The block was cracked on the old engine so we had to replace it. CBS Hydraulic who do all the big ship engines here found us an engine in Gauteng. We removed the old engine today with the yachts rigging and CBS took it away to transfer the necessary bits to the new engine. After repainting, rewiring and re-plumbing the engine room, we will be installing the freshly reconditioned, and bench tested engine before the end of this week.
Pity that the two local SAMSA officials took advantage of this situation to treat us to the typical factious harassment, intimidation and abuse of power for which they are famous. As a result, we are busy with an Australian Ships Registry. Wilhelm von Schütz of Seven Seas Marine is the local SA Sailing safety inspector and he will be attending to things from here on as we are no longer commercial. This was supposed to be done in Cape Town but seeing that we have SAMSA officials obsessed with regulatory oppression, we will do this before we get there.