The night of Day 432:
Waves of nausea attack me as I struggle to keep grip on the handle of diesel-soaked screwdriver handle. I curse myself for absently wiping the back of my hand under my nose to wipe away the sweat that is flowing in droplets down my face. Now every breath reeks even more of diesel.
I have been stuck down in the bowels of this yacht for an hour now, wrestling with a fuel blockage that has been causing hell for us. It is 2am in the morning. We re being hit by squall line after squall line. Winds of up to 40 knots. Short frequency 2m swell. In these conditions, you want to have an engine that works.
Steve has diagnosed the problem as a blocked fuel filter caused by dirty diesel. The problem is that we have replaced both the primary filter and the secondary filter, and the engine is still giving us grief. The only way out now is to re-route the fuel line for the generator to the main engine. This fuel line draws from about 5cm from the bottom of the fuel tank, meaning that it won’t pick up any gunk that might block the fuel filters.
The result of this re-route is that the engine is now running smoother. We should be able to make it to Turks and Caicos under power.
Day 433:
The engine is running smoothly still, and we are heading for Turtle Cove marina in the Turks and Caicos Islands. We caught a barracouda today, but threw it back. Apparently they don’t make for good eating.
There's something to be said for self-powered transport afterall – no wrestling with recalcitrant machinery!
What other fish have you caught that are good to eat?
Apparently barracouda caught around the cook islands are good eating but thats the only place I've heard that they are any good.