We had a short run today, just 40 miles from Sanibel to Marco Island. Arriving at Marco and docking at Rose Marina at 2:00 left us plenty of time to prepare for tomorrows voyage to Key West.
"Whatever It Takes" has run more than 1,200 miles since an oil change, so before we leave for Key West an oil change is required. Jeff brought along from Ohio a new, high volume, oil change pump that should make this job fast and easy. Alas, this was not to be.
The pump was designed to suction the oil from the engine into a bucket, Jeff planned to reverse the hoses to pump the new oil into the engines. Removing the, still hot, old oil went as planned and took about a half hour, but the pump refused to push the new oil back into the engines. After some discussion we decided replacing the oil was an absolute requirement and we began to pour the new oil from the 5 gallon buckets into empty quarts. It took 3 hours with Skip and Butch pouring the oil into quarts, me running the quarts into the engine room and Jeff sitting in the engine room (which was at least 120 degrees from the hot engines) and pouring the new oil into the engines.
We did whatever it takes to get the lob done and are ready for tomorrow.
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The original oil change crew before reinforcements (Butch and I) were brought in. |
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3 hours into the ordeal. |
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Have to get a good nights rest for the 90+ mile open water voyage tomorrow. |
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