Great transit yeehah! No engine boohoo!
13 April 2012 | Balboa Yacht Club moorings Panama
Pip
Full story on the actual transit will be posted later, with pictures etc- but a quick update as to our current situation follows...
We had a brilliant time going through the canal, and we were just about to celebrate being in the Pacific Ocean (and Kevin's birthday)- but first we had to drop our linehandlers off at the Balboa Yacht Club jetty with the rented 150 foot lines, and the plastic-wrapped tyres we had used as fenders, before we went a bit further south to find a (free) place in an anchorage, or possibly go into Flamanco Marina. BUT as I put Wanda into reverse to stop her at the jetty, I heard a loud 'gerdunk gerdunk gerdunk' sound- and she wasn't slowing down.... Kevin jumped off and managed to stop her with a line, I killed the engine and we tied up. Kevin had a quick look at the engine- SERIOUS problem. The transmission coupling bolts had come loose, fallen out, sheared off- basically our engine was no longer attached to and turning the propshaft, and was jumping up and down all over the place. Luckily Louis, one of our linehandlers who could speak both Spanish and English, was still around, so was able to translate and help me arrange a tow to one of the Yacht Club's mooring bouys, thus getting us out of immediate trouble. We were also very lucky, as normally there aren't any spare bouys; also if we had had the problem in the middle of one of the locks it really doesn't bear thinking about!
So we are safe and sound, but working hard at getting motoring capability back again- may be a while..
Kevin is currently having a go at re-aligning the engine and bolting everything back together; we have found out the name of an english-speaking mechanic; and fingers and everything else crossed that we haven't done real damage to the cutless bearing, propshaft, or gearbox, and that we don't have to be hauled out. But hey ho, if we do- well it's all part of the adventure- and there are worse places to be stuck in than Panama City!