Annual Maintenance for Key of Sea

March 7, 2017. It's rainy, cold but not cold enough to snow today. My newest mechanic is on board the Key of Sea as well as myself. He's draining the 10+ year old engine coolant from both engines and refilling it with fresh stuff. We were concerned that what drained out would look bad and show signs the cooling system might be in trouble. Turns out that the coolant came out looking good on the port side and a little dirty on the starboard side engine. The mechanic figures that the starboard side may be because it wasn't changed last time because getting to the drain plug is a real pain on that side.

Anyway, the good news is that it was in good shape indicating their is probably no issue with that system. Also, he was able to get the drain plugs off both sides with no trouble. There was concern that they may have to be cut off and new ones installed which would have added a lot more to the cost of the job. So, we've dodged two big bullets so far in this annual maintenance.

Next up is the oil change. This should be pretty straight forward so I am not expecting any problems here.

Finally, the fuel filters have to come off and be replaced. I had a new Racor secondary filter system installed a couple of years ago and also had them moved aft so they'd be easier to access. Plus, the new system requires filters that are easier to find and less expensive. The primary filters are attached directly to the side of the engines like an oil filter on a car. These filters are easy to find even at some car parts stores.

The biggest issue in doing the work is getting at the parts of the engine needing getting to. The engine room is not designed for anything but a pretty small guy and certainly not for a big guy like me. Crawling on hands and knees, over support beams crisscrossing the space and doing it in a greasy, smelly dark space is not my idea of fun. So I'm pretty happy having someone else down there doing the work.

The new mechanic has spotted several items that he asked if he could fix or double check like the hose clamps and the loose alternator bolt. I appreciate that he is that conscientious.

When all this is finished, hopefully today, the boat will be mechanically ready to take out on the water. Sort of like the check up an airplane mechanic does to a plane on a regular schedule, you do this because you don't want any surprises, especially at the the very worst of times. There's nothing worse than an engine failure when you're in rough water or trying to get through a rapids

So, the final report is that all is well with the boat mechanically ecept for the need for replacing the two raw water pumps within the next year or two. The pumps each cost 700 and itll be about thatmuch more to have them installed. Its always something.

Meanwhile, we are ready to go for the season. Now we begin to plan where we'll go.