New crew and an old engine

The new crew has arrived with the latest addiotions being Elin Bäck from Sweden and Pierre Lemonnier from France. Seeing as we now have an international crew I will write the posts in english. Since our non-swedish speaking followers have had to use Google Translate up until now, and swedish people usually handle english quite well, I believe this should work for everyone. If you have any complaints you can always read another blog.

Anyway, Arkona II has stayed in one place since the 25th of June wich is a new record since we left Sweden. A lot has happened though, without making any distance. I had my family visiting and they brought a lot of spare parts for our beloved engine (VP MD11) and also some swedish candy. So not only have I had a nice time away from the boat but I also had a lot of help from my father with the overhauling of the engine.

The engine has been in poor condition for a while now with symptoms such as diesel in the lubrication oil and a lot of black smoke in the exhausts. It has been in what you call ”limp-home mode” since Bitung, wich is a couple of months. The problem is that, unless you can stay for more than a month at the same place, it is impossible to get spare parts. Alongside this problem we also had some stowaways in the form of bedbugs. They arrived in Palau and due to lack of of exterminators we could not get rid of them until here on Bali. And they thrived onboard. As soon as the exterminators had been here though, we got a rat. The rat outsmarted me for several nights before I finally caught it in a trap. A tip for other sailors is to teach your crew not to leave their bags open while ashore. And also to get their stuff laundered if they have stayed in a place that has bedbugs. When I caught the rat I was the only one left on the boat wich was boring but I could finally get some work done on the boat. It only lasted a couple of days though before my family arrived.

My parents and sister, accompanied by her husband and two children, arrived in the middle of July and stayed until the end of said month. The first week was spent on Gili Trawangan and the second in Sanur, on Bali. I was a bit tired of the boat and the surroundings of the mooring (with dirty water and even dead dogs floating around the dinghy dock) so it was quite welcomed to spend some time in a hotel, with a real bed as the higlight. Hot water shower and AC are other things I have not seen too much of the past two years. The best part was of course hanging with my family wich I have not seen in 1.5 years. When they left I actually felt a bit home sick. That is the first time since I left Sweden.

Since my father brought all the spare parts for the engine he decided that he would help me out. I did not have a say in it. So the second week of their vacation we spent three days on the boat and one day grinding valves poolside. Without his help it would have taken at least ten days so I was quite happy.

We did not know the source of all the problems we had but damaged or worn piston rings was a qualified guess. What we found was one siezed piston ring, piston rings in the wrong position (we did not even know that they had been changed), leaking fuel injection valves (the only major engine service they can provide on Bali is testing the opening pressure of fuel injection valves) and intake- and exhaust valves in extremely poor condition.

Among the spares that my father brought were new piston rings and new nozzles for the fuel injection valves. Unfortunately one of the nozzles was broken, even though it was new, so I had to wait for my father to get home before he could send another one. We did however get the engine running with one old nozzle and it was a big improvement. If done in Sweden though, I would have had new valves and valve seats but in Indonesia you have to suffice with what you can do yourself. We spent more than seven hours grinding the valves and seats so it is still an improvement.

Other things I have done on the boat includes new spray hood, repaired main sail and maintenance on the sink.

With the new crew here we have bought provisions for the crossing of the Indian Ocean. We will leave on friday for Christmas Island. The new crew seems a lot more excited than I am used to so it will probably work out perfect.

Enjoy the pictures!



Rat

Chess

More chess

Family

Grindimg valves at the pool

Grinding…

New crew

Family on Arkona II

Acrobatics

Dirty

Dad on vacation

Engine

Siezed piston ring

Worn piston

Exhaust valve

Valve seat

Valve seat but a little bit better