Whatever…

Close quarters

The problems associated with changing the oil, and the oil and fuel filters, of a diesel engine in a small boat are countless. But, add the one foot roll from the 15 mph southeast wind, and the afternoon may prove catastrophic. After all, the engine is in the middle of the kitchen, or what passes for the kitchen. Most of its smelly carcass is inaccessible. Equipment and residues include rags, clean and oily, filters (all special purpose), O-rings of various sizes, all determined to find their way into the bilge; a container for filthy fuel, one for clean fuel, another for dirty oil, others for clean oil, wrenches, screw drivers, paper towels, the engine manual - all smelly and infectious. Touch a clean surface with a finger, a rag, an O-ring, a wrench, or anything else, and the clean surface has been perfumed with diesel, whose aroma will last for days. And, to make things worse, all the surfaces available for contamination are food prep surfaces, or sleeping surfaces. If that quart container brimming with old diesel fuel, now balancing on the stove, should spill, we’ll have to throw out the stove.

The killer is, after spending two successful hours doing all the maintenance and avoiding major contamination of the living quarters, feeling pretty good about getting a troublesome job done, and done right, it turns out that putting those diesel and oil contaminated clothes in the washer, along with some shirts that belong to other family members, wasn’t the best idea I’d had all day. What happens on the boat, apparently, doesn’t stay on the boat.