Snowballs on the Boat

The only time we had actual snowballs on the boat was that cooooold winter in Chattanooga when we had 7 inches of snow on the dock.  But the "snowball theory" of a maintenance project is alive and well aboard "Fruition".
So, we're sitting right at the boatyard for 2 months while Sue recovers from surgery, and I'm thinking "Y'know, I've always wondered if the engine heat exchangers had ever been cleaned by the previous owners.  I certainly haven't inspected or cleaned them in the 5 years we'ver owned the boat.  Maybe, since we have time now, I'll have the yard take a look-see." 
So the $100/hr "marine mechanic" (anything with the word marine in it will double the price) pulls the first exchanger and finds it so fouled with scale, silt and barnacles that it's a wonder any water was passing through it!  And that's when the snowball started rolling downhill.

Fouled Transmission Oil Cooler -- note bottom edge of the
plates is fouled by the UPC paper label from a zinc anode.
You're supposed to remove the paper from the zinc!!

Since the raw water (usually seawater) flows through 3 heat exchangers on each engine, we start pulling the other exchangers and, as Murphy's Law states, they we fouled also.  And the snowball continues downhill....  The common method of cleaning the exchangers is to take them to a radiator shop for acid cleaning.  Of course, the transmission oil cooler cannot be cleaned that way...........it must be replaced with a re-built cooler.  So the maintenance cost goes up exponentially. 
And the snowball continues............  The two large nuts that hold the transmission oil cooler together are so corroded (salt water against mild steel is not a good combination) that they cannot be re-used.  And Caterpillar factory and distributors nationwide have no nuts in stock.  May be months before CAT has some made up.
So I'm lamenting my story to our good good friends in Chattanooga, who say that a machine shop close to them can custom manufacture new nuts.  Sue & I are headed to TN anyway to take care of Sue's mom, so we carry the old nuts to be used as a pattern.  The machine shop comes thru with flying colors in only 2 days, so we can now re-assemble the cooler.
But the snowball continues.........  Our marine mechanic notes that many of the water and oil hoses are old and cracking.  It becomes obvious that previous owners of the boat had never cleaned these exchangers or replaced hoses.  The boat is 27 years old, and these items should be checked every 5-10 years.  So, my credit card received a really good workout this past month.  And hopefully, the snowball has finally melted!

April 8, 2013
Just to prove that "If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all!"
Yesterday we took the boat out to Lake Pontchartrain for a sea trial, and when we got back, we noticed that oil or fuel was coming out of the port engine exhaust!  We didn't know if the problem was due to the recent work on the coolers, or whether we had developed major engine problems.  This morning, the mechanic came back aboard & determined that the re-built transmission oil cooler from CAT was defective, and was leaking oil into the cooling water, which is dumped into the engine exhaust.  Luckily, CAT had another cooler in stock, which the mechanic installed this afternoon.  Problem solved, but not without skipping a couple of heartbeats!  We're planning to leave in just 4 days!