March 30, 2000 -- Reunions

We made contact with Henri and Anne this morning; they had an engine seize up in Georgetown, We had been worried about them since yesterday when we talked with M/V Aurora and he told us about their troubles. He told us that they where headed into Ft. Lauardale, this really concerned us with the strong currents and other boat traffic it would not be a place we would dare go with limited control. Anyway we made contact through Sherrett who was traveling with them back to the US. He called Sea Flat on the VHF and then Henri came up on the SSB. After talking with them we found out they where headed into Lake Worth, where we are. We offered to talk to the yard to find out if they could do anything and to gather cost information for them. After they arrived, they anchored, then called us on the VHF. We arranged to get together around 2:30 of 3:00 PM. They came over and told us about their 30 hour trip back from Nassau, and how their boat handles or does not handle with an engine down. We then went in search of Service manager so they could discuss their problem with him. He was tied up so we asked him to stop by the boat when he was free. They told us about the fantastic times they had and Anne told us about the many things they wanted to do, but never had the chance to get to, like snorkeling as she was never in the water above her knees. They also told us about a couple of tense time when they, along with several other boats ended up anchored or moored on a Lee Shore with 3-5 foot swells after some strong winds changed directions on them. They will be back over in the morning to meet with the service manager after he talks with the diesel shop about their problem. It was great seeing them again, but we would rather see them still in the Bahamas without engine problems! Since we still had some time left, we decided to investigate a problem with our aft head. The reset button doesn't work. We pulled off the control panel and saw massive corrosion on the circuit board. We ordered a new panel, it should be here in a day or so. We saw that the new motor had arrived for the washer dryer, so we installed that. It worked! We now have a washer dryer again! The little plumber guy came to look at our raw water wash down pump. Turns out that it was the valve seat in the faucet that was the problem all along! It was a fifteen minute repair and our wash down system worked again!