OK, I admit I haven't been posting as I should.  Life has a way of keeping me so busy that maintaining this blog has slipped a bit.  I'm going to try and fix that now though.  We've done a tremendous amount of work on the new boat, so I'll try and catch things up.

May 2021 - First, a bit of history.  We purchased the boat in SC back in the spring of 2021.  Before bringing it home, I wanted to perform some of the overdue maintenance, just so I'd have some peace of mind during the ride home to the Hudson River.  Since the boat was located so far from home, I contracted with Specialized Mechanical Services in Wilmington, NC for the work to be done. In order for them to have access to the boat, my wife and I had to move her from the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club, SC, to the Port City Marina in NC.  This is a 4 or 5 hour cruise, and it was nice to get the new boat out for a ride after closing on her.  We had no issues on the maiden voyage, and left her securely slipped in Port City for the work.

Here's a list of the work performed by SMS:

First, we had to order some new parts - a new starboard side turbo (the boost was a bit low during the sea trial), two complete new water pumps (I'm rebuilding the old ones as spares), and two new fuel filter assemblies with new priming pumps (the old style utilized priming bulbs, which get stiff and brittle as they age.  The new ones utilize a small piston pump - much better).  Just these parts ran a cool $8,200, but we're not about to skimp when it comes to maintenance issues.

Then, SMS arrived at the boat in Port City, and spent about a week installing the previously mentioned parts, and also the following:

  • Oil and filter changes in both main engines
  • Valve adjustments on both main engines
  • Primary and secondary fuel filter replacements
  • Rebuild all 3 Racor fuel filter housings (2 mains, 1 genset)
  • Changed coolant filters
  • Replace crankcase filters
  • Replace air filters
  • Replace all anodes
  • Change transmission oil and filters

NOW I felt we were in a good position to bring her the rest of the way home.  That was a 4 day trip, with a total of about 40 hours total run time.  Here are a few pics from the run:

 



We arrived in good shape, and the 500 performed beautifully during the run.  Of course, once we were home, I wasn't satisfied with a few things, so we immediately had her pulled and blocked - and that's all in the next post!!

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