AIRMAIL YOTREPS
IDENT: N6ABC
TIME: 2016/04/17 23:09
LATITUDE: 00-57.85S
LONGITUDE: 090-57.79W
MARINE: NO
WIND_SPEED: 10
WIND_DIR: ESE
CLOUDS: 10%
VISIBILITY: 20
BARO: 1008.9
AIR_TEMP: 30.6C
COMMENT: Beach House – ANCHORED – Isla Isabela – Engine Seal out again!
We arrived in Isla Santa Cruz 10 days ago having lost our port engine due to an engine seal going out. The oil pressure dropped to zero half way between San Cristobal and Santa Cruz (off Isla Santa Fe).
We\’ll blog more on this, but for now, know we had it fixed after actually having removed the engine from the boat while anchored! Put it back and now after three hours of load it is failing again. We can use the motor to anchor and maneuver, but we\’ll have to wait till Tahiti (4000+ miles) to get it fixed. There is debate about what the issue really is? The Crankshaft may be cutting the seal or perhaps too much crankcase pressure for reasons unknown? We did just have all the rings replaced and our compression is way up (where it\’s supposed to be – we think?).
We did do some touring of North Seymour Island Boobie Birds and Frigate Bird Sanctuary yesterday and saw some huge tortoises at a private reserve as well as went through a 500 meter long lava tube. We\’ll blog more on that later.
There was also a TSUNAMI scare last night from the big earthquake off Ecuador, fortunately, the wave was only 0.5 feet!
We were on the 45 mile trip here too Isabela when the seal started to leak again. We sailed much of the way and did use the engine to anchor, so far, so good.
KIT,
We will be here at least a few days and then off for the really long jump (3100 miles) to Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Islands.
Scott and Nikki