Sunday 16 to Friday 21 March 2014

 

Sunday saw us take a trip ashore to the local ‘Leaderprice’ supermarket which is a short walk from a conveniently placed dinghy dock.  The seawater around there stank a bit though as there seems to be a sewage outlet nearby.  Whilst Lin attacked Leaderprice I dinghied over to a nearby fuel dock at the boatyard to get some petrol for the outboard engine.  Boatyards are working places and tend not to be elegant but the fuel station and it’s scruffy old shack set a new low.  It was closed but the 4 or 5 people sitting outside the shack having a chinwag in French creole.  They managed to convey to me that the pumps could be operated by credit card.  The machine tested my limited French and I think I bought 10 litres of petrol but I will have to wait for the credit card statement to find out what really happened.

 

I went back to collect Lin and told her I had been for fuel at ‘Scruffy Bert’s’ and this has become our nickname for the place.

 

On Monday I collected Christine and Jean-Paul from the ‘Mecanique Plaisance’ office and took them back in the dinghy to the boat to run the engine and try to diagnose the problem.  The good news is we now know for certain what the problem is.  The bad news is we now know for certain what the problem is.  Definitely the diesel injection pump.  The question came up about whether to replace the pump or the engine.  What follows is only really for the ‘anoraks’. 

 

They are agents for both Volvo and Yanmar (the two main manufacturers of engines for sailing boats) and Yanmar have a reputation for better parts prices.  However it seems that the injection pumps on the later Volvo’s are a different type which handle dodgy diesel better whereas the Yanmars are a development of the one we currently have.  We asked Christine to quote for replacing the engine with a 75 hp Volvo.  In the meantime we learnt that the other company in Martinique who had quoted for replacing the injection pump and injectors, ‘Inboard Diesel’, only supply Volvo engines above 100 hp which explains why they have gone rather quiet.

 

On Tuesday I went to see Christine who took me through the quotation to replace our engine.  A little less than twice the cost of the repairs although labour for installation has to be added.  Having investigated what is likely to need overhauling in the next couple of years we have decide to go for the new unit.  At least we will also get a new gearbox, alternator, starter motor, control panel, throttle and gear cables, seawater and freshwater pumps etc etc.  All things which fail on marine engines.  Work is due to start a week tomorrow and will take a further week so we will be in Martinique for a while longer.  If anybody out there is unlucky enough to be running an Austin Montego with a 2 litre diesel (on which ours is based) I know of an engine going cheap.

 

As we will need to come into the marina next week when the engine is replaced we decided to try get in earlier given that our batteries were no longer holding charge (so can’t run the fridge or anchor lights at night).  I enquired on Wednesday about booking a place.  After being told about how impossible it was I played the engine/battery sympathy card and they found a slot for us.  We brought the boat in later in the day and both felt relieved that the engine held out for its final manoeuvres.

 

 

Part of Marina Le Marin and the dinghy dock.  Marinas seldom provide dinghy docks for boats out at anchor but the French are more sensible, realising that the chandleries and restaurants will be better supported if they do:-

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the many, many catamarans available for charter:-

 

 

 

On Friday we were boarded by three very polite French Customs agents who checked our documents (now we know why they didn’t bother doing so at the office).  After asking where we had come from they asked to inspect the boat.  Apparently our having come from the south piqued their interest.  Lin was required to stay in the cockpit with one of the officers whilst I went down below with the other two as they opened various cupboards.  They asked a lot of interesting questions and got me to open up the inspection hatch for the water tanks.  They were nearly full of water which satisfied them.  It was surprising what they didn’t bother looking into and were relaxed about our stock of gin and wine which were at contraband levels.  It was clear from what they did and where they looked that drugs and arms were their main interest.  They were thoroughly pleasant throughout and interested to know why we were here.  That we were in for engine problems reassured them and they asked what make we were choosing.  The collective head shaking and sucking of air through their teeth when I said Volvo was not reassuring.