March 21, 2016 Daytona Beach

Today we found Daytona Marine, a boatyard that offers mechanical services, and by 11:00 David was aboard Kite and discussing the problem with Peter. He agreed that the cause might be in the heat exchanger or possibly the hot water heater, but also added the possibility of the exhaust manifold, which had corroded severely near the fill port. In fact the corrosion had gone to the point of opening a hole in the expansion port, thereby preventing the expansion tank from fulfilling its function. A new one would be required. Peter checked his online source and found that the part was not stocked and would require 4 weeks to be delivered! David suggested that we not order yet, until he had an opportunity to get his parts people to see if they could improve on the delivery time.

Meanwhile, since a new exhaust manifold was not optional, Peter authorized David to remove the existing one, a simple task of disconnecting two hoses and removing 8 nuts and washers that fasten the unit to the engine block. Two hours later, he was still struggling with the 8 nuts and washers, having had to remove the starter motor and the heat exchanger to gain access to them. Finally, at 15:30, David had the exhaust manifold removed, and in the bargain also had the heat exchanger removed. He took these parts back to his shop, where he would leak test the heat exchanger and call us tomorrow morning with the results of the leak test and an update on the delivery of an exhaust manifold.

Meanwhile, Ringle had decided to stay another day in Daytona, due to the strong, gusty winds that we had all day today. Lyn invited the crew of Ringle to a chili dinner aboard Kite this evening, and we updated them on Kite's status. They sympathized with our plight and hoped for the best in getting the parts sooner than 4 weeks. Ringle planned to depart by 09:00 tomorrow morning for Titusville, in line with the forecast for NNE winds at 5 to 10 knots and clear, sunny skies. We wished them well, and hoped to join them in the Keys.

We also called Kevin, our crew in Alaska, and updated him on the status of our engine problems.  We told him that if the part delivery time of 4 weeks could not be improved, then the trip was cancelled for this year, as we would not want to be in the Keys during the hot weather and hurricane season. We promised to update Kevin as soon as we had a definitive answer on the parts delivery, likely tomorrow.