Back in Warderick Wells

We are back in the Exuma Park, at the same mooring (#5) that we occupied on the way south. And it is still quite nice here, with a well-protected mooring field, reasonably good internet access, and of course beautiful scenery.

We came up from Staniel Cay yesterday in winds of 20-30, gusting to 35. It was all downwind, and a great ride, with only the jib out. We stayed at a steady 6.8 kts, sometimes getting up to nearly 8 kts, in the gusts. The last leg into the cut was a bit exciting, as we had to turn into a beam wind and seas, but we got the sail down, the engine started, and all tucked in. We will stay here for a few days, before leaving for Eluthera to see Bill and Dot.

We bought a frozen chicken in Georgetown, and it finally thawed out the other day, so we have had two very nice evening meals of roast chicken. Zabelle really appreciated our efforts to make roast chicken for her, and even Calypso is starting to enjoy it, as well. The big red slug (Dante) LOVES canned turkey cat-food, but he doesn’t seem to be interested in roast chicken. Go figure.

We also think that we have finally fixed the Honda outboard. It has been giving us fits this trip, because it would not get the dinghy up on a plane, and it seemed to be stuttering and hesitating quite a bit. This started about 2 years ago, after we had a tuneup done by the dealer in Annapolis, and it now appears that they did a rather poor job. We found that they left off one of the hose clips on the fuel line attached to the fuel filter, and now it appears that they left out one very important mounting bolt for the condenser that powers the spark plugs. rxc was convinced that this was a “lack-of-fuel” issue, caused by some sort of gumup in the fuel system, and he added all sorts of additives to the fuel to clean up the system, and finally took apart the carburetor yesterday, where he found that one of the adjustments made by the dealer was incorrect.

This did not fix the problem, unfortunately, so he took the cover off yesterday again, but this time while the engine was running, to see how the fuel flow looked. It was great thru the fuel filter, but he noticed that the condenser was loose, and further inspection revealed that one of the two bolts was completely missing, while the other one was very loose. Sparks appeared at these mounting points, so we think that they were the individual grounds for the ignition system, and were not being made, so that the engine sputtered – bad spark, not bad fuel.

This was not an easy fix, though, because the dinghy was in the water, and there was a good wind and swell thru the anchorage. In addition, the bolt that was missing was attached with a blind bolt in a pocket that was inaccessible when the condenser was properly positioned. It therefore required the application of some grease to a bolt to get it to stick while the condenser was properly positioned, in a rocking dinghy. Luckily, it all came together, and now the engine operates the way it should. We will have to buy the proper bolt in Florida when we get back. We will also buy a number of engine spare parts in case we need more service in France.

Today we will do some snorkeling on the local reefs, and some paperwork.