Four Days to Scheduled Start

Let’s start with the good news. I found the cause of last night’s alarm. It was a faulty engine-stop button/switch that we replaced last month. Easily fixed. And not a sign that the boat is bewitched or cursed.

The bad news is that the cylinder head for our port engine rebuild is not available (backordered from Japan). So the old head must be sent to Miami to be reconditioned. This of course adds days that we don’t have. We tried to rent a car to drive it to Miami, but we found that there weren’t any rental cars available today in Key West. So it is shipped overnight. Our mechanic got the shop in Miami to promise to move it to the front of their queue. But I think it is safe to say that our departure will not occur on Saturday. I’m gradually coming to terms with that thought.

We are on the hard again, so the saildrives can be worked on. Frustrating, but lucky that we could schedule this on short notice.  Tim guides a repaired saildrive back into the engine room:

Two Days to Scheduled Start

No chance that we will make the Saturday start. The cylinder head that was sent to Miami was found to have a crack. Luckily our mechanic had the foresight to also sent our old engine head (from the starboard engine, where we bought a new one). It was inspected today and passed muster; it should be back to the mechanic tomorrow. With only a little luck we will get back in the water Monday. Then we need to give the engines a thorough workout before we leave the area. If everything works (does it ever…?) we might start chasing the fleet Wednesday or Thursday.

Nice photos of the Blue Planet Odyssey boats/people/preparation are on the Cruising World magazine web site at http://www.cruisingworld.com/countdown-blue-planet-odyssey-rally/?image=0.

And a shot of the other boats at the marina, in formal attire with their signal flags.