Unscheduled repairs

Sunday morning of the labour day weekend, our plan was to travel to Henry, Illinois and stay on the town wall there. We got up at our usual time, planning to leave between 6:30 and 7:00. Since our two boats were not moored near each other, Steve and I got on the VHF radio channel 68 to co-ordinate our departure. Just after we spoke, three other looper boats transmitted on 68 that they were also leaving that morning. Since the lock operators like to minimize lockages, it is always best to travel together in one fleet, so this was working out well.

The duck house at Heritage.

We set off from Heritage harbour, and had a pleasant cruise to the first and only lock of the day at Starved Rock. This run took a little over an hour, and as we got close, the lead boat, Rock and Roll, hailed the lock on VHF to request a lockage. We were told there would be a wait as they had a down-bound tow, and then an up-bound double. Rock and Roll asked them for instructions about anchoring, and we were told we could tie to the dolphins close to the lock. Since the up-bound would be a double, the plan was to squeeze in between the lifts as we had done the previous day.

On the way we passed through Ottawa.

Rock and Roll tied to a dolphin and then invited three other boats to shoulder on him, Miss K, iFloat and Seahawk. We all tied up and chatted, while two more looper boats, including Ur N Heritance, arrived and hovered. 

Rafted outside the lock.

Miss K threading the needle.

By this time, the barges were up and moving out of the lock, so we untied and got organized to go in. The captain of Rock and Roll again got on the radio for instructions, and we were told to form three rafts of two boats tied to the bollards, as they only had three available. We again threaded the needle and locked down. 

Because of the way the lock master wanted us organized, we were the last boat to leave the lock.

The lock doors opened, and we all started out, but the channel outside was very narrow beside the tug. As before, the tug had his engines running and was making a very strong sideways current outside the lock. Each boat was violently churned by the current, and it was necessary to throttle up quite a bit to make it safely past the tug. We were the trailing boat, and at one point I got on the radio to ask the other loopers not to slow down after they passed the tug, as we needed speed to get past, and boats were stacking up just beyond.

Our turn came to exit, so I throttled up to take a run at it, and we passed the tug, getting slammed around like we were in a washing machine. Just as we passed the stern of the tug, an alarm sounded on the boat. At first, it did not completely register, since I was concentrating on not getting sunk by the tug's wash, but eventually I checked my gauges to see what the alarm was about. The temperature gauge was high - uh oh - we were overheating. Since we were still in a heavy current and narrow channel, I could not throttle back right away, so we went on this way for about 15 seconds before the water churn from the tug calmed enough to slow down. I brought the throttles to idle, and switched into neutral, but the temperature needle did not move, so my only choice to avoid an overheat and engine damage was to shut down the engine.

During this time I had gotten on the radio to tell the other boats we were in distress, and all of them slowed down to wait for us. I went down into the engine room to check the strainer and saw that it was clear, but our bilge was full of coolant. All of a sudden, at the front of the engine, the coolant started spraying out, so I got out of the engine room quickly to avoid getting burned. I told the others on the radio that our engine was down and we had lost all our coolant. Since the strainer was clean, I thought we had shredded an impeller. 

Miss K came along side and we were able to raft onto them, and they got us downstream about a km to a wider part of the river near a boat launch. Rock and Roll scouted it and found that the depth was good, so Miss K anchored in front of the launch out of the commercial channel. The other loopers then got on the radio, and notified an incoming tug that there was a disabled vessel ahead of them. They also co-ordinated  about helping us, and a few donated some coolant and distilled water to help us re-fill the coolant, if it turned out this was the issue.

Before we left Canada we bought a TowBoatUS membership and insurance package. This is kind of like CAA for boats. Louise, Steve, Chrissy and the loopers on Ur N Heritance and Rock and Roll started to work the phones to find help for us, and eventually Steve got in touch with TowBoatUS. They were available, so Louise contacted them with our info, and they were extremely helpful, it turned out they had a tow boat in Heritage harbour, the marina we had left that morning. A few phone calls later, and we had arranged to get towed back to Heritage, but this would mean that the tow boat operator would have to lock down then lock up with us. 

We really appreciated how the other boats waited for us, to make sure we were safe, and to help us find some help. Once we were securely anchored and TowBoatUS was on the way, Rock and Roll and Ur N Heritance resumed their journey down the river. We are thankful to the entire flotilla for all the help they offered us. Really reassuring to know that other loopers are looking out for their fellow boaters.

