In Vero Beach 27:39.27N, 080:22.27W

 

We left Titusville just about a week ago. First night we spent at anchor off Melbourne on the ICW then on to Vero Beach the next day arriving last Saturday 3rd December.

 

On the last few miles into Vero our port engine raw water cooling pump shed its drive pulley. We always have a spare pump waiting to be clamped onto the engine especially on the ICW where maneuverability is paramount in the narrow channels. That replacement pump now on the engine contains the last belt pulley we have onboard for those pumps, a situation we are not comfortable with. Quite why this happened is a mystery as the captive nut was tight but the whole centre of the pulley itself was gone. New water pumps for these engines run at about £450 + each but with two  older stripped pumps shells containing no working innards already in our spares locker we decided to try and locate components for these rather than just buy yet another new pump.  A company in Clearwater on the Florida west coast had all the items required so for less than the cost of a new pump so we can now rebuild those two old shells. Sod’s Law dictates that we’ll have absolutely no more issues with water pumps this trip. If that’s the case then that’s fine with us! We have two sets of friends also here in Vero, both struggling to resolve boat issues before moving on. Nothing new there.

 

All we need now is some decent weather to get further south. The cold fronts are getting stronger and more invasive into the Florida/Bahamas area which is par for this time of year. What we could do without is the trough that’s sitting over the area from which low pressure systems are developing from. Troughs generally mean grey overcast and  windy unsettled weather. Not quite the sunny Florida conditions we like to enjoy.

 

End