The voyage from Darwin to Lombok, Indonesia, went smoothly until the last 20 miles when my engine developed a major leak in the exhaust elbow of the seawater cooling system. On marine engines generally seawater is pumped through the engine to cool it and then is combined with the engine exhaust gases in an exhaust elbow. The combination is then sent overboard.
After arriving in Lombok and staying one night near a marina where I thought I could complete the Clearing In process for entering Indonesia (it turns out they lost their permit to do this) , I started out motoring the next morning to Medana Bay Marina on the northwest side of the island where I was certain I could complete Entry Formalities. After a few hours I noticed an unusual dribble of water on the cabin floor. Opening hatches to the bilge, I was shocked to find the bilge full of water. I immediately turned on the bilge pumps which successfully started drawing down the water level. Investigating further, I found a substantial jet of water coming from the underside of the exhaust elbow . The only way to stop it was to shut down the engine which I did for a while because there was enough wind to sail. That wind eventually disappeared so I had no choice but to motor again if I wanted to make Medana Bay by nightfall. The leak returned but now the main bilge pump had failed so it was a race to see if the secondary bilge pump could hold down the water level until I reached the marina. It did, with a little help from me and a bucket scooping water out of the bilge and dumping it down the sink.
Once at the marina with the engine stopped I had time to assess the situation. I found that a plug normally in a port on the underside of the elbow had blown out leaving a way for water to escape. As I write this I haven’t found the missing plug in the bilge. The elbow is made of cast iron which can be TIG welded but it’s a tricky process. I was not confident I could get it successfully welded in a place where there may only bush welders.
The right solution is replacing the elbow with a new one but shipping boat parts into a place like Indonesia is a nightmare, sometimes taking months, even if you’re willing to pay the 40% duty and taxes (which a boat in transit shouldn’t have to pay). I’m not waiting months for anything. Tracking down and ordering the parts I needed in Sydney, Australia, I jumped on the fast ferry from Lombok to Bali last Thursday, caught a red eye flight from Denpasar airport in Bali to Sydney, and spent Friday picking up the parts along with spare bilge pumps and a few other things. I flew back to Denpasar on Saturday (yesterday) with the parts in my carry-on bag and skated through Customs with no problems. Returning to Lombok and Medana Bay today on the fast ferry, I’m back where I started with the parts to fix the leak. I hope to get the new elbow installed tomorrow and get going again by the end of the week.
What’s surprising about this problem is that the engine is only 2 years old with less than 1300 hours. Even with the leak it continue to run smoothly and the seawater and exhaust was still being ejected overboard. A failure like this should never have happened with such a relatively young engine. I’m worried there is an undiscovered collateral problem that led to this failure. That might come to light when we pull the failed elbow off and examine it.