More Mechanical Issues

We are in Marina Del Rey, California enjoying the hospitality of the California Yacht Club, where we are on the guest dock. It is an end tie, which is a good thing for us because yesterday our bow thruster died. We were pulling out of Ventura Yacht Club yesterday morning, backing down the fairway and using the bow thruster to keep us straight in the narrow channel. Suddenly we started hearing a loud grinding noise as we engaged the thruster. Not good. We were out of the fairway, so were able to move on with normal steering control. On our approach to Marina Del Rey, Gwen spotted several mylar balloons and we decided to pick them up… good maneuvering practice. In swinging the boat around, I tried to use the thruster and more noise, no thrust, and soon, it seemed to lock up. Not good… not good at all. We proceeded into Marina Del Rey and had no problems getting on to the CYC end tie.

Soon after arriving I had a call from Ernie Romeo at ABT TRAC. I had been texting with California expat Devin Zwick of Nordhavn Northwest to see if he knew of any thruster experts in the area… he called TRAC as we were bringing the boat in (thanks, Devin!). Ernie suggested that we get a diver to see if there are any obstructions of the props and reckoned based on my description of the symptoms that the coupling from the motor to the props would be the likely failure point. I was pleasantly astonished to learn that the three parts to be replaced totaled less then $300, downright cheap as boat stuff goes. Ernie also suggested a service guy in Marina Del Rey, who we could not get in touch with, and one in San Diego, with whom we spoke and arranged a service visit next week. We have a diver recommended by CYC coming to look at the props today… maybe something got stuck in the thruster tunnel.

It turns out that the very same technician will also work on our autopilot pumps. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we installed a back up autopilot system… which we needed, because the steering pump for the primary autopilot developed a leak which drained nearly half the steering fluid over the run from Neah Bay to Brookings. From Brookings, we switched over to the backup autopilot, and all was good…. except that the new steering pump also had a leak, though minor. After much wrangling by Ian, our project manager at Philbrooks, with Kobelt, the pump manufacturer, they agreed to send a technician out to fix the leak with the new pump under warranty when we arrive in San Diego. We also decided to replace the old, leaking pump. However, the Kobelt dealer does not install pumps. They recommended a local technician in San Diego that was the very same guy recommended by ABT TRAC to service our bow thruster. Very convenient.

So the new plan is to make our way down to San Diego for a Monday arrival. We will stop in Long Beach and Oceanside along the way and will visit the Southwestern Yacht Club in San Diego on Monday before arriving at the Police Dock on Wednesday. We will connect with the technician on Tuesday to begin the repairs. An oft-quoted saying is “Cruising is repairing the boat in exotic places”. I am not sure Southern California qualifies as exotic, but there surely are worse places to be…