Another rolly-polly night, submerged outboard, but thank God for a good mooring
13 February 2010
• Man-o-War Cay, Bahamas
by Mike
Last night the wind honked up to 50 knots and simply howled about us in the mooring field. Fortunately this place has some superb moorings and fortunately too for my peace of mind I have checked them. Otherwise I wouldn't have slept a minute of the night. (Damn! I have got to stop writing this stuff in advance. I have been trying to get words down as soon as I can to make sure that I remember them and often get ahead of myself. Last night was one of those times. Around two in the morning I got up to heed nature and looked outside to check on the dingy. Good thing too as it was upside down! It was still tied to Nelleke, just flipped over. This is one of those times that I can only blame myself as we have been warned verbally by friends and have read the warnings in the cruising guides - GET THE DINK OUT OF THE WATER IF YOU ARE EXPECTING HIGH WINDS! Well we had higher winds in Green Turtle Cay with no problems, but last night, because of the crowded mooring field, I had the painter fairly short, and with Nelleke's high freeboard with the wind the dingy pulled back against the line, lifted the bows slightly and let the wind get under it. Result? Flippo! Barb and I spent a wonderful night with the engine; cover off, in the aft head, washing the salt off with fresh water, draining the oil and fuel lines and trying to clean out the carb. Great, eh!?
On a more positive note, last night we had a great dinner at Tradewinds and had a good farewell to Wendy if there is such a thing. She flew out of Marsh Harbour on the first leg of her trip home to Calgary this afternoon.
Barry from Troubadour was kind enough to lend us a spare pair of oars that he happened to have aboard so we were able to get in to the Man-o-War Public School Fair this morning. In spite of the high winds the place was packed! We had been told that they manage to raise a significant amount of money for their school each year in this way, but it had to be seen to be believed. There were numerous flea market stalls selling everything from arts and crafts to marine supplies and to books, hermit crab races, and some incredible food stalls for lunch. Barb's old dive fins we no longer serviceable and she was able to buy some used but new to her ones for five dollars, we got a collapsible trivet to hold and carry hot casserole dishes for one dollar, some prints of paintings from the area from a local artist, several books, some jam and marmalade from locals' kitchens, and a huge lunch. The lunch was enough that it mandated a nap afterwards.
Jim from Patty Jean was going in to Marsh Harbour with Wendy and said that he'd try to to get me some of the 10W40 oil that I need to try to get the outboard started again. If I can't there are a couple of places where I can take it here on the Cay where the mechanics are well known to be competent, so we should be OK. Keep your fingers crossed.
In the meantime we are relaxing aboard watch the sun and wind recharge the house bank and waiting for the chicken and meatloaf that we had for lunch to digest. Tomorrow is a day in which nothing happens at Man-o-War as everyone heads off to church so we should have time to get loads of stuff done. The weather is also supposed to be much more settled so I won't be worried about losing my balance and watching a small but critical part bounce over the side and into the water.
Aw crap! Sometimes I can be so damn stupid I scare myself. We had cleaned out the outboard and got it all ready to run again and it even started! Then after running about 15 minutes it stopped. When I tried to start it again it was clear that the engine had seized and the cause? Yours truly hadn't put enough oil in the case. How stupid can you get? The display on a small Suzuki outboard is a simple view port and I guess it was on more of an angle than it wanted and gave me a false reading so I ran it with too little oil. Now the question is, can it be repaired?
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