I had wanted to be ready to leave the Rio by the first of November and have not quite managed that – not that there is any major hurry. I will be covering a lot of miles in this next year or two but am on no tight schedule.

Boat problems have delayed me a bit – for just a week or two, it appears.

My favorite boat saying, of all the many that exist, is: “While you are sleeping, your boat is breaking!” The underlying validity of this joke line has once again been proven. In this case, it could be modified a bit to “While you spend the better part of 5 months repairing, replacing, re-varnishing or otherwise obsessively improving some things on your boat, other items are breaking.”

A few weeks ago, I decided it was time to reconnect the Ham radio which had been fully disconnected and the control head stowed, since my arrival in the Rio. I put the power to it, hit the button and got a click - but nothing else. A frantic bit of troubleshooting revealed that both the control head and the radio itself had failed.

How the blazes could that have happened?

Since that revelation, friends have hand carried the radio back to the States,it has been repaired and is, even now, wending its way back to Guatemala.

Next in the litany of problems was one that was self-inflicted. I will never disclose in this blog the nature of this problem. Suffice it to say that the gross stupidity of my action was made clear to me immediately at its occurrence – and an entire dictionary full of “Salty Sailor Swearing” directed at it and its perpetrator.

For simplicity I will refer to this occurrence as the “Unimaginable Idiocy” (perhaps that should be the “Unimaginably Idiotic”?).

Thankfully, such things can be quickly, completely and cheaply resolved here in the Rio and the physical evidence of the Unimaginable Idiocy is now fully erased. The scars to my self-esteem will take much longer to heal.

KR had to be hauled overnight at Ram Marina to complete the UI erasure. The next morning the Travel Lift splashed us back into the water and, before casting off, I started the engine – the same engine that had run perfectly just the preceding morning. The engine started immediately. However, watching the exhaust for the expected (and necessary) flow of cooling water that would prove that all was well, proved to be a case of unrequited longing. No water! More throttle – still no water. Give it a good burst of revs – still no water.

More “Salty Sailor Swearing”.

It will be no surprise to my boater readers that the core problem turned out to be the seawater pump impeller. On KR, however, to get at the impeller requires complete removal of the entire seawater pump – a truly hot, sweaty, hand and head scarring and generally quite bitchy job. It turned out to be a good thing that the pump had to come out, however as, once out and inspect able, it became clear that the drive tang portion of the pump shaft which mates with its counterpart in the engine was so horribly worn it would inevitably have failed in the not distant future.

I have impellers in stores onboard. The rebuild kit for the pump needed to be air freighted form the States. Go figure.

Still, I am glad that I found this problem the (relatively) easy way.

So, you see, it is a good thing that I perpetrated the “Unimaginable Idiocy”! If I had not, I could well have had a failed engine at sea or in some other, potentially even more inconvenient, place. (Isn’t it great how humans can always rationalize, finding the often elusive, positive side of things?)

Next on the boat problem parade -While on anchor, waiting for the Pump Rebuilt Kit to arrive in Guatemala, with my solar panels actually seeing full sun for the first time since we arrived in the river (on the dock one panel was always folded down) I noticed that the solar regulator was not operating correctly. While it was apparently cycling normally the cutout had inexplicably dropped to around 13v instead of the normal 14. The batteries were being charged but at this lower voltage could never be fully topped up.

Even MORE “Salty Sailor Swearing”.

Both KR and I are feeling much better now and, when the Ham radio and new Solar Regulator arrive early next week, we should be ready to leave the Rio.

I posted this picture because it gives unimpeachable evidence that the old wive’s tale about the proverbial “pot of gold” at the end of the rainbow is blatantly false. The picture does make clear, however, that there is a Cape Dory 33 at (or at least near) the end of the rainbow – preferable in my book. This Cape Dory is Zenobia with Canadian friends Nikki and Adam aboard.