Perkins 4.236 Engine Repair: Raw Water Pump

Perkins 4.236 Marine Engine Raw Water Pump installation

I received a call from Chuck first thing this morning. He had been thinking about our engine and the possible locations where water could get into the crankcase.  Although the most obvious answer to the problem is a blown head gasket, Chuck made a recommendation to check our raw water pump.  By ruling out the raw water pump first, we could potentially avoid the costly head gasket replacement. What is a Raw Water Pump The raw water pump on Banjo is responsible for pulling sea water into the engine as…

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An Odd but Delicious Friday Night Dinner

Odd but Delicious Friday Dinner

An Odd but Delicious Friday Night Dinner I was out and about yesterday afternoon, so I thought I would go ahead and get some ideas for our Friday night dinner.  I messaged Shawn to see if he wanted anything in particular. His response was he wasn’t all that hungry. Fast forward five minutes later and he threw out the suggestion of KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) bowls, but still said he wasn’t really hungry. Well, that was helpful! Hahaha! I generally make a copycat version of the KFC bowls instead of…

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Post-Hurricane Michael Sunset

Tonight’s sunset literally had Shannon call me out of the rack to come see.  After being up all night on anchor watch during Hurricane Michael’s passage through North Carolina, and our visit by Chuck Courtney (EDIT: 2019Jun25 PLEASE SEE THIS POST FOR IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING OUR EXPERIENCE WITH THIS TECHNICIAN), I was beat tired.  Shannon was down cooking up some dinner and she hollered, “You have GOT to come see this!” Our first sunset since Hurricane Michael did not disappoint.  We have seen many spectacular sunsets since bringing Banjo to…

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Perkins 4.236 Engine Repair: Water in Oil

Background A few weeks ago before Hurricane Florence hit New Bern, we had a problem starting our Perkins 4.236 Engine.  The starter would barely turn over and then stop.  I’m learning, but I am not a good engine guy yet, but I am slowly learning how to do some basic Perkins 4.236 Engine Repair myself.  We had a friend look at it and they noticed that we had more oil on the dipstick than usual.  A LOT more. A couple of people looked at it and the proposal was given…

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Our Boat Refrigeration Problem: Part 1

We have a dilemma.  Since we have been on the hook, we have found that we seem to have ample electrical power, except when it comes to refrigeration.  For the past few weeks, we have avoided putting our battery energy into refrigeration.  Banjo came to us with a SeaFrost DC5000 12V Refrigeration System.  The system consists of two cold pates; one for the freezer compartment and one for our double refrigerator compartment.  However, the compressor for the system draws 40 amps.  That’s right, true believers, we said FORTY amps.  Also,…

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Banjo’s Thirsty Thursday

Thirsty Thursday Last Thursday was a “Thirsty Thursday” kind of day aboard Banjo.  I suppose Thirsty Thursday can take many forms.  This Thirsty Thursday’s line up was a bath, about 100 gallons of water, wine AND champagne. Bath Time We started out the day with a bath for Banjo.  Since we knew we were planning on filling the water tank Shawn jumped in the dink and gave Banjo girl a much-needed bath.  So fresh, so clean, so happy! 100 Gallons of Water Although Banjo was a fresh, clean, and happy…

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