Another Week ...

I left the boat in Mallaig for two or three days to collect a starter motor from home, and to do a few other things. I was planning to continue up the canal as soon as I had a working engine.

When I arrived back in Mallaig on Tuesday night I was feeling a bit under the weather, and when I wakened up on Wednesday I had a nasty urinary infection accompanied by a high temperature. I couldn't face doing anything except getting some minimal groceries and getting medical advice. I managed both of these, but mainly spent the day in bed.

By Thursday morning I was feeling a bit better, managed to fit the starter and confirmed that the engine was working. There was still a problem with oil loss, though. I wasn't up to sailing on my own, but my son (A) (who had been going to accompany me up the canal) came to Mallaig.

I have a friend with a mooring in Loch Aline which he had previously said I could use. I checked back with him and he said he was happy for me to put the boat on it for a couple of weeks. I was more than grateful. I really needed to get a proper rest. I was happier leaving the boat in Loch Aline because it was south of Ardnamurchan and into the 'sheltered waters' part of the return trip. Also, it was less expensive than Mallaig and on a swinging mooring rather than on a pontoon.

The oil loss problem was too bad to try the canal, and I needed time to investigate and consider. We left Mallaig on Friday morning at about 7:45 and had enough wind to take us the whole way. We only had to motor for about twenty minutes at each end. Again, there were some slow passages that might previously have had me starting the engine, but always our patience was rewarded.

A went home this morning on the bus, and I stayed for a day to tidy up and investigate the oil leak further. It turned out to be a crack in the crankcase casting near the oil pressure sensor. At first I thought the sensor might be loose, but when I tightened it the casting broke completely.

The drip was certainly enough to explain the loss. I'm a bit surprised I didn't notice it before, but I was previously looking for a leak in a different place. Which seems a bit inexplicable in retrospect ... 

So why did the casting crack? Raasay has both an oil pressure warning light and an oil pressure gauge. They are both driven by the same sensor. The gauge, and the sensor, were almost certainly later modifications, and most 'dual' sensors of this type have a 1/8" NPT thread which is very close to but not identical to the original Yanmar item.

It's so close, in fact, that it can be fitted so long as it isn't tightened home and so long as you are willing to put up with a small oil seepage. If you tighten it up, as I did in Torridon, you will damage the thread or the casting. If the casting cracks without obviously breaking oil will leak out quite badly while the engine is running ... 

A proper repair is going to be a fairly serious business and I'll need to get professional help. I might get up the canal with a careful epoxy job, though ... which will be worth trying, in order to get back to Findhorn.

Tomorrow I'm going home to have a rest from all this for a week ot two and remind myself of life's other problems...