Work Order

When Renne' and I decided to purchase this trawler, to be honest with you, I was very much less than enthusiastic about the idea.

I had never spent time on a trawler, and consequently, never been at the helm with twin screws.  Of course we took the boat out on a sea trial prior to our purchase, and the broker was kind enough to spend time showing us the ins and outs of the "pleasures" of having twin screws rather than a single!  Out in the middle of Port Canaveral, I played with the systems and then Renne' got into the act.  It was very different.

Under normal circumstances, Renne' handles the helm of the sailboat, while I handle the dock lines and anchor detail.  She is actually better than I at doing that.  Our friend and very successful recording artist, Kelly McGuire, recorded a song a few years ago called "Woman Behind The Helm" with her in mind and that idea in mind as a matter of fact.  I have never understood why men are the ones at the helm and women are out throwing lines and trying to retrieve the anchor.  I know a woman who lost a finger in the anchor windlass.  I just think, for the most part, men are more adept for doing that!

http://redfishisland.com/audio/kingoftheisland/8WomanBehindtheWheel.mp3

(This is Kelly receiving Album of the Year for the Texas Songwriters Association)

So here was our challenge.  Renne' underwent shoulder surgery this past Fall, and I knew we weren't going to be able to manage this trip by ourselves.  First, I barely knew enough to make me really dangerous at the helm, and Renne' knew less than I did.  Therefore, Renne's position would be down at the anchor windlass or tossing lines to the docks if we had assistance, and scrambling down to the dock to tie lines if we didn't.  That wasn't going to work!!

The other, is, the engine in the sailboat is a small 54 horse Yanmar.  Simple in it's approach, and pretty easy to maintain.  The Generator, or Genset, sits just above the engine, and although it can be a pain to get to, I can reach 95% of all the engine and Genset without a great deal of difficulty.

This trawler has an actual engine room!

With two 135hp diesels.  They are Ford-Lehmans, which is the brand I preferred in a trawler, as they are pretty economical, but they are different than the sailboat, and I had NO idea what to do with them other than to feed them oil, coolant, and transmission fluid.  They are HUGE compared to the Yanmar.  Needless to say, I was apprehensive - not ready to make this step toward no sails!

Another issue was the fuel.  Renne' and I had just completed our trip north from Key West to Annapolis and Maryland!  We had had difficulties with the sailboat's fuel system all the way up and back. I think we ended up changing filters like the one below at least 15 times over the 5 months we were out.  Notice all the black sludge on the top!

I could see the same issue on the trawler, but not having any idea how old the fuel was, or what condition it was in, I could see being in the middle of the ICW, or more technically difficult, out in open water moving the boat north across the Gulf of Mexico enroute from Tampa Bay to Appalachacola, Florida, and an engine - or two - shutting down for fuel issues.  Then running down, working my 210lb body around the air conditioner and the engine,

stretching at full length to open the RACOR filter housings, spill fuel, pull the clogged filters out, spill more fuel, get black crud all over everything, put the filters into Zip-Loks, put the new filters in the housing, fill the filter with fuel, and then bleed the engine to get it started again.  All this time, worried about the huge barges and tugs one routinely runs across in the ICW!

And then do the other engine exactly the same way! Did I say I was rather apprehensive?

So the first big items I bought for the boat were rather large, rather commercial looking fuel filters from Gulf Coast Filters that had to be installed.

This included mounting the filters on risers that would withstand major map-treatment from waves and weather,

cutting into the fuel lines and installing inflow and outflow shutoff valves,

then filling them each with the 1.5 gallons of diesel fuel, and bleeding the engines so they would function.  I wanted the HUMONGOUS fuel filters to clog up before the little-tiny Racor filters I am accustomed to.  As a matter of fact, with the big filters in place, I removed the Racor filters, and fuel just flows through the housings now.