Update on engine repairs – Stuck in Milwaukee October 7, 2018

At least McKinley Marina
in Milwaukee is beautiful!

I bet you are wondering where in the world is Good Karma! Still in Milwaukee as of today, Saturday October 7, 2018.

On Friday Sept 14, 2018, we broke down outside of Port Washington and limped into McKinley Marina in Milwaukee. Feels like 100 years ago!

Paul, the mechanic from Interstate, visited on that Friday afternoon. He discovered a huge problem with injectors and rods in the #1 cylinder on the starboard engine that caused diesel fuel to run into the cylinder, scoring the cylinder. This is very bad. He ordered parts to be delivered on Monday.

John, Donna and James Dreuth

Donna & Mallory Dreuth

In the meantime we picked up a rental car from Enterprise and headed to Chicago on Friday to attend the Northwestern game vs Akron with my cousins, John and Donna Dreuth and their lovely little ones, James (3) and Mallory (9 months). The kids behaved themselves beautifully. We left at half time with Northwestern ahead but just like old times, Akron beat NU by the end of the game! I was conflicted!

Mallory with Willie the Wildcat

Marissa and her god daughter
Mallory Dreuth

We stopped at Binny’s Liquor to stock up on well-priced Crown and a few other goodies then headed to Evanston to try to find a sports bar to watch the Browns game. No such luck. We headed slowly back to Milwaukee, not a long trip. 

While we had some down time, I visited the Milwaukee Art Museum. The building itself is a sculpture that looks like a sailboat! It opens and closes during the day. I took a video if you want to see it but be prepared - it is a slow process.

They have a Chiluly in the lobby and some really neat stuff. We also took the Miller Brewing tour and Kermit assembled a tv antenna. He is almost a happy man because he can watch football on the boat!

Bring the empty moving bins
back to OH

By Tuesday evening we determined something was very wrong. Paul did not know yet what was wrong. Kermit told him to stop until we figured out the problem. On Wednesday we headed home to Ohio. We had to go back anyway. I had 2 speaking engagements / workshops and Kermit had to visit his mom while his brother Kevin went on a vacation.

We had the opportunity to host friends from Trinity UCC at the Lake Erie boat. On Saturday 9/21 Nan and Jeff Foltz joined us for great conversation, a few beers amid some gloomy weather. On Saturday 9/28 we had better weather with George and Jill Vogelsang, Dave and Debby Minor and Dave and Chris Carnell. We had a great ride the second Saturday. It was wonderful to share our boating life with our church friends before the season’s end.

On Monday Oct 1, 2018, we put the Four Winns into winter storage. We loaded up the rented Suburban and headed back to Milwaukee on Wednesday Oct 3, 2018. Our life is a whirlwind, isn’t it?

ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?

Another highlight of this return home was to sell the 20’ Baretta ski boat to a nice family who will hopefully run the wheels off it like we did on Lake Seneca. We are thinning our boat fleet, having already sold a jet ski, a dinghy and now the ski boat Kermit bought new in 1988. We are down to the Hatteras with a dinghy and the Four Winns on Lake Erie. Simplifying.

Bye to the truck and the ski boat!

On Sunday 9/22 Kermit arranged to meet this nice family in Sandusky so they could see the Baretta. Money changed hands! Kermit offered to deliver the boat to them in Canton that evening. No big deal, right.

I was already in bed at 9pm Sunday night when Kermit called frantic that the truck was making funny noises. He thought it might be the U-joints or worse yet, the transmission. He had the truck towed to Bushes in North Canton. His worst fears realized, Bushes pronounced the poor truck dead! It finally gave out. Kermit sold our valiant 2002 GMC Yukon XL for $500 for scrap after 330,000 miles of adventure. It is gone.

He rented a Suburban from Enterprise (same price as an economy car!) so now he is in deep envy of what can be. We’ll see. Kermit will buy a new vehicle when we return for Thanksgiving. Hopefully the boat will be in Florida by then.

