Progress

Well, Sari Timur is showing her minders that she doesn't like sitting for most of the time for the last three plus years.  We are finding lots of little ways she is demanding attention.  And we are slowly knocking them off.  First, we found a diesel leak last year on the main engine when it ran.  Some investigation into that proved it was the injector pump front seal.  Injector pumps scare us so we hired a mechanic to help us get it off and sent to the injector pump rebuild people.  They completely rebuilt it and it looks shiny and new.  In January when Mark was battling those 70+ knot storms on the tug boat, Pauline was keeping Sari Timur safe.  There were only a couple of damages, the Maretron wind instrument got destroyed and a tang broke off the hawsepipe thruhull cleat.  An exact replacement wasn't available so we ordered a pair of brand new stainless ones.  This meant after removing the old ones, we had to modify the holes as the new holes were slightly longer and thinner.  Some grinding, glassing, epoxy, drilling and caulk and they are now in.  We still have to paint the hull around these but they look great and the painting can be done while in the Sound.

We went to hank on the head sail and found the roller furler jammed up.  So we hooked up the bosun's chair to pull Mark up top and found the windless didn't work.  A bit of trouble-shooting on that and he got the motor working again but some internal corrosion is making it weak.  So replacement parts are now on their way (should be arriving today) and we are struggling along with the old windlass motor in the meantime.  We replaced the wind instruments with an Airmar as Maretron no longer manufactures one.  And we really like having the full weather station option up there.  The furler problem seems to be the grease we had on there hardened and oxidized.  We finally have it all down.  A major chore with a damaged windlass.  Climbing the forestay is a real chore as it has such a large angle to the mast.  Many of you probably remembered Mark falling from the top of the mast while trying to work his way down the forestay many years ago.  He still needs to do a complete inspection of the forestay and clean it but he is pretty convinced it was just gunked up really badly and not a broken wire strand like we feared might be the problem.

We ordered a new freezer and instead of putting it under the chart table where we have flooded two other ones, we have decided to sacrifice a portion of the quarterberth.  This really hasn't been used for anything but storage since Roger helped Mark get Sari Timur back from Africa in 1995.  It looks good there and is actually easier to get at.  It does mean making another cushion cover for the cushion that is there and now only 2/3s the size but that can be done while cruising.

The dinghy outboard is at the small motor repair shop.  It is just a carburetor issue but may be the thing that holds back our departure by a few days.  Otherwise things are coming together.  We still have lots of work to do provisioning and stowing but things are coming together.  We are still trying to get out of here on the 7th but that is a Friday and probably the 10th is a more realistic target.