Its been 7 long, hot days working like a Trojan. You know, of course, God created the world in 7 days and 7 nights, well six actually, because he was smart enough to take a day off. I think that is pretty impressive, don't you? Considering how little I have accomplished working all 7 days and nights, I see why people believe in miracles! From the cool of the dawn, through the heat of the day to the welcome afternoon breeze before sunset, I have laboured away below decks, trying to breath life back into Conversations II. To the uninitiated, you see, a boat ages more while sitting than sailing. I came onboard last week after four months and nothing worked. I had to start by unfreezing all my tools that had rusted solid. Then it took me two days just to get the plumbing, electrical and propane working. Working in the 90 degree heat and 100 % humidity, I had to be careful working around electrical equipment. You see, I am melting!
So far, I have installed a new autopilot -- TQM -- a product I expect to be vastly superior to the Autohelm it replaces, a new Furuno radar 2300 series, with low power settings and watch mode to keep lookout for "targets" day and night, and a bunch of little things here and there. Finally ready for a test sail, I cleared the dock with a fellow sailor, only to find, surprise, surprise, the engine is not working! No power. We bid a hasty retreat back to the dock against a big outgoing tide. The $500 dollars worth of work I paid to fix the problem I knew I had when I left the boat last December, did not fix the problem. Of course. That would be too simple - to pay someone else to fix the problem and have it actually fixed. So this morning, while I take a breather from my labours, the diesel lies in parts, the whole fuel injection system off in somebodies hands for testing and rebuilding. And I am waiting, and not very patiently. If this fix doesn't bring back the engine, the next stop might be a total engine rebuild.
If you haven't guessed already from the tone of this posting, from my labours this week, I am exhausted. I guess a day or two waiting, hoping second $500 will fix the engine is what I need to be ready to put to sea is what I need. I guess a good pilot prepares himself, while he prepares his craft. Everything happens for a reason.
The good news is that I have insurance approval for the single handed passage. I have all the staple provisions on board I need for just little old me to live on for 3 weeks. The new autopilot and radar are working nicely. The SE trade winds are settling in and building over the next 48 hours. And everything else on the boat is more or less working again, so when the engine is fixed I will be out of here like a shot. Wednesday morning... touch wood.
I have to tell you, lounging about in the trade winds while the boat does the work for a while, sounds pretty darn attractive right now.
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