Goin' Home

The latest chapter in our engine saga has us waiting on parts for our 3rd rebuild.  After rebuild number 2 we were seeing a lot of oil in the exhaust indicating that the rings had not seated.  My intuition was telling me our mechanic put the wrong parts in...again.  So I asked him to get confirmation from a Perkins expert that the correct piston and rings were installed.  After a couple days of investigation, it seems we have the wrong pistons.  Unbelievable!  In this theater we call Barra, our little drama has progressed from a tale of adventure to tragedy and, finally, comedy.

It's time to go home.  We're now packing up the boat and getting ready to return to the States.  We'll leave the boat here at the Grand Bay Marina for the summer and try it again in the fall.  We fly back to California on Saturday and will spend the rest of June visiting friends and family before driving up to Oregon in July.  Yesterday we moved to a  hotel in Barra to get off the boat so we could finish putting everything away.  Assuming  the mechanic finally gets it right, I may fly back down here later in the summer to install the engine.  Whatever it may take, I intend to have a working engine in the fall.  Even if I have to do the work myself.

In the meantime, we're looking forward to seeing everyone back home.  We've been gone a long time now.  Colin has spent half his life in Mexico.  It will be good for him to get off the boat, get out of the heat, and spend some time with his family.  Actually, I think it will be good for all of us.