Luck of the brave

The already familiar route out of Papeete to the adjacent industrial area that stretches around the harbor is still in the shade in the morning, and it is nice and cool. The birds in one of the many trees that line the waterfront drown out the morning traffic. The old men, who meet every day dressed in their colorful Hawaiian shirts and play their ukuleles, are also already there. The typical Polynesian sound can be heard from afar. In Papeete, people go about their business early. It is therefore not surprising that there is already a lot going on in the streets.  

Papeete waterfront

After my exhaust system silencer partially melted due to overheating during the anchoring operation in Moorea, I am looking for a new one. At Yanmar, this silencer is called a “water collector”, although it doesn't collect any water at all, but simply prevents it from flowing through via a few cast-in ducts. In principle, exhaust gases and seawater run through and exit at the end of the exhaust pipe to be lost in the sea again. In French, a water collector is called a “collecteur d'eau”. As a precaution, I look up the term for silencer, which is “silencieux”. Thus equipped, I enter the first store with little hope of success. But the original part from Vetus, which is installed in our Katinka, literally jumps out at me. I am thrilled and grab the part from the shelf, completely euphoric. The thick layer of dust that has settled on the part is spread over a large area in the corridor and I'm standing right underneath it. The water collector has obviously been there for some time. At the checkout, it is given another good clean until it looks like new. Removing and installing it poses the same challenges as any other job on a boat: too little space, after tightening it comes off, if something is supposed to come loose, nothing comes loose at first, conversely, if something is supposed to hold, it is guaranteed to come loose. So everything is normal and the machine is restarted after installation.

Exhaust system water collector

What can I say: Purrs like a sewing machine. Water leakage, temperature, everything is fine. Only the oil pressure remains close to zero. I shine the light on the engine again to check for any leaks. But everything is tight. Well, there's not much left. The next thing I suspect is the oil pump. With a worried expression, I study the manual and locate the corpus delicti on the plans. On our engine, it is still in a relatively favorable position, but it is still an enormous effort to get to it, which of course means dismantling half the engine again.

Yanmar oil pump

I clutch at the thin straw that it might be an electrical problem after all. Before I start working on the engine again, I remove the control panel and lay a temporary line to the oil sender on the engine. The probability of a broken line is even lower than a fault in the oil pump, but when I start the engine, the pointer deflects and shows the usual four bar. I can't believe my eyes and expect the oil pressure gauge to plummet again at any moment, but it remains at normal pressure and is not influenced by my negative thoughts. In Germany, we call this the luck of the brave, otherwise I would have had to dismantle half the engine again. The pipe is quickly laid and everything is soon reassembled. A final test run signals that everything is in order again. The engine overhaul project can therefore be crossed off the to-do list and considered complete. It took quite a while, but as a layman who has never taken an engine apart, let alone put it back together again, I am a little proud of my achievement.

Black Monday in Papeete, Tahiti

Of course, something like this has to be celebrated accordingly, so we meet up with the crew of the Nica and the Maria Noa at Les 3 Brasseurs for Black Monday over a bucket of beer. While the Maria Noa arrived in Papeete from the Tuamotus on Sunday, the crew of the Nica followed a day later by plane from Europe. Despite jet lag, the crew of the Nica did not miss the chance to join the party. It just goes to show that sailors are tough. But even the Maria Noa didn't have an easy time getting from the Tuamotus to Papeete. As is so often the case, the weather models here in the region are very imprecise and sometimes even contradictory, which doesn't exactly make planning easy. There is a lot to talk about, as we haven't seen each other for a long time, and the evening was correspondingly long. I think both crews had a deep and sound sleep afterwards. We're a bit more experienced, much more rested and don't have as much catching up to do when it comes to sleep. With this in mind, until next week, fair winds and keep a stiff upper lip.