Today is the first day of Hannah's visit to George Town. It is a stormy wet day with an adventurous dinghy crossing 2-3 ft waves to get over to George Town from Stocking Island. We did bring rain coats but of course did not wear them, so we are now soaking wet in the Peace and Plenty Restaurant waiting for our friends to Joy & Dan from Anomaly to join us for lunch. We are also waiting for Hannah to arrive in about 2 hours.
Joy and Dan are our new friends from the boat Anomaly another Lagoon 41, just like our boat. Our meeting them was yet another "Is it odd or is it God situation". So the story begins like this: Last year we met a guy named Matt Linch and his family on boat Anomaly, while sailing in the Abacos. We had approached their boat and spoke with them when we noted that they had the same boat as we did. They also had solar and a water maker which Brad was interested in learning more about.
So, their story was that they had taken their kids out of school for a year and were sailing around the Bahamas.. They were nearing the end of their adventures and were planning to take the boat back to the states and sell her. That is where Joy and Dan come in. They of course bought the boat and then this year sailed it back over to the Bahamas for their first season. In the meantime, Brad had been in contact with Matt about the solar system and water and he told him that he had sold it to Dan and that if he had further questions, he should email Dan. So he did contact and they exchanged emails and Dan said he was planning on being in the Bahamas this season so maybe we would meet up and that was basically the end of the story until now.
Upon arriving in George Town we decided to moor the boat in Hole #2 due to an upcoming storm. As we were doing that, the boat's port engine locked up and it would not go forward or backwards. Brad had been reading about the cone clutches and how you know when it is going bad is when the boat will slip in and out of gear. So it was relatively easy to diagnosis the problem. However it made getting the mooring very difficult. He then only had one engine to maneuver with in a very tight situation. Nerve wracking to say the least, luckily we had request assistance from the dock master to guide us into the mooring area, so he was right there ready to help as needed. He grabbed our line and attached it to the mooring, thank God and secured our boat.
So now we know for sure that we have a cone clutch problem, no doubt about it. But what to do is the question. Evidently the cone clutches are known for having problems, what happens is they are suppose to be rough and with time they smooth down, so you need to take them apart and re-surface them with a Valve Grinding compound. Now we are on the hunt for this compound. The local hardware stores do not carry it, so Brad comes up with the idea of putting it out there on the Cruiser's net and see if any other boats would happen to have some available that they could share. The first response was from a boat called Soul Purpose and they said they had some that we could have, great!
Then Dan came on the VHF and he said that he not only has the appropriate compound but also the tools needed to do the repair. Wow, what luck is that. At this point we have no idea who Dan is, we only know that he has the stuff and is willing and able to assist us in fixing the cone clutches. So we set it up that he would come over in the morning to assist us with this repair.
Latter on, while listening to the VHF we over heard another boat also looking for help for their cone clutch problem and they ask Dan his name and what boat he was on. Brad said "Oh my G is this Dan from Anomaly?? Yes it is! Wow is it odd or is it God?? Dan and Brad had been communicating with each other on email about the solar and water maker and had planned to meet up somewhere and I guess this is the place. Dan did not know it was Brad who needed help with his cone clutches and Brad did not know it was Dan who was volunteering to assist. Cool huh! Anyway, Dan came over the next day and spent the day with Brad fixing the cone clutches, so another problem solved on Sail La Vie. Thank you Jesus and thank you Dan for keep our hopes high for humanity. Now Brad can fix the other side when it needs it. Brad is learning so much about the boat workings, he will probably be able to rebuild the boat if necessary, hopefully not.
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