Volvo Engine disaster
CARANGO AMEL 54 #035
PETER and VICKY FORBES
Thu 19 May 2016 19:49
| I remember my parents being much amused all, the years ago in the Sudan, by a black African friend of theirs saying to my father: “Arthur,the water from the tributary of the Nile that comes down from the hills is positively frapé”. I stood in the shower in this very nice little Marina that has finished up as our temporary home and as the I stood beneath he cold water I smiled about that memory. The shower is just cold water and if one showers in the day it is good but such is the humidity and heat that by the time one leaves the shower block one is soaked in perspiration again - so shower time is in the evening when its great and the heat has gone out of the day. Do you sometimes have the same thoughts as me - that things sometimes build up and accumulate. I had a slight left side earache after a course of antibiotics for an infection in the right ear, the left side is new problem………………. Quite a few days ago I noticed a rusty stain on the boiler hot water tank in the engine room. Now normally I would have thought ‘how messy I’ll clean that off’ but now I am an experienced yachtsman I think to myself ‘Why is that rust stain there? - where has it come from and why?’ So I looked up and saw a hoop shaped metal anti syphon type valve attached to the ceiling of the engine compartment in the line of the generator exhaust. I have no idea what function this piece of stainless steel performs but I see it is now leaking rusty water. So I took it down from its mounting and bound it tight with some Halfords exhaust mending tape I had in stock. it worked for a time but that was some weeks ago…………… the ear is hurting a bit more now….. Well - you know how it happens. The anchor windlass which broke in Papeete is still broken and we are still trying to get Amel, who support service is appalling, to send a replacement power relay - another of those things that piles up which one has to take account of. We are all, not surprisingly, mad keen to get this engine repaired or replaced and get going. So we go to the Volvo agent in Papeete - the head man “Director" no less to ensure we got top priority service. We are assured the engineer will visit at 09.30 the next morning - not bad really so we sup, sleep and awake. Breakfast and wait - an e-mail comes through with his mobile telephone number - so I give him a call - “well” he says “Yes I heard about you - but sadly I can’t come tomorrow [je suis desolé] " - I though it was today you were coming we were told that from the grand fromage in Papeete - "Hmm no chance of that and can’t come tomorrow but maybe Thursday and most likely Friday - Is OK?" - How close to explosion can one come whilst trying to maintain ones calm in 32 degrees C. So of course I was polite and said do your best for us. The old earache is beginning to throb a bit now - must see a doctor soon. As we were being towed in someone said “well at least the generator is working so we can charge the batteries and make water.” OMG I hadn’t told them about the leaking valve in the generator and after a main engine failure in the reef perhaps now wasn’t the time to break this news. I ran the generator and we made lots of good water on the way in - quite a lot of rusty stains on the hot water tank now - must clean those off. In the meantime we have had so many offers of help it is difficult to know what to do next - “I've got a mate in Australia near a Volvo distributor North of Sydney - he could give them good kick [put on Aussie accent for that please]. A dear Swedish friend says “I have a good friend who was director of Volvo racing in Sweden - they will have a new engine in stock and he could pull a few strings” and finally ‘Why not try Volvo New Zealand - they are the closest”. These guys are so proactive but they have had the effect of spurring me into action whilst I feel total despair - so we are up and running a plan now. So we have e-mailed NZ and got some preliminary replies — we have e-mailed Aus and heard nothing yet and we are now getting some encouraging signs of action from the French Company which did the engine overhaul in June. So we are shooting on several fronts and at least we feel positive. Went to the hospital today and was referred to “Urgencies” - huge depressing queue - some fairly ill people in front of me. “How long” I ask…… well there is no realist and the docteur is treating internal hospital patients as well. So I wait for two hours and then see the receptionist [blast of air conditioning comes out of the hatch - deeeeep breath of that thanks] - why not go and see a docteur in town - now you tell me. I walk off into town, thank bout mad dogs and Englishmen, it is near midday now and the sun is punishingly hot. I reach the pharmacie Le studio de docteur est au dessou de ça. Queue in dreadful office and dark corridor, ear hurts quite a bit now. Monday was ascension holiday so the queue is longer than normal. After ran hour a polynesian lady comes along and says the docteur has had to go down the island to treat an emergency - et c’est plus loin - venez demain. I leave to cope with engine problems which are probably easier to cope with. In the evening at about 7 I went back to the hospital ‘Urgences' department thinking perhaps it does not close and the queue might be less now. Charming French docteur de urgences looks at my ear, if he’d been Italian he might have said “troppo inflamatore”, but he gives me a prescription for some antibiotic drops and I head for the pharmacie, which is miraculously still open. So the ear is under control now. Progess - I have found a stainless steel shop which will make a rough copy of the leaking stainless joint on the generator. We have also found a plastic valve for the automatic bilge pump. No progress on the engine really so I better get down to applying more pressure to the four contenders. Local guys - no confidence, French overhaul people, The NZ Volvo team and the Aussie Volvo team. E- mails fly out - cajoling, encouraging but of course all very polite. That’s two things nearly done - ear and generator hoop. Just need to finish the ear treatment and collect and fix the hoop. Just windlass, engine and bilge pump to go. Vicky takes me off to a sewing shop to see if we can get some ore cushions made up. In there we meet a charming couple who tell us that last night someone sailed a fifty foot Amel straight into the reef and have held the side badly. We uncharitably think - maybe the engine is OK - salvage?? Peter Forbes 0044 7836 209730 Carango Sailing Ketch Amel 54 #035 Static pending new engine in the Pacific Ocean |