As we had done a fair few hour since last oil change, this was due now. Accordingly I took the boat out of the marina for this as usual. There is no access to the stern in the marina and care needs to be taken with the waste oil. Safely moored up, the procedure was completed in about half an hour with new oil filter. Having the built in sump pump makes the removal of the old oil very easy using a bit of old hose and a bucket. Once the new oil is in the bucket can be emptied into the now empty oil containers and taken to the local authority disposal point.
Eberspacher Heater. Whilst on our travels, the heater failed to ignite properly one day and shut down. A number of successive attempts failed and as the heater has been on the boat untouched since new I thought an overhaul was indicated. Rather nervous about how to get it out of the boat I gave it a long hard inspection. One exhaust pipe shrouded in ?rock wool? inside a corrugated metal sleeve. Two water pipes, flow and return, and the diesel fuel line. Then how to remove the heater itself? There appeared to be no obvious fixings. Worried about this last I telephoned Braidbar. Iain was very helpful and described a 10mm nut at the back and the heater sitting in a cradle. These identified, I drained the central heating expansion tank and reasoning that all the water remaining would be below this level, disconnected the water pipes. There was very little leakage. With the exhaust and the fuel line disconnected the body of the heater was easily removed to be taken to the nearest approved repair shop when back home.
The final job was a washout of the engine bilge using the wet vac and to return the boat to the marina. It had been quite a warm day and I later found out that my fluid deficit amounted to at least 3 pints of Marston Pedigree.
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