Moving Ahead

Hello everyone

We wanted to give y’all an update on our situation. Yes, we are still broke down with a defunct engine but we are making progress.

On Tuesday, Kim & Terry on s/v Clarity towed us from Vero Beach southward to Hobe Sound. Just past Peck Lake, they turned into a canal and took us right to George & Nancy Marvin’s dock. George was there to help us turn the boat around so it is facing out in this narrow canal. That was an operation that could have been tricky without an engine but, between Murray & George, they made it seem easy.

Kim & Terry continued on south the next morning and Murray started tearing the engine apart. He is removing as many of the parts as possible to make the engine lighter to lift. Luckily, the cockpit sole can be removed and the end of the boom is then directly above the centre point of the engine. Using a four-part line, we can then lift the engine to the cockpit and then, out onto the dock.We have experience with this process as we did it when the engine failed in 1997.

Now we are in the process of selecting a replacement engine. The Yanmar 3JH5E is the engine that we have chosen and it needs to be paired with a ZF 15MIV V-Drive as that type of drive gear is what we currently have in the boat. The new engine is a 39 hp and the old one was 33 hp so we may actually have a slightly higher boat speed. Perhaps we could have kept the old transmission but it is also 31 years old and has been re-built 4 times already. So, we decided to bite the bullet and replace it as well.

Shearwater Marine Service, here in Stuart, has agreed that we ( Murray ) can do the installation and they will send out a Yanmar mechanic at the end. He will check the connections, the various pressures and we will all go out for a sea trial to test the engine.

So, things are moving ahead slowly but surely. Christmas may slow things down but we are in a safe place with very good friends. That gives us much to celebrate.

May your Christmas be a wonderful one with loved ones around you to share it.

Hugs

Heather & Murray