We were having a wonderful week in Green island...until the generator spat the dummy, or rather sprung a wee leak in the thermostat housing. It's a boat!
Sitting in the cockpit with the generator on it suddenly stopped. Opening the engine hatch there was hissing and steam. David grabbed his head torch and a spanner and leapt into the engine room and action. At first he couldn't find the issue, but once the generator had cooled he found a pin size hole in the aluminium thermostat casing, the bit that regulates the temperature of the fresh water cooling.
At first David thought it was going to be a major job to remove the casing. It would entail removing the cylinder head, which would then mean replacing the cylinder head gasket which we don't have, but after a bit of head scratching he had his eureka moment. Rather than remove the cylinder head he could remove the gear box end casing which would give access to the fixing bolts on the thermostat casing.
The get-you-home fix was to clean the corroded area and pack with epoxy steel. However, every tube of epoxy or hole filler we had onboard had gone off. The tropical heat and age isn't conducive for longevity. Fortunately we have a back up generator in the garage which would keep the batteries happy until we could get back to Falmouth Budget Marine for new epoxy.
The long
term fix is to source, buy and import a new housing.
generator in engine room
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