So, we waited a few hours by the boat launch, in increasing boat traffic, for the tow boat to arrive. While we were waiting, I went into the engine room and checked the impeller, which I thought was the source of our problem. It was in perfect condition. OK, not the simple fix.

Eventually we heard TowBoatUS calling the lock on VHF. They would take him down after an upbound lockage. The lock had a down-bound tow arriving, but agreed to lock down the tow boat, then wait to allow us to lock up before taking the tow. Very nice!

We saw the tow boat arriving as he hailed us on VHF. Had a bit of mis-communication between us and the tow boat, which I think was due to us trying to hurry to make the up lockage. The tow boat asked which boat was disabled and which was assisting. We explained on VHF that the red boat was disabled, and was tied to the blue boat which was on anchor. The tow boat operator instructed us to untie from the blue boat so they could come alongside. These instructions did not seem right to us, but in a moment of supreme stupidity, I followed them anyway. As soon as we untied, the current took us and it was a little hairy for the tow boat to tie up to us and get out of the shallow water, but all was OK and we made it. The tow boat operator was pissed at me for following his directions, and rightly so. I was annoyed at myself for doing something that did not make sense. The smart thing would have been to confirm on the radio so that everyone was clear on this situation, but this didn't happen, and anyways it all worked out in the end. He towed us into the lock, and we locked up with Miss K behind us.

After getting out of the lock, they switched from a shoulder tow to a bridle tow, and that is how we spent the next two hours, being towed back to the marina. This was labour day Sunday, so everyone was on the river, and we were a spectacle. We passed hundreds of boats along the way, the cruise of shame.

The tow operator got us into Heritage harbour and they put us on Knots Landing, which was their party platform, a large floating patio on the side of the marina. This was done because it was the easiest place to access. All good with us, we had our own patio. By the time we made it back to the marina, it was about 6:30, and we wanted to thank Chrisie and Steve for rescuing us, so we took them out to dinner at Family Restaurant, which was recommended by locals as a good place to go. The food was awesome, and the company even better! Back on the boat, we were emotionally wrung out from the day, so turned in early to bed.

The next morning started out with some cleaning. The bilge was full of coolant, and there was coolant sprayed around all over the front of the engine room. I spent some time with the shop vac cleaning out the bilges, and wiped down some of the over-spray. I did not wipe it all down. Our engine coolant is red, so by leaving the spray in place, we could use blood-spatter analysis to determine the source of the leak.

Eevee supervised the cleaning.

Steve came over and he and I went into the engine room to see what had broken. The coolant spray patterns were everywhere at the front of the engine and engine room, but we could not find the source. Steve thought we might have a pinhole leak somewhere, and called a local auto parts store to see if we could get a special tool to diagnose where it was. This was labour day Monday, but when he called O'Reilly Auto Parts, they were open, and could lend us the necessary tool for free. We used the marina's courtesy car to go and get it, after we tried the redneck method of setting the shop-vac on blow and plugging it into the reservoir. Fail. Anyways, we got the special tool which connects to your cooling system cap and has a small bicycle-style pump that you use to pressurize the system so you can then look for leaks. Well, the little pump would not pressurize. WTF. Steve had a compressor, and he hooked that to the tool to see if it was a volume issue. As soon as he hooked the compressor to the system, we could HEAR the leak at the front of the engine. Looking, we saw a massive coolant geyser spewing out of a 5/8" hole on the water pump itself.

This is what we thought the problem was. A freeze-plug on the water pump had blown out.

Using a mirror, we checked it out and saw what looked like a freeze plug that was split in half. We thought we had found our smoking gun, the plug had fractured and created a coolant leak. Using a screw driver we were able to get the plug out, and off we went to O'Reillys to get a replacement. They had a bunch in stock, so I bought 5, along with 6 gallons of coolant.

Back on the boat, we attempted to install the freeze plug, but could not get the proper angle to set it, there was interference from various other parts of the engine. Soooo, we would have to remove the water pump to put the plug in. We took a break for lunch, and then Steve suggested that since we were removing the pump, it might be a good idea to just go ahead and replace it. The engine was 20 years old, and those pumps are a "wear" item. This sounded like an excellent idea, and since it was Labour Day Monday, it meant we had some time to figure stuff out.

Knowing that we would be replacing the pump, I sat down with the service manual and made a list of all the parts we would need. When I wasn't sure if we would need it, I added it to the list anyway since the extra cost of a gasket or connector was nothing compared to time, delays waiting for parts are not fun. With the shopping list complete, we enjoyed the rest of the day including a trip to Ottawa, with lunch at Tangled Roots, which was a brew-pub with tasty beer and food. 

