I must thank a few people that really helped Liberate get under way from Victoria. Paul at Leitch&McBride who willingly re-cut our oversized Storm Jib one whole day before departure, all the staff at Trotac Marine who tirelessly helped with my numerous requests for strange fittings and accessories, John from AcuFab who has a thousand stories one has to endure...great stainless work though and all my friends living aboard at the Coast Harbourside Hotel. A special thanks and my appreciation to the staff at the Coast especially to James Bingham, the Marina manager.
The internet is a wonderful tool....but also a destructive abuser of ones time....I like to use it (most of the time) in the former context and did so upon our arrival to the Bay. Knowing Liberate could not limp any further in her condition, I reached out to the Westsail owners association looking for recommendations to reputable Volvo Penta Mechanics....
Well the board came up trumps and Darryl made his way down to the dock to assess the situation. Diagnosis: Transmission needs to be removed and rebuilt.....Prognosis: immobile for 3 weeks while the engine is jacked up, transmission removed, rebuilt on the bench, re-installed and engine/transmission re-bedded and re-aligned!
ETA for departure, somewhere from July the 7th to July the 10th.
Good news for staffing, we will have two new crew members joining Liberate on her next leg to San Diego. (more to follow)