MIDORI ADVENTURES

In my last post, we had anchored in Boot Key Harbour, but lost forward gear in the problematic engine, but still had reverse.

Our friend Vernon came over on his dinghy, and tried to help Brian get underneath the bridge deck to access the motor, even going so far as to borrow a kayak from a neighbouring boat, but the shift rod connection could not be adjusted.

After spending a sleepless night worried about a possible wind shift that would leave us practically helpless to maneuver, Captain Brian decided that we should contact Marathon Boat Yard, a Yamaha Dealer, and get towed by Boat U.S.

The canal entrance to Marathon Boat Yard is not very wide, but everything went well - those guys know what they are doing. Shortly after 12:00 noon, we were safely tied up to a face dock. The boat yard was not opened for business on Saturday, but had an emergency phone number and we were given permission to go in and wait until Monday. That Saturday evening Vernon felt it appropriate to take us to Sparky’s for a feed of shrimp and bud light and picked us up again on Sunday morning for breakfast at The Legion!

We had a dinghy visit from Rosie and Al (NAUTILIS) on Saturday, and Gene and Charlene (TWO CAN) came by dinghy on Sunday. We all met up at the Marina for the Super Bowl Party on Sunday evening. It was great to see the family of Dwayne, Hope, Maddie and Sammie from MADSAM and also, Glen from FOOTLOOSE, whom we had spent a lot of time with last year in Bimini.

On Monday, we waited until 3:00 p.m. for the motor to be taken off of MIDORI by the mechanic, Victor.

On Tuesday, Victor had the motor installed and running by 2:00 p.m. …………shifting exactly like it should!

For all you guys out there who have been wondering what the heck was wrong with it? Here is Victor’s summary:

All the adjustments were screwed up! It was simple really. Everything had to be aligned. There is a neutral safety on the flywheel and a neutral safety on the shift lever (inside the engine cowl) and a shift rod adjustment in the lower unit. All three must be in sync…….and always tank tested, under load, for smooth shift operation. He was quite proud of himself for not even needing any new parts!

So hats off to Victor! and a huge thank you to all the great people at Marathon Boat Yard!

We got a phone call this morning that we had been assigned a mooring ball. Captain Brian managed to back out and turn MIDORI around “on a dime”. YEP - the engine is working as it should! We are now attached to mooring ball U3.

Unfortunately, since yesterday, the Captain has been feeling poorly - a cold or possibly a sinus infection.

Stay tuned,

First Mate Lynn