BACK TO THE HATTERAS IN MILWAUKEE

Meanwhile back in Milwaukee, costs are piling up on the attempt to repair Cylinder #1 on the starboard engine. Paul the mechanic spent 3 work days fiddling around. He installed new parts on the first Monday but still had funny noises. The problem appears to be bigger than anticipated.

The mechanic ripped more stuff apart. After 3 days Kermit said to stop. He wanted an estimate of the cost incurred so far and the cost for final repair. We were SHOCKED to learn that the bill for the first 3 days including parts amounted to almost $6000! And it still doesn’t work! And we still don’t know what exactly is wrong. The estimate for full repair started at $14k more but would probably climb to $25k, according to the repair team! And it would take at least three weeks. We were speechless.

Let’s recap the number of times these engines were inspected and found to be perfect:

• At the sea trial we had a special diesel expert inspect the engines in addition to the boat inspector. He found a few adjustments needed to the turbos on the port engine.
• Over the summer, that diesel expert did some work to both engines and pronounced them perfect. 
• The day we arrived in September that same diesel expert did another inspection and pronounced the engines perfect.

Three times a diesel expert checked these engines and now we are facing this? Unbelievable. We are both shaking.

Here is the topper. The mechanical team indicated that the only way to repair the starboard engine was to REMOVE it from the boat. To do that, the salon would need to be ripped apart because the boat was essentially built around the engines. Kermit protested. The engine room doors are designed to be removed to allow full walk around access to both engines just so the engines would not have to be removed. Plus these Detroit Diesels can be dis-assembled and re-assembled in place. 

They persisted in requiring the engines removed to the point where Kermit said that if they laid one hand on the salon his wife would rip his face off. They backed off but indicated there wasn’t much they more could do.

Kermit called our good friend Jim Shimandle, a well respected marine diesel mechanic, to see what he thought. Jim finds the concept fascinating. He and his wife Sherri are driving up to Milwaukee on Sunday Oct 7 to fix the boat! If all goes well… no I am not going to look too far into the future. I wouldn’t want to jinx anything!

In the meantime, we are living on the boat. I have to say this is the most wonderful boat living experience I can imagine. It is comfortable and easy to live on even while the weather outside is crappy. Yesterday as we sat in the carpeted, comfortable salon with huge windows overlooking the lovely marina, we said this was so much more comfortable than if we were stuck for days / weeks like this on the Cruiser 4450. I never thought I would say such a thing but this boat is wonderful.

BTW, we still haven’t officially changed the boat name to Good Karma. The graphics are laying in the sunroom and the side boards Paul Bates’ daughter-in-law Jesse created are covered with paper. Kermit says the boat does not get a new name until it works right! If Jim can fix this beast, we will do the name changing ceremony with Jim and Sheri before they leave.

FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT THE FUTURE

We are approaching a big decision point. We are currently on Lake Michigan in October, only 1 day from the Calumet River and the start of the river portion of the trip to Florida. It is imperative that we get off Lake Michigan soon or we will have big weather problems. We can travel on the rivers in late October / November but Lake Michigan is another story. This big lake deserves much respect. We dare not put ourselves or our boat in jeopardy. We will do our best to get to the rivers as fast as engine repairs allow.

Watch for further updates on the engines and our efforts to get off Lake Michigan!

ADDENDUM

Jim, Sherri and Scott are driving in to Milwaukee as we speak, excited to stay on the boat! Yesterday (Saturday) we loaded up with groceries intent upon treating our friends to a glorious onboard experience. But the fickle finger of fate struck again! Last night two of the three toilets decided to back up! Char Houser, plug your ears. Imagine Kermit scooping toilet water at 2am! Not sure what is going on. We cleaned up and disinfected everything. Not sure what is going on but we know that lovely boat experience is over. We rented 3 hotel rooms!

When it rains, it pours!