The Heat Exchanger is Repaired !

While fixing the boat Never Ending Story, we had been told by mechanics Opua that the engine was broken beyond repair and not worth replacing, in fact the entire boat was not worth the work. After many years of fiddling with engines over my life i just could not accept that. We started work on the engine. Given the project is based in Opua and not at home, we had to find help and HELP we found !

Nathan at marine Mobile repairs became our hero. Not only did he squeeze us in between his very busy schedule he gave us hints and tips on how to get some things done ourselves.

Between advice from Nathan, my dad, friends on Fb we got it sorted.

Prop free, rudder reinstalled, starter, alternator, water pump, valves, injectors, injector pump, head and gasket set and we thought we would be away. Unfortunately the boat would overheat when under load. When leaving the working dock heading for the mooring, the engine began to overheat! The final thing to check was the heat exchanger. When Nathan had a look at it, he did suggest it may need a look at. Unfortunately trying to get some one with time to go to the mooring to get the exchanger, send is to us to get it repaired proved impossible. After the job sitting logged for four weeks we decided to get on a plane and go pick it up and bring it home.

That was a nice three days on the boat fishing and fixing bits and pieces. We got the exchanger to Christchurch and sent it to these people.

They were incredible, fast efficient and for less than $350 dollars we had a repaired exchanger. They told us the casing was corroded, the seals not working and that the unit would not have been doing what it was supposed to do - so here is hoping that when we put it back on, it will solve the overheating problem.

we are set to go back up north on the 13th, install the exchanger and test it, do a few more jobs and provision the boat for seven days of sea trials and exploring, if things go well, we will head down the coast to Christchurch where we will get the boat ship shape ready for more coastal and other sailing.

Our next update will include some details about plotting a coastal trip using predict wind and Iridium go!