To make a short story long, those who know me well know that I've been dinking around refitting a 42 footer for the last 20 years. She hasn't been in the
water for 18. I was preparing for a Tropical Storm that was downgraded from a class 4
Hurricane this last week and saw what appeared to be
water under the
engine in the catch pan. So, today I go investigate in earnest. It turns out to be oil!!! This is an
engine with only 10 hours and never been run while in the water. Panic!! I don't want to pull the engine.
I start looking around the engine compartment to determine what and where the leak might be. I find it near the
transmission and flywheel. Then I look above that and find an empty blue plastic container that used to contain a gallon of Delo engine
oil. That's right, just sitting there on the
transmission mount with a little hole in the bottom. That was it! So relieved!
I now know that the pan will hold well over a gallon of
oil with no problem and not leak into any other
bilge compartments. I am out a gallon of engine oil though. Oh well, the sell it at WalMart.
Regards,