Good/Bad News

The good news is that we leave St. Augustine tomorrow morning as early as possible. As Terry said, we are going to boogie out of here. The bad news is that the port engine is not actually healed. The final diagnosis is that the primary feed tube has something in the well at its terminus in the tank. That something keeps getting into the opening and causing the engine to slow and then stop. Terry thinks the tank was never as low as we got it, so the mystery floating object never had the chance before this to block things up. The good news is that the secondary feed tube works just fine. So, when it gets 'pouty', we'll just go to secondary. The weather is supposed to be sunny with light winds, so we'll head out into the ocean to start for Charleston. No more air conditioning for me for a while! I can tell you that it has been a frustrating day for Mike and Terry. Each time the eliminated another 'suspect' in the fuel issue, the motor would still refuse to cooperate. We have a new filter. We have a new low pressure fuel pump. We have all new fuel lines. The fuel tank was even inspected with the remote camera. And, lots of other things were done, like the new impeller for the pump for the water cooling part of the engine. I cannot possibly list all that was done because the technicians are back at the boat. It is 10:30 at night, and I am alone in the laundry room - which is technically closed (the night person let me in). Since we are leaving ASAP in the morning, the clothes worn by our intrepid mechanics had to be cleaned. After all, who wants to haul around clothing covered with oil, diesel, salt water, and sweat until the next laundry opportunity? Better to get those nasty things done now! As a result, you get more blogging- because I am sure you know that I agreed to do this because the laundry room is air conditioned!