Sunday, March 26, 2017

CAR PROBLEMS!

27 mar. 2017
1000 Local
Position: 07° 20.28 N 134°27.07 E
Moored, Palau

Three posts in a row, I guess catching up blog's is a lot more fun than the days plan which was starting on our income tax info for dear old Uncle Sam.
So you ask what kind of a car problem can we have when it was back in 2004 that we sold our last automobile. Well to those of us who live aboard full time our dinghy's are considered our cars as they provide the transportation back and forth to shore, visiting other yachts, fishing trips or perhaps just a leisurely boat ride. Our dinghy, a Caribe rigid hull inflatable, purchased in Venezuela back in 2001 is still in fair shape though it does need to have some air added daily. It was our Nissan outboard of pre 1990's vintage that has a experienced problem. The tiller steering arm has sheared off! This has made steering a bit of an adventure as the tiller arm also has the speed control. We have mastered a technique that works. I now sit atop the engine and use a pair of vice grips on the throttle rod for speed control. Kathy stands amidship and by leaning left or right controls our direction of travel. I have even managed to perform the operation without Kathy aboard. We had recently been discussing the possibility of buying a new outboard and Kathy had if fact stopped at a local Yamaha dealer to question the cost and availability of one. It was later that same day the tiller arm broke. We have now ordered a new outboard and thankfully here we are able to still get a two-stroke one but the expected delivery is not till May. Meantime I managed to order a new tiller arm from a store in the States which still supplies vintage parts. Our friend Connie has managed to send it along to us and soon we ought to be able to steer properly again.

WHERE THE TILLER BELONGS

JUST OLD AND TIRED


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