Waya to Saweni to Vuda
July 30
Once again, what should have been a good sail turned out to be a day of motoring, dodging reefs. First there was no wind and then the wind was on the nose. It seems like we should be able to tack, even with wind the wrong way but there are so many reefs, many of them uncharted that it just seems easier to motor. Pulled into Saweni Bay in the afternoon and spent the night. Next morning Alan got out the transmission manual and we spent several hours adjusting the coupling on the transmission. Unfortunately it did not seem to fix the problem When we started the engine it took almost 10 minutes to get the transmission into gear, so we decided that we needed to head into Vuda and have it looked at. We knew that there were no slips available. Apparently boats are crammed in everywhere, with several boats being tied along the cement wall in the entrance channel and more at the customs dock. Our plan was to anchor outside and see if one of the mechanics could come and take a look at it. We stopped right outside the entrance, dropped the anchor, launched the dingy, put an anchor light up and headed into shore. Alan went to track down a mechanic while I stopped in the office. Good luck on both parts. The office had found a spot for us “for 2 days only” and the mechanic could come first thing in the morning.
So we headed back out to Rhapsody, started the engine and hoisted the anchor and ….. This time it flat out would not go into gear. So we we were towed in. Slowly, slowly. slowly, right past the bar where all our friends were watching. The tide was running out and the wind was blowing us sideways, but little by little we eased into the channel and finally into a slip. But, we had been put into the slip of a boat that was supposed to be gone for a week. Just as we were tied off, that boat came on the radio saying that they were coming back in. They were told to stand by for 30 minutes while we were towed back off and put into another slip.
Next morning the mechanic came to discuss the situation. It is not going to be an easy fix. The transmission itself has to come out which means the drive shaft needs to be loosened which means we need to come out of the water. And so, we are back in Vuda Marina on the hard again, hopefully just for a day or two while the transmission is fixed. Amazingly there was a brand new transmission on the shelf in the office for slightly more than the cost of parts and labor to fix the old one. Maybe there is a chance this will be a fairly quick fix and we can still get up to Savusavu before bad weather hits again.
When the Drive shaft was loosened and the couplings taken off, it became obvious whey Rhapsody leaks. The fiberglass under the coupling was all gouged and not smooth. It had just been filled in with bedding compound. So while we are out, we will have that patched and smoother with fiberglass and while we are at it, might as well patch the holes where we hit the reef. While the guys were working on the transmission, I decided to give the bottom a good scrubbing. I had forgotten that bottom paint is designed to rub off easily and before too long I was as blue as the boat. I was actually scrubbing off algae but i was also redistrubutatring the bottom paint. Eventually it was done and looked like a new paint job. It took several showers and a load of laundry to get it all off of me and my clothes.
Several days later we are back in the water. A day to clean up and put everything away and we will take off. By the way, it still leaks!
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