I decided to do a "pose-off" for the photo. This is my sexy-pouty face.

Back at the harbour, we enjoyed the afternoon. Louise and Chrisie hung out in the pool, while I snoozed and then got started with the water pump removal. This included some clean up, and removal of the alternator, air cleaner, and a few brackets. By this time, I was pretty tired and sore, so called it a day. We had some dinner together with Steve and Chrisie on our patio before turning in for the night.

The salon was a work area for a couple of days.

The next morning I set about removing the pump. After a few hours of work I had the pump out. As soon as I removed the belt from the pump, I turned the pulley by hand. It was obvious that the pump was finished. Turning the pulley made some nasty-scratchy-grindy noises, and you could pull the pump shaft in and out about half an inch. Once I got the pump out, I also noticed that it would be impossible to replace the freeze plug as it was in a place that had interference from another part. So, replacement was the right call.

The old pump. Beside the pulley at about 3 o'clock you can see a shiny piece, this is a new freeze plug we tried and failed to put in. Was actually a good thing we failed in putting this plug in, as you will see below. 

While all this was going on, Louise got on the phone at 7:15 am to the local Caterpillar dealer to order our parts. They had some in stock (coolant, filters), but the pump and seals would have to be ordered. The parts guy said they would be ready for pickup at 7 am the following day. 

The next order of business was to have some mimosa. This was the first day of school, so we celebrated the fact that Louise did not have to go to school today.

Once I got the pump out of the engine around 10 am, we noticed that we would need one other part, a temperature switch, so we called Cat back and ordered it as well, for pickup the following morning. 

Louise and Chrisie spent most of the day at the pool, and so talked to a lot of the other ladies at the marina, which were mostly loopers since the weekend was now over. They found out about a looper briefing that was being given at 5:15 in the bar. Steve and I attended the briefing, and are we ever glad we did. The guy giving it was the local AGCLA harbour host, and was very familiar with the route. He has worked on tow boats for a long time, and lived on the river. He gave an excellent briefing, giving us details about what to look for, what to avoid, and how to stay on track. This time of year, the water on the river was low, so many anchorages and marinas would be impossible for us to use. Really valuable to know where to stay so that we would be safe.

The next morning at 6:30 Steve and I took the courtesy car to the Cat dealer to pick up the parts. The parts guy was really nice, and made sure that everything fit and we had all the bits we needed. The pump we bought was a remanufactured unit, so we had to return the old one as a core, which saved us quite a bit on the price of the pump. The new pump sounded waaay better than the old one when you rotated the pulley, and we noticed the same half-moon freeze plug. OK, so this was not a freeze plug, but an indicator or blow out for a failed pump. Good thing we had not "replaced" the freeze plug, as it would have just failed again.

All my life, people have mangled the pronunciation of my last name. Every permutation and combination you can think of, including this one. Coincidence?

With the truck loaded, we returned to the boat and got started.

Everything went pretty smoothly, and it took about 2.5 hours to re-assemble everything on the engine. After I got it back together, I checked everything 3 times, then asked Steve to check as well. With this done, we re-filled the coolant system. It turned out the system was empty, we had lost all the coolant in the overheat. We rigged a funnel and tube system to load it, as the cap was not very accessible. 

One more check for leaks and it was time to test. The engine started right up, and we ran it for about 30 seconds, then I shut it down and went into the engine room to look for leaks. All OK. Another start-up, this time to run for about 5 minutes. Since I was doing all this work on the engine I decided to change the oil, and so didn't want the engine oil too hot to touch. After this short engine run, I got the oil changed, then ran the engine at operating temperature for 45 minutes to make sure all was OK. The needles held steady. Nothing leaked out. While the engine was running, I cleaned up all my tools, and the salon of the boat.

With the engine test complete, I took a lunch break and then Louise and I went for a test drive to the nearby lock and back. Needles steady, no vibrations, sounds good. Nice. We got tied back up and Louise and Chrisie went back to the pool while I cleaned out then engine room and took all the waste oil and coolant to the marina shop for disposal.

Not something you want to have happen, but we were lucky the pump blew now, in a place close to tow boats, parts, a nice marina, and some good friends. Had this happened in the middle of nowhere, it could have been nasty. As it was, we had only a 4 day delay, and got the engine fixed for the cost of parts.

Boat name of the Day: TowBoatUS