So what do you do after your favorite visitors have flown back to MN? Dinghy to shore to do the laundry, walk to the grocery store to provision for the next leg of our journey, clean, clean, clean the boat, count the remaining beers in the cooler!
Unfortunately, after Robert's departure we were left with an engine issue that started on his last day in the Bahamas ... or is it a fuel issue? or is it a battery issue? Our faithful Westerbeke 52 which has served us without problem for over a year (not counting a few slow starts after sitting at anchor for several days) developed a serious hiccup. Slow to turn over, once it fires up, it quickly stalls out. Repeat. Repeat and the 3rd time seems to the charm b/c then it turns over quickly, revs up perfectly, and all things are good. So what's wrong Mr. Westerbeke?
When he's not researching on the computer, this has been Dan's position for the last 2 days. It seems to be a process of elimination, starting with the easy fixes first. Is it air in the fuel line? Check and tighten all the fuel lines. Is it a poor connection to the battery? Clean those (even though they look fine in the first place). Ditto with the starter connections (we really don't want it to be the starter b/c we left Florida without getting a spare). Is it the fuel filter? At least that showed signs of dirt, and we've got spares.
I'm amazed at how much swearing goes into getting screws off parts!
When not being asked to pass tools, paper towels or watch for bubbles in the fuel filter, I passed the time putting another coat of varnish on the teak (can't really bring myself to sit in the cockpit and read my current Clive Cussler book with Dan getting all sweaty and dirty in the engine room)... and once again, I rearranged our food storage with the goal of finally reclaiming our shower. Every boat we visit has a functioning shower, and they are in awe that we cannot have a shower before going to bed. I want a shower too! And we are simply not eating our supply of canned and dry goods fast enough to empty the 4 large boxes of food we currently have stored in the shower (and the fact that we probably have 6 months worth of canned goods doesn't help ... I know we have more tomate paste than I will use in this lifetime!).
It took 4 hours, and Dan agreeing to give up another locker that he's been using to store tools (thank goodness the beer supply has been going down b/c now there's room to store tools where a case of beer used to be!), but TAH DAH! We have a shower! Mikel - Robert - Jim ... can you believe it!!!! :)
Of course, our water tank is on empty, so we cannot use it ... but I can admire it!
When we arrived in Hopetown with Robert, we passed by another Bayfield 40, s/v Sapphire, which is the first Bayfield boat I saw online when this type of boat was recommended to us. They have been cruising for 7 years, and I've been reading their blog for at least 4 years! The day after we moved into the anchorage at Marsh Harbor, they dropped their hook just off our stern ... two Bayfields in a row ... how cool is that!
Maja meet Sapphire
We are hull #47, and they are hull #14, so it was fun to go aboard and compare similiarities and differences.
They have white canvas over their cockpit, and our teak is freshly varnished, otherwise they look very much alike. Mike and Kathy just finsihed spending 4 months in the southern Bahamas, along with our friends from Brunswick, Chris and Karen (s/v Synergy) ... such a small world it can be!
Besides the shower thing, they are two cool features we plan to copy.
#1. They hang this nifty step on the side for easy access from the dinghy.
#2. They have two solar panels mounted on their davits (we have one).
Dan is currently off to the hardware store. I believe he has 5 more suggestions to try, thanks to cruisersforum.com ... post a question and get 14 replies by the next day!. Focusing on the fuel filter did have a positive impact ... just not a complete solution. At least he's gotten plenty of empathy and words of encouragement from other boaters (and Jim Garfunkel!) to keep him motivated.
Stay tuned ... no matter what happens with the engine today, there will be showers on Maja tonight!!
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