A major problem with a silver lining

4th May 2010

Unbelievable as it might seem, today we had a major revelation as to why the engine and prop had not been functioning as they should.

Following some weeks of trying to solve an issue with the engine , I called on the input of a local Yanmar mechanic who I knew to be well qualified. His plan was to use an optical Tacho to determine why the prop RPM was not as it should be. As we motored off the dock, some 90 seconds passed when I heard a call from below: " I can see what the problem is, lets go back!".

What he saw was that GRIFFIN Marine, the installers of the engine, had connected the gearbox in reverse. Why? A mystery to any above the age of 3 who knew anything about machines.

It seems there were two possibilities. One was a compounding of errors whereby the cables were simply rigged backwards but this error was masked by the fact they they never picked up that the prop was left handed, the wrong way for the new Yanmar. Really stupid stuff! The other possibility was they discovered their error and tried to hide it by rigging the gear box backwards. If this was so, what the failed to understand was that the reduction ratio in reverse is different and more importantly that the gearbox has a 10 min limit on reverse operations. This meant hat the gear box was WRECKED  and needed too  be replaced! Really stupid stuff.

So within an hour of this discovery, negotiation for reparation and compensation began and all of this will keep us in Port Stephens for the next 2 weeks.

The Silver lining? Better now than way up the coast and Port Stephens has all I need to get this fixed.

All of this is of course massively frustrating but I am sticking to my vow to not lets this phase me and to regard it all as part of the golden tapestry that is adventure.