New Interview Posted

James Ellingford, owner & operator of N62 Pendana, has long been publishing interviews with other Nordhavn owners as well as related industry experts.  We’re not exactly sure why they wanted to interview us, but they did, and James published it here today:

Click Here: Interview with Rick & Michelle on Ghost Rider

Cruisair & Tranny Maintenance

While I’m still trying (unsuccessfully thus far) to get a tech out to the boat to diagnose the dead stern thruster, we finally did get some much-needed repairs & maintenance done on the Cruisair tempered water A/C system this week.  We engaged Captain Ed’s Marine Service here in the FMY area (does good work – Cruisair certified, deliberate & reliable).  

Old Nasty A/C Sea Strainer

First & foremost was replacing a bad board in the guest stateroom’s air handler, finally bringing that back to life.  We also replaced the original (cheap & leaking) A/C sea strainer (see pic) with a new Groco unit, plus performed a much-needed flush of the sea water circuit with a barnacle-buster cleaner.

While we were at it we fixed a couple of sticking air handler valves and re-clamped some leaky chiller hoses.  The remaining to-do is to bring up the propylene glycol levels in the fresh water circuit – not so much for the anti-freeze properties, but more for the desired lubricating effects.

 Finally, I also got the oil & filter changed for the main engine’s ZF transmission at its scheduled 1,000 hour / 1 year interval.  The most difficult part of that process was getting the damned oil-filler nut removed, which required (1) a special ¾” hex socket tool, and (2) an inordinate amount of torque (with a breaker / extension bar), even after pre-soaking with Kroil & a heat gun.  The startling noise it made when it did break loose sounded like a small bomb going off in the engine room.  But the only injury was a bruise on my butt from a hard landing on the engine room floor.