News: Some bad but some good too!

Enee was successfully launched yesterday. Amazing maneourving in tight quarters in the yard but the guys who work the big machinery are really good. Engine started as it did back in March as we waited for the guys from Budget Marine (right next door) to bring my 3 shiny new Trojan batteries. While waiting the engine slowed and stopped and was not to start again.

make sad face here. ..

With Diesel engines you wonder what is wrong but not for long. It almost has to be the fuel and it was. The fuel tank in the Endeavour is actually lower than the bilge or if you like it IS the bilge. If water were to come up too high because bilge pump is not operating on the hard. So on one hand, big deal. Certainly the tank is sealed on top. Unfortunately no. There are voids and small holes etc. So what has happened is that while we were away and not able to monitor the bilge rain water gets in, water and oil and what not eased its way in to the tank. Add to that what was able to grow in there while we were away and the bottom line is that the diesel fuel in the tank looked like dark brown s***.

The guys at Spice Island were very helpful. Frankie sent Desmond to our boat after lunch and he worked for 3 hours cleaning out the Racor and jury rigging the fuel system to work out of the 5 gal jerry can just to get us the hell out of the yard.

While waiting for this operation to be completed we contacted the lady who took care of Enee the last couple of months as we knew that she had a mooring ball available in the bay. While we are adept at anchoring we didn't need any more adventures for the day.

Meanwhile Desmond is bleeding the injectors during which time you just crank the engine and wait for fuel to appear at each injector. It's a crummy job. I've done it and I hate it. So while the engine was cranking suddenly Desmond starts screaming, "SHUT IT DOWN, SHUT IT DOWN, SHUT IT DOWN. . . He had become entangled in the belt/alternator business. Sue sprung into action and tried to shut the engine down by turning off the key (Diesels don't work that way). Finally she got to the shut off plunger and shut her down. Luckily, Desmond only got his shirt in the alternator and the blades of that scraped his arm a little. But no blood so no foul.

So, with our 5 gallons of diesel we motor out to the mooring ball, pick it up (only took 2 passes) and got attached. We're in. Boat is rocking nicely and for the time being we can not worry about fuel systems. Tomorrow is the other big question: Can we find more holes in the dinghy (it's still leaking) and will the outboard start? But today we're up for a swim and some rum punch (we think of everything if it doesn't have to do with engine maintenance). Holy crap. . .the caribbean water was even more wonderful than I remembered. We bobbed around for a bit and rinsed off on deck. Sleep was pretty good too with Enee gently rocking back and forth.

So, Friday starts with a bit of good news. The re-build I did on the propane system all works so that means COFFEE and that's important. Now to the dingy. We discover that Sue is the better finder of leaks. She finds 3 more! We patch those and it looks like we're finally holding our air! While doing this we discuss how we might best turn the dinghy right side up on deck and get her into the water. This is eventually accomplished with almost no swearing! Now for the outboard.

Our 18 horse Tohatsu 2 stroke has been hanging on the stern rail of the boat outdoors for about 18 months. I looked inside of it when I was here in March and declared it startable. Now for the test. Of course all things moveable are not corroded and immoveable but are easily loosed with some elbo grease and corrosion block. We have to sort of re-train ourselves as to the procedure for getting the engine from deck to dingy but we manage.

Fuel is ready, hose connected, oh yeah, squeeze the bulb to bring fuel in to the motor. The bulb was about as flexible as a major league baseball! I managed to squeeze it a little using both hands and squeezing has hard as I could.

One pull, two , three. . . VROOOOOOM! Holy crap! It started! Amazing. After all that time. Now both boats can move and projects can begin in earnest. AND, it's not even noon yet!

Now as you can see we've arranged internet. Timely updates and pics while we do our work.

We had hoped to come down get a couple of jobs done and sail north. Now it looks like we're going to be in boat repair/upgrade mode for a while. So be it. If you need to work on your boat there is just about no better place than Grenada. It's all here.