Wow, There Are a Lot of Parts in that Engine!

What a day.
We were up before the sun today.  Trevor got up really early to get a jump on reinstalling the fuel tank.  So he was working on that, clanking and clunking around in the cockpit.  It was noisy, so I saw no point in staying in bed.  Besides, he needed coffee and moral support.  He hadn't quite gotten the tank back in yet; it's a really tight squeeze to get it through into the locker.  He asked if I remembered how he got it out in the first place.  I did.  I told him how he had it oriented when he got it out.  So he got it in position, but it still wouldn't go.  "You're not going to like it, but you're just going to have to give it a good shove. You yanked it out yesterday, so it'll take some force to get it back in."  So he shoved.  Hard.  And the tank went right in.  Yay!  First victory of the day! (Besides getting up before sunrise)
Then came hooking up the hoses, bolting the tank back down, and bleeding the lines.  Screwing the tank back down was actually pretty tricky.  You see, space is very scarce on a sailboat, so every little inch is functional.  This means really tight spaces for things sometimes (like forcing a fuel tank in, for example).  The bolt at the front of the tank was really hard (nearly impossible) to reach.  But Trevor finally managed (he's so handy).  Attaching the hoses and stuff actually went fairly well.  (Go Trevor!)  Then came bleeding the lines.
Bleeding air from the lines is kinda my specialty.  I think over the years (especially over the last few weeks), I've gotten pretty good at it.  But this morning, I couldn't get anything but bubbles in the lines.  Couldn't tell if we were getting fuel through anything at all.  So we pulled the copper pipe that attaches the fuel tank to the first filter off.  But with difficulties.  When Trevor turned the nut to take it off, the pipe turned and kinked.  Did you know copper pipe could kink?  We didn't.  We were bumfuzzled.  There was no choice but to cut it off, put the fitting back on, and flange the tip.  Except we don't have a flange tool.  So Trevor flared it with a screwdriver.  Hmmm, okay, we'll see. 
What followed was a series of attempts to figure out where the line wasn't working.  We attached hoses to random places, sometimes with a bulb pump to assist the fuel getting into the lines.  We tried a ton of stuff, some of which I remember what we did and why we did it, some of which fades into the general confusion of the morning.  Finally, we decided we were in over our heads.
Who you gonna call?  Bryce Jemison!  Of course.  Our hero from yesterday and all-around nice guy.
So we called him to see if he knew a mechanic.  He gave us a number, and we called.  The guy is on the other side of the state until Monday.  But he's the Yanmar dealer in the area (our engine is a Yanmar, btw), so he's the guy to talk to.  We made plans for him to come to the boat Monday morning.  We talked to Bryce again to keep him in the loop, and he said he might have another guy.  So he called the other guy for us.
And this afternoon, diesel mechanic extraordinaire Jan came to save the day!  He came strolling up with his little can of diesel and his tools, and we knew he meant business.  He pulled things apart, and pumped diesel from one end to the other.  There were parts we were afraid to even look at wrong, and he pulled out every little piece to make sure it was alright.  He finally figured out it was the fuel injector pump that wasn't working, and he took it to pieces.  And put it back together.  In the right order and everything!  And with no pieces left over.  This guy really knew his stuff.  After a couple of hours, he had the motor running again.  Hallelujah! 
And then it died again.  Crap!  Air in the line.  How is air getting in the line?  Oh, remember that copper pipe Trevor rigged?  Yep, that's the one.  Luckily, I remembered I wasn't comfortable with that fitting.  So we pulled it off and showed it to the mechanic.  "That's unacceptable."  (Yes, there was a definite "I told you so" look thrown at Trevor, but he took it well.  He's learning that I'm always right, slowly but surely.)  So we replaced the copper pipe with some rubber tubing with a bulb pump in the middle.  This will make bleeding the lines easier, and I'm all for that! 
So now the engine is running, the lines are clear, the tank is clean, the diesel is fresh, and the plumbing is sound.  We are in good shape!  The engine is running great!  We even learned some new and helpful things about the motor.  (A handy tip for starting it in the cold, for one.  Would have been nice to know for the last month and a half.) 
Tomorrow's forecast is calling for some pretty rockin' waves (3-5 feet, no thanks), so we probably won't be running for Tarpon Springs just yet.  The plan is to sleep in a little (yay!).  Then we might take the dinghy up the river a bit and swim with the manatees!  And then we're hoping to take the boats toward the mouth of the river to anchor for the night.  That way we're a couple of hours closer to our destination Monday. 
With the engine running better than it has in years, we might even get a little extra speed out of it.  Maybe not.  But it's worth dreaming.  And maybe we'll finally get back to the ICW.  Once back in more protected waters, we can run like hell down to Marathon.  Might even get there by the 27th.
Then it's Christmas in the Keys for the Magees (and the Dread Pirate Trevor)!