damage was cumulative, culminating in a point where the damage was so extensive that I could hear the knocking from the badly damaged cylinders.  It is actually quite amazing that the engine ran at all with such extensive damage.  It is apparent that it would NOT have run much longer as the corrossion was moving further into the engine with time.  Also, the height of the exhaust system loop had caused excessive back pressure, resulting in incomplete combustion and heavy carbonization and "gunking" of the engine with gooey black carbon in the culinders and valves. 

Mistakes happen.  In this case the complex wet exhaust system was not designed correctly.  Otherwise it was a beautiful installation.  I am most happy with my original decision to go with my trusted boatyard, Svendsen's, to do the repowering.  An independent mechanic would have been less expensive, but I wanted people I trusted to do this important job.  My life and my boat could one day depend on the reliability of the engine. 

Once we discovered the cause of the problem was cumulative water intrusion from the wet exhaust system and not a manufacturing fault in the engine, Svendsens quickly took responsibility and told me that they would fully stand behind their work.  The boat yard is now contacting the Westerbeke factory to attempt to expedite a replacement engine and will pay for the new engine and for the local diesel shop in San Diego to do the installation and correct the wet exhaust system. 

The reputation of Svendsen's at the marinas and yacht clubs in San Francisco is that they do the best work in the Bay Area and they stand behind their work.  I am delighted to find out first hand that repuation is well deserved. 

Hopefully we will soon be installing the new engine.  Perhaps some of the Winter cruising season in Mexico can be salvaged and the dream of cruising will become real, at last.  Better late than never.     

The engine is basically destroyed and beyond economical repair.

The engine was laid out at the diesel shop in Chula Vista like something from "CSI Diesel". All the parts laid out for inspection, analysis, and photographing. What an ugly mess. The poor combustion and the heavy salt water backflow had left it black and gooey and rusted all through the interior.


Here are some pictures of the engine removal. It was must easier than I expected. Three men had the engine out and on the dock in about 2 hours. I was really surprised. However they were very experienced professionals and knew what they were doing. That always helps.