New Fear Unlocked! -- Ty Left Me & the A/C QUIT! - Episode171

Ty departs Fort Lauderdale aboard the motor yacht Relentless to undertake a 30-day transatlantic delivery to Montenegro, leaving Kim and Maddie aboard the catamaran Sailing Dauntless. After six months of discreet project preparations to step away, Ty joined the delivery crew under Captain Steve, beginning an extended passage across the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Kim drove more than two hours back from Fort Lauderdale late into the night, returning to handle onboard systems while Ty began his passage.

The separation immediately divided the crew between offshore passage navigation and intensive domestic systems maintenance. While Ty adapted to long offshore watch rotations across deep ocean waters, Kim took full charge of the catamaran alongside Maddie. Keeping the vessel operational required managing critical plumbing, electrical circuits, and mechanical cooling during hot coastal weather conditions.

Passage Preparations and Ocean Crossing to Bermuda

Before casting off lines in Florida, Ty completed safety drills aboard Relentless. Assigned to the vessel’s fire brigade by Captain Steve, Ty spent an afternoon drilling with Captain Dave, donning full safety turnout gear. Captain Dave timed the evolutions, logging a run under three minutes before trimming the time down to two to two and a half minutes. Ty practiced repeatedly to “make sure that if something comes up I’m as prepared as an amateur can be.”

Underway past the northern end of the Bahamas, the crew encountered an engine room setback at 4:30 in the morning when the starboard engine experienced an overheating alert caused by debris before the cooling plates. The crew ran on a single engine in bouncing seas until conditions settled into calm sapphire waters on the second day. Ty assumed the noon to 4 watch, passing container traffic before arriving safely in Bermuda.

Bilge Emergencies and Rising Heat

Aboard Sailing Dauntless, the boat’s primary cooling system abruptly failed overnight. With outside temperatures forecasted to approach 100 degrees in May, resolving the issue was vital to keep the cabin habitable. The failure compounded a personal physical crisis for Kim, who was dealing with a painful outbreak of shingles across her right neck, chest, chin, and ear. Because excessive heat and sweat intensified the discomfort, restoring cooling became an immediate priority.

The failure disrupted daily routines on board, leaving the cabins sweltering under intense early summer sun. Kim turned up personal cabin fans through the night to endure the heat, knowing that diagnosing bilge machinery in the cramped hull would require daylight, technical focus, and physical endurance.

Clearing the Sea Chest Impeller

Kim investigated the bilge compartment, where the air conditioning pump breaker continually tripped upon activation. Removing the cover from the Sea Chest revealed a foul-smelling buildup of muck and marine growth that had accumulated inside the housing. Scraping the chamber clean resolved the initial obstruction, but feeling inside the pump revealed a stubborn blockage inside the impeller mechanism.

Kim worked through severe physical discomfort in the humid bilge space, methodically cleaning the housing walls. Clearing the foul sludge allowed direct access to the lower intake fittings, where deeper inspection confirmed that physical debris was wedged tightly into the moving vanes of the pump.

Extracting the Blockage with a Strap Wrench

Kim tackled the disassembly of the Hooker Electric pump head. To avoid cross-threading the housing or twisting the attached electrical wiring cord, Kim deployed a strap wrench—a reliable tool she and Ty had used for 25 years. Loosening the cylindrical canister allowed Kim to extract the debris wedged deep inside the impeller vanes. Examining the extracted chunk, Kim declared, “a piece of that foam got sucked up into the impeller and that’s what caused the pump to shut off in the middle of the night.”

Because a proper sea strainer had already been fitted to the catamaran, the old fuel cell foam was obsolete and discarded. The foam had previously served as a temporary filter medium inside the raw water circuit, but over time it had degraded and migrated directly into the mechanical components.

Flooding the Sea Chest and Electrical Failures

After threading the pump housing back into place and inspecting for water leaks, Kim reopened the through-hull valve. When seawater failed to flood the dry chamber, Kim called for advice and learned to crack open the top breather tube, allowing trapped air to vent and water to enter the sight glass.

With the system primed, Maddie flipped the electrical breaker. Instead of running, the unit tripped the breaker instantly, while the electrical cord violently pushed out from the strain relief cover with an audible hiss. Terrified by the sudden mechanical reaction, Kim shut off the circuit and reached out for help.

Dockside Neighbors Restore the Cooling System

Ty coordinated assistance from Bermuda by contacting neighboring boaters at the marina. Neighbor Frank arrived with his electrical crimping tool, assuring Kim, “girl I got you.” Together with next-door neighbor Greg, the team removed the damaged electrical assembly and wired in a spare Hooker Electric pump head that the crew kept aboard.

Frank completed the fresh crimp connections, the system powered on without incident, and cold air returned to the catamaran. Kim secured the damaged pump component to have it evaluated by technicians at Hooker Electric in Fort Lauderdale, having successfully overcome the bilge breakdown with community support.

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