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12/7/2005 12:30:00 PM
Off Punto Colnett, MX
60 miles south of Ensenada, Mexico

Old problems resurfacing - Back to a yard

Motor or better prop shaft problems make us turn around for a boat yard ... a temporary setback but hey that way we can extend our trip ... LOL

It is a gorgeous day outside, we all had a nice night sleep after a long day yesterday mainly motoring south to an anchorage off Punto Colnett, about 70 miles south of Ensenada. The trip was pretty uneventful, no more whales and very little to no wind, so we motored for most of it and arrived at a good time to anchor . that's when things started to go bad . our engine died when we tried to shift into reverse. Our boat neighbors in the marina would say now . oh NOT AGAIN. Well yes it happened again.

To put in a little explanation for the not so sailing focused people like me, this is NOT a disaster especially since we knew early enough and we just used the wind to backup the boat once we had dropped our anchor. After some troubleshooting, it became apparent that the problem stems back to the same issue we had the boat in yard already, about 2 months ago before went to Austria. About a year ago, we had a new dripless shaftseal installed that required a new fitting being fabricated and installed by the boat yard. Since it involves the biggest hole in the boat, the boat needs to be out off the water to make any repairs or changes to the setup and we had the boatyard do the work given we were busy with our teak deck project. What ended up happening is that the new fitting around the shaft is too tight or maybe as we suspect now made from the wrong material, the shaft and the fitting heat up and expand and then start turning too hard for the motor to turn the shaft in low RPMs . ergo chokes the motor and dies . that's the bad news. The good news is after all we are a sailboat and don't need an engine, second we do still have a motor to charge our batteries and all our other fancy stuff such as water maker, thirdly Niki has enough rations for us to sail to Hawaii if we want to . no worries we are NOT.

As part of the troubleshooting, I just dove the boat in the middle of Punto Colnett Bay . an interesting experience to jump off the boat in the middle of the ocean, but I feel refreshed now and I have checked the shaft down below myself . nothing is wrapped around, hence it really is the old problem. Things have actually gotten worse and now the engine doesn't run in low RPMs at all, neither forward nor reverse which makes our initial assessment to fix it in La Paz not really a prudent choice anymore and we decided to turn around and head for a boat yard north. I did get the motor to turn the prop in forward in higher RMPs without choking it and we are moving along at 6 knots right now. Winds are light and are forecasted to stay that way so we are aiming for San Diego but if we cannot make it there we will go for Ensenada. Our hope is that the boatyard in San Diego who did the original work and tried to fix it in September sticks to its work and warrants the work they did as they did the last time . keep your fingers crossed since a haulout on its own is expensive . over $500.

Are we disappointed, sure we would have wanted to keep heading south, but these are the cards we were dealt. The weather is good and I am positive that the motor gets us back to San Diego by mid to late Thursday sometime. We will need to checkin to the US again and depending on the boatyards schedule we should be back out on the water Friday night or Saturday at the latest late Monday.

To friends and family don't worry too much, we are doing OK and our spirits are considering the circumstances high. Thanks for thinking about us,

Robert

TheSchmids Family Sailing on Lawur

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