Head Case

I haven't updated the blog for two days waiting for a resolution of the SABB engine repair.

On Sunday after 9 days without hearing from Colin and two fruitless and frustrating days of trying to reach him by telephone I sent him an email explaining my approaching deadline for departing for Costa Rica before the beginning of the hurricane season and told him that if the repair of the SABB engine was not satisfactorily resolved by the following Friday I would be forced to begin steps for saying in the Sea of Cortez until next November and ask Brenda to cancel/alter her airline ticket to Costa Rica.

If that came to pass the extra six months in La Paz would open up other possible solutions to my engine problems, my favorite to replace the SABB engine with a new Yanmar. With this in mind I informed Colin that if there was no resolution by the following Friday our commercial relationship would be terminated.

The next morning I saw that Colin had responded the previous night, no doubt driven by the thought that he would be stuck with the loss of his income for the time that he had worked on Pachuca as well as his outgoing expense of the work on the head by the machine shop.

He initially offered to finish the work starting at 9 AM on Tuesday, but then sent a second message saying that he would prefer to hand over the parts to me, get paid for his time and expenses, then leave it to me to find someone else to finish the work.

I was in a foul mood and was taking great joy in turning the tables on him, so my initial reaction was to refuse payment until the other mechanic got the engine working. There was actually good business sense to this since I wanted to avoid a demarcation dispute between mechanics if things went wrong.

However, following good and rational advice from Port Townsend to get the head back at any cost and get the hell out of Mexico I sent a second message agreeing to the handover and payment. The response from Colin was a request to name the place and time for the handover, so in an email sent at 9 AM this morning I nominated The Dock cafe at 2 PM.

I was in place at a table at The Dock cafe at 1.40 PM. I had the money carefully counted out and in a plastic envelope, the bags and containers necessary to transport the material back to the boat, a check list of what I would require from Colin (e.g. injector, head gasket, manuals), and a pre-written receipt for him to sign. I was ready.

He didn't show up and at 3 PM I left.

In the meantime like magic I had met Bob Carroll waiting for me in his dinghy as I had entered the marina to prepare for the meeting with Colin. After explaining the situation he agreed to come to the Marina after my meeting with Colin to see about Joell reinstalling the head, injector, and mixer. Communication with Bob was amazingly simple. Some genius at Club Crizeros has set up a VHF radio on the outside wall of the clubhouse for anybody to use, so that is how we communicated between the marina and Bob on his boat Adios.

After the failed meeting with Colin, Bob and I met on Pachuca to discuss the situation. I checked my email and read a message from Colin that he had not checked his email until returning to his office at 5.30 PM and very sorry and could we meet at 8.30 tomorrow? I immediately replied that I will him as he had suggested, at the Club Cruzeros club house at 8.30 AM tomorrow, and could he verify reception of my message.

After the handover - if it happens - I will hang around until Bob returns from his morning run. We will then try to see Joell. Apparently he is a bit hesitant because he does not know SABB engines. However, I will arrive armed with my webtop computer so that I can show him photos of how amazingly easy it will be for a mechanic to reassemble the engine. Then I'll try to convince him to do the work on Pachuca at anchor; otherwise we'll have to tow/push Pachuca to the marina.

I showed the engine photos to Bob and even he, who claims to be even less mechanically inclined than me, thinks that in a pinch I could do the reassembly myself.

During Bob's visit I noticed that Stolen Kiss has returned. It isn't rational, but I feel sadness when at boat that I know leaves and joy when it returns. Some solo sailor, huh?