We are back in Banderas Bay! The boat never left, but Rachel and I flew back to the San Francisco Bay Area to visit family, pick up boat parts, and renew our mexico visas. 

The two big ticket items brought back were new motor mounts for our Volvo engine (the boat’s motor), and a new motor assembly for our Torqeedo outboard (our electric dinghy/tender motor). I guess the theme is motors. Knock on wood and bless Neptune, we’ve had relatively minor issues with the sails. A shackle that came out during a big blow was probably the biggest issue. But the motors have been giving us more issues, though relatively minor as things go.

Back in November, as you may have read, we developed a vibration on our way to Ensenada, which we attributed to the MaxProp, and after a delay and haul out, we did find a problem and addressed it, it helped, a bit, but soon the vibration was back, not as bad as before, but definitely there. 

Once in Mazatlán, I was able to do more troubleshooting myself and after getting some feeler gauges, it was clear that the engine needed an alignment. We also determined that the engine mounts were shot (20 years is the way outside lifespan for them, so it’s not a surprise). The mounts were not failing (yet) but they had definitely become hard and brittle. 

I’ve written on our tracker (https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Pasargada) about the other problem, the Torqeedo motor, which I’m pretty sure I killed by going forward/reverse too many times while playing around in Tenecatita. (Note to self: don’t do that).

We had a bunch of other boat parts, but I’ll save that for another maintenance blog for those of you who like reading about these things.

On our return to Marina Nayarit at La Cruz the Huanacaxtle (I love typing that), Rachel and I tackled the Torqeedo rebuild right away. We were hoping for a quick win and also we needed to know if we need a new outboard motor. As for the Volvo engine, I had arranged with the mechanics and engineers at SeaTek (https://web.facebook.com/Sea-Tek-M%C3%A9xico-173609194776541/about/) to do the work. While the torqeedo is nice and easy to work on, the engine mounts are one project that we could probably do in an emergency, but the mechanics here are infinitely more more skilled, available, have the right tools, and they are way more experienced, so it was definitely worth the money to pay to do this important job.

The Torqeedo rebuild was not too bad at all, it took more muscle than brains, which a good thing sometimes.  After putting it all back together, Rachel figured out we needed to recalibrate the throttle assembly and we were off and running. YAY electric power.

The engine mount project started today, Tuesday, and is on-going while I type this.  The mechanic who has been working with us is awesome. Patient, capable, and smart. We are really lucky to have his services.

To get things going, last night Rachel and I removed the alternator and as much wiring we could, in the engine room, to make access to the motor mounts easier. Right on time at 9:30 this morning the mechanic arrived and we got right to work. He was pleasantly surprised that we had the whole area ready for him, the alternator was already removed, I had good lighting for him and even a portable fan for the hot part of the day.

So far things are progressing well, but we have a real problem. As much as I tried to be careful in ordering parts, it turns out the Volvo shop in San Rafael let me down and didn’t get me the most important bolts, the ones that hold the mounts to the stringers (the reinforced areas of the boat that the motor sits on).  The old bolts don’t look so good, and we are going to all this trouble, so it’s shame to not replace them. And so, we took a bus trip to Mezcales, a town about 13 miles south of here, which has the best fasteners.  This is the local equivalent of Tacoma Screw. 

“Tornillos Mezcales” had exactly the fasteners we needed, we got them and made our way to the nearby mall to drink a celebratory Michelada (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelada) These really, really hit the spot on a warm day.

Back at the boat, three motor mounts were replaced on day one, but the last screw of the last mount did not want to budge. Of course. Replacing 16 bolts, you just have to know that ONE of them isn’t going to budge. So tomorrow larger tools are being brought to bear and leverage will unstick it for us.  This is why we hire the mechanics with a shop nearby.

After the mounts are done, we will align the engine, which involves a three-dimensional dance to make the propeller shaft line up with the motor. Then I will have to reassemble the alternator, which is one job that is extremely painful boat yoga, then we can fire up the engine and see how it all came together and hopefully we will have a nice quiet, vibration free engine again.