Southeasterly that was supposed to show up this afternoon and tomorrow
is not going to happen until the end of the week, and then it's a full
on depression with 30 knots and lots of rain. So the plan is to head
out tomorrow morning and if we have to, we'll motor.
In the meantime I've been trying to fix the stupid outboard. I found a
crack in the little float in the carburetor, which caused it to fill
up with fuel, which made it not float anymore. That causes the whole
carburetor to flood with fuel, etc. etc. I fixed it by filling it with
an epoxy/ultralight filler mixture and then painted over that with a
special epoxy paint which is supposed to resist fuels (after initial
inspection though, I am doubtful). After putting it all together this
afternoon, the outboard seemed to run pretty well with only a little
fuel seeping out.
We mounted an expedition to the beach and half way there the engine
starts to sputter and cough. We turned around and ran at 1/4 throttle
where it seemed to be happy. Got back to the boat and tore it all
apart again. The infamous little float is empty, but I noticed a
little rubber boot on the carb that was cracked open and that's
probably where the fuel was coming out. I've reached the end of my
patience and instead of doing the manly thing and coming up with
(another) "duct tape and spit" solution, I threw down my tools and
sent an email to my friend in Noumea who owns the Yamaha dealership,
and asked him for a quote on a new motor. Parts for Hondas are not
available in New Caledonia and certainly not in Vanuatu.
Once my tantrum wears off, hopefully I'll find a more sensible
solution. For now I'll return to my pouting. Sophie is being very
tolerant and the kids are a couple notches quieter than usual, fearful
for their lives.
That's today's update.
-MC
