Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Will sailing season ever begin?

The bigger question: when will "repair season" be over? In preparation for what we had hoped would be an extended cruise to Mexico, we replaced our standing rigging and mast wiring last year. Afterwards, our masthead wind instrument was DOA, and we had a nasty leak at the partners. The first problem is still being worked on, and I finally fixed the leak by re-bedding all the screws in the deck plate surrounding the mast. We also replaced our 2-blade MaxProp with a reconditioned 3-blade prop, to reduce vibration. While hauled, we had a minor blister repaired, and a void near the rudder post filled. The exhaust thru-hull was found to be cracked and was also replaced at this time.
After a great cruising season, we had a stainless rail welded on both sides of the cockpit, in order to attach solar panels and bimini. We had a new bimini built and replaced our dodger canvas and windows.
The coup de grace to our cruising plans was the discovery that the engine problems we had long suffered with turned out to be more serious than we had thought. After long deliberation, we opted to re-power with a new engine, transmission, and panel. The new exhaust thru-hull had to be replaced with a slightly larger diameter, per the new engine specs. But there was another surprise in store! Now it turns out we are overpropped, and we are having our "new" 3-blade MaxProp cut down by PYI. This was a real puzzler, as the transmission ratios and torque curves for the old and new engines were supposedly nearly identical.
So Mexico is off for this year. With any luck we'll at least get to cruise BC again this summer.