The Hynes Honeymoon!

Author: Seth
Day: 97
Pic: The $1,000 speck
Google Earth Position: 18 25.476N, 64 37.112W

The next problem to repair was our generator, which I attempted to fix without hiring a mechanic. Yeah, like that would happen!

So far I had concluded one thing. The problem was related to oil pressure, which I had intelligently deduced from the blinking oil light on the control panel. And they said working on these things was difficult. Ha!

So I changed the oil, which did nothing. Several days later I installed a new oil pressure sensor, which also failed to improve the situation. It was now quite obvious that the actual oil pump was to blame and a complete rebuild of the gear assembly and cylinder head would be necessary to access the pump (which was conveniently in the MIDDLE of the engine!). The problem had officially exceeded my ability to repair and hiring a mechanic was eminent. I could, however, do one last thing to reduce the hours of labor by taking the engine out of the boat in order to allow access for the mechanic. I needed help for this one though, and John Martin from Glass Slipper offered his services.

In the end we both manhandled a 250-pound generator out of the boat and into the back cockpit area. We were so proud of ourselves for this accomplishment, but were quickly embarrassed when the mechanic reminded us that we could have used the halyard and electric winch to move it (rather than break our backs). Furthermore, he said we didn't even need to remove the engine as he could have fixed it in place! And then the final insult came when he found the source of all our problems. It was a speck.

Now when I say a speck, I mean a spec no larger than a bread crumb. Smaller, in fact. A better description would be a dust particle, but made of metal. That was the cause to all of our generator problems. Somehow it had lodged itself into our oil pump and had wreaked havoc on my life for several weeks. All told, we spent over $1,000 in parts, labor, shipping, Marina fees and taxi rides to Fed-Ex - all because of a speck.

So, with our generator fixed (so we thought*), we sailed out of Nanny Cay and headed east as quickly as possible. Two of Elizabeth's friends had arrived in St. Martin and we were already a day late in meeting them. We motored overnight across the troublesome Anegada Passage (head first into 15-20 knots of wind) to a new country: St. Martin...

(* - We're still having trouble with the generator to this day. Next the impeller ripped and caused it to overheat, then the water pump gasket leaked coolant, and now the head is leaking oil. I've come to learn that generators are the bane of cruising for many sailors and that even the most highly recommended mechanic can and will make mistakes!)

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Vessel Name:	Honeymoon
Vessel Make/Model:	2004 Lagoon 380, Hull 279, Owner's Version
Hailing Port:	San Francisco, CA
Crew:	Seth & Elizabeth Hynes
About:	Seth & Elizabeth met in 2004 and have long since agreed that they did not want to live "the typical life. [...] More
Extra:	OUR EXPERIENCE: Seth is a lifelong sailor with over 25 years of boating experience. His family taught him to sail via ASA instruction and through many weekend trips on their family boat, a Benateau 35, sailed on Lake St. Clair, Michigan. He then moved to San Francisco where he raced with two [...] one-design sailing teams before joining his families racing boat "Shadowfax," a classic Wianno Senior design based in Osterville, Mass. Elizabeth is an adventurer by spirit and has traveled all around the world for both pleasure and work. While living in England she sailed in Croatia on the Med and also with the Hynes family in the Grenadines. Elizabeth is also part of the "Shadowfax" racing team and she looks forward to becoming a more confident Captain over the course of the next year. THE BOAT: Having never sailed a catamaran before in our lives, choosing to purchase one was very difficult. However, the more we researched the boats the more we liked them. Catamarans are great for cruising with their shallow draft and large living accommodations. They also feature inherent back-ups which improve safety; like two hulls, two rudders, two engines and props. Once we learned that Cats crossed the oceans regularly, we took a solid look at the options out there, of which there were plenty. In the end, the Lagoon 380 stood out from the rest of the fleet for its dependability, successful production history and interior comforts. Our boat is a three berth "Owner's Version" that has never been chartered and has a larger head with a standing shower. When this was discovered, the search was over. After all, if Elizabeth is happy, Seth will be happy! THE ITINERARY: From the beginning it was always our plan to sail from the East Coast of the US to Australia, stopping along the way in the Caribbean and Central America. However, being new to the cruising life, we didn't want to force ourselves to do anything we didn't want, so the itinerary was left open. Not surprisingly, we loved our time cruising in the Caribbean but yearned for more of an adventure and opted to cross the Pacific Ocean in search of islands less visited. What we found was exactly what we were looking for. And in the end, Australia was a perfect boat market for a Catamaran and an end to an incredible 18 months of sailing. Below was our itinerary: SEPTEMBER, 2008: Refit boat in Norfolk, Virginia USA OCTOBER, 2008: Refit and sail Chesapeake to Annapolis, MD NOVEMBER, 2008: Caribbean 1500 rally to BVIs British Virgin Islands, Caribbean DECEMBER, 2008: St. Martin, St. Barts, Ile Fourche, Statia, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat JANUARY, 2009: Dominica, Antigua, Barbuda, The Saints, Guadeloupe FEBRUARY: Guadeloupe, Bonaire, Curacao, San Blas Islands, Panama MARCH: Cross through the Panama canal, Galapagos APRIL: Pacific Ocean Crossing, Marquesas French Polynesia MAY: Marquesas, Tuamotus, Tahiti JUNE: Moorea, Huahine, Ta'haa, Bora Bora JULY: Bora Bora to Suwarrow, Cook Islands AUGUST: Niue and Vava'u Tonga SEPTEMBER: Tonga and Fiji OCTOBER: Fiji and Vanuatu NOVEMBER & DECEMBER: Eastern Australia, Bundaburg to Sydney JANUARY: Fly home from Sydney to San Francisco. Quickly get jobs during a recession. Start a family. Buy a house. Start fanatically reading other sailor's blogs. More
Home Page:	http://www.sailblogs.com/member/honeymoon/