Engine Saga – Part 1

Back in Georgetown. Here’s how it all went down, the short version.

1. Duncantown, Ragged Island. We’re getting ready to leave the Bahamas to another Caribbean Island. Tig has been babying the engine the entire trip, changing filters, adding oil, changing oil.

2. Afternoon departure, Tig turns on the engine. It takes a second longer to start. He turns it off. Checks the engine room. Turns the engine on again. Also a slow start.

3. Cue ominous music.

4. We motor-sail until it gets dark. I put the kids to bed. Around midnight, the wind dies and we’re bobbing. We’re 35 miles from our destination. Tig