By Rich

We are planning a couple of short cruises this winter, but we plan to keep fairly close to Lauderdale to focus on getting the boat ready for the “big cruise.” First up: our main engine is burning a ton of oil (one quart per 50 hours of run time). Since it was compression tested in Charleston before we bought the boat, we don’t think it’s generally a tired engine. Rather, I suspect the turbo seals may have been leaking since I noticed a film of oil on the rubber portions of the induction pipes just upstream of the turbo compressor. So we decided to have the turbocharger and oil cooler removed to be serviced and checked for leaks. As things came apart we did see quite a bit of oil in the induction pipes where it shouldn’t be:

Continue reading What We’re Working On Now →

By Rich

And….we’re off! Annapolis to Fort Lauderdale was the first significant passage for Team Rover since bringing her home from Charleston. We left Saturday, November 23rd dressed in full ski gear hiding inside the enclosure while listening to college football on satellite radio.  Light head winds meant motoring all day and night.  Around dusk the rain started and it poured through much of the night. We could not have been happier to have the full enclosure; in fact, we never ran the heat for the entire passage, which meant we only needed to run the generator once to charge batteries. Continue reading Annapolis to Fort Lauderdale 2019! →