Volvo Engine Has Arrived

The new Volvo engine is now in the workshop of the Marina de La Paz.

Given the delays of the last three weeks the speed of the final delivery of the new engine took me by surprise.  At about 10 AM I picked up an email message from Ada notifying me that the engine had arrived and asking for the delivery address.  I visited the marina office to explain the situation and was told that they would have the engine delivered to the workshop when the truck arrived.  I was happy to leave it at that but fortunately ran into Bob Carroll who suggested that we visit the workshop and advise Joel.  We did this and Joel picked out a place for the box when it arrived.  On Bob's advice I then asked Adriana at the office to notify me on VHF 22 when the truck arrived.  As soon as I got back to the boat I explained the situation to Brenda then turned on VHF 22, not expecting to hear anything for hours.  I then sent a message to Ada giving her the delivery address and asking about method of payment.

This was all in the nick of time because within 10 minutes of turning on the VHF radio Adriana called.  The truck was here. The driver asked about payment but we couldn't communicate well enough to discuss the issue so I suggested that we go to the office where Adriana could translate.  I told the driver that I wanted to inspect the consignment before signing anything.  The driver was satisfied with this and was happy to deliver the engine to the workshop before the visit to the office.  Joel and two colleagues were waiting for the box and soon the truck had been backed in.  They opened the top of the box to find the engine lifting points and I took the opportunity to photograph the engine and confirm that there were four loose boxes as Mark had said.  By the way, the shipment box that Zee at Shoreline Marine had fabricated was a work of strength and design, with all joints fitted to perfection.  I wish that I were able to keep it.

At the office I explained the payment issue to Adriana and offered to accompany the driver back to the Columbia office to pay by Visa card.  This was accepted and soon I was on the way to Columbia in a nice air conditioned truck.  There I met Ada where we actually spent most of the time discussing jelly fish around La Paz and in Australia.  Nevertheless the payment was made and I gave the OK to pay the 3.6% Visa card fee.  I asked Ada to pass on my thanks to Judith for her help.  As far as I could see, Columbia Transport had been professional in every way and the problems encountered had been with the Customs bureaucracy.  The Columbia driver then brought me back to the marina.

The original quotation had been $1085.76 USD for the forwarding fees, freight insurance, freight, and 11% IVA tax for the services.  Neil had seen the quotation and suggested that I query the 6% services fee because certain services on the list would not be required.  The upshot is that the final bill came in at $742.90 USD, $342.86 USD lower than the original quotation. I reported this to Neil by email and thanked him for his role in saving me so much money.

I ran into Neil in the office and he seemed as happy as I was about the engine arrival.  The plan is for me to motor Pachuca to La Marina del Palmar on Wednesday, the day after tomorrow, and have the boat lifted out of the water.  Bob Carroll will be able accompany Brenda and myself on the trip to the boat yard, which will be of great comfort to me.  Bob checked and tidal currents will not be an issue that day, but I must visit Alejandro at the boat yard to make sure that there are no depth issues with my 7.5 ft draft.

The boat lift out package includes 3 days of hard standing during which I will probably have  the hull  antifouled, though there is some doubt about the need given what I've been told by the fellows at the coffee table.  But I will definitely begin work on extricating the Sabb engine and Neil has given the OK for me to get any help that I might need from Joel for this job.  (My most likely problem will be lack of tools.)  Perhaps on Friday we'll be able to call in the crane to lift the Sabb engine out intacto.  Once the engine is out we'll remove the propeller shaft up through the engine compartment and send it off to a machine shop for straightening.

I'll get the boat back into the water as soon as the shaft has been refitted and Neil will have Pachuca towed back to her slip where Joel will oversee the preparation of the engine bed. 

We will book a room at the nearby hotel for a week starting on Wednesday and will probably remain there until the Volvo engine has been installed.