Still Here

"When are you guys leaving?" is an all too often question these days. If you have a hankey ready or a strong constitution, continue reading, otherwise just shake your head and say a prayer! As some of you may know, we've had a problem with our engine putting out excess smoke which makes our transom look like a tramp steamer. Definitely not nice for such a classy lady as Sanctuary. David has thrown many, many hours, dollars and curses into the issue. We thought we had it wickered by taking it to a new boat place in Pensacola. They verified and fixed some of the problems but warned David that the boat may be over-propped (if you want more on that one, give him a call, he now has a PhD in the subject). We had one of the best sails ever from Pensacola to Destin via the gulf. The sooting was still there but better on the trip under power from the dock to the Pensacola Pass. However......once we came under the bridge with the gorgeous sunset on one side and the super moon rising on the other and turned on our high output alternator, the smoke began in ernest. The engine couldn't handle the extra load. So..the next day we pulled the prop and had it resized and reinstalled yesterday. While taking it out for a test run, David starts to adjust the settings and, get ready for it....the adjusting screw broke off. The awesome guy in Pensacola brought out a new part. He is a very experienced Yanmar guy and had never heard of the thing breaking so he probably wanted to see it with his own eyes. Anyway, the part was installed and he adjusted the governer and it still smokes. That left only one more external item to relook, the exhaust elbow. David dutifully disassembled it last night even though it is only 2 years old. Not surprisingly, it was clean so he's reinstalling now. What this all means is that our engine's insides are not going to last forever but for now it develops full power and runs so well that we're going to take off once we get the cockpit surround installed. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that our bad juju wafted over to the canvas shop and both his sewing machines broke down the same day, one fairly new!!! He hopes to be out soon to finish the job so we can then load the boat and leave. I'll tell you about the broken dishwasher at the house and my injured knee later. Bottom line, we can use all the prayers you can spare!!