Thursday, February 25, 2010

Rock Star

You don't have to play rock'n'roll to be a Rock Star. Here's Luis, my diesel mechanic. Sweet guy, patient, smart, funny, and a pleasure to work with. His shop is located near where highway 200 meets the two lane road out to Barra de Navidad, and he gets to play with big stuff.

He took my crap encrusted pump with all but one of the cover screws broken off and gave me back a nice, clean, functioning bomba de aqua. And he asked for 150 pesos for the work (I gave him 200 because he deserved it and I didn't have change).

So back to the boat and in 15 minutes, I installed the pump and had the diesel purring. I thought I would try spraying the pump with a corrosion inhibitor that's made for battery posts. It's tinted red so you can see where you spray it. We'll see if it will help put off the need to buy a new pump (at about $300 USD).

Aside from taking on some minor provisions, and taking some stuff (unnecessary weight) off the boat, I'm ready for a shakedown cruise. In the mornings there's a nice high tide I could use to get out of the canals and maybe I could go out and spend the night in Melaque after a day of sailing, catch the morning tide back into the slip... or spend a day or two more out on the boat testing out systems.

2 comments:

Jim and Heather on Meerkat said...

I vote for a night over in Melaque. And have a taco salad at Concha del Mar for me.

Jim and Heather on Meerkat said...

I vote for a night over in Melaque. And have a taco salad at Concha del Mar for me.