Running the engine and other fun

Went to the boat yard twice this weekend.  On Friday my brother and I pulled new wires in the mast for the 2 lights on it.  The one at the top is the anchor light and another about half way up is the steaming light.  It was a bit easier than I anticipated.  We just attached the new wires (using electrical tape) to the old ones and then used the old wires to pull the new ones through.  No snags or issues pulling them through.

We also needed to replace the valve (seacock) on the bottom of the boat for the water inlet to the diesel engine.  The water is used to cool the engine.  When my dad lasted used the boat to motor from his slip to the boat yard in Maryland to have the boat hauled out of the water, he went to open the valve and the handle broke off in his hand. So we needed to change the valve.  When I put a little torque on the valve to remove it from the through-hull fitting.....it broke the fitting.  I was a bit worried that it would be a costly job to repair the through-hull fitting.   Fortunately, we were able to unscrew the old fitting out from the bottom of the boat and  the threads in the nut embedded in the hull of the boat are very clean and not corroded. 

We also tried to start the engine.  First we had to find a way to feed cooling water to the engine.  We filled a 5-gallon bucket with water and connected one end of a hose to the engine's water line infeed and the other end of the hose we place in the bucket.  We had  the garden hose ready to keep the bucket full as the engine pulled water from it.  Unfortunately the batteries (there are 2 on the boat) were not charged enough to turn over the engine. One of them is dead.  I took the other battery out of the boat and brought it home to charge it.

The next day we went to Kendore boat supply again to buy a new through-hull fitting, seacock and few dozen other items we thought we needed like a new lens for the steaming light.

New Thru-hull fitting and seacock

After visiting Kendore, I stopped at a Menards located by the boat yard.  They had a good deal on a marine battery so I bought a new one to go along with the newly charged older one.

I put both batteries back in the boat and setup the 5 gallon bucket again to provide cooling water.  This time the engine turned over and started after a couple tries.  That sound of the running engine is sweet music to my ears.  Once it started I had to check to make sure the water was running properly through the engine.  I did this by looking back over the transom (flat area at the very back of the boat) to make sure water was coming out of the exhaust.   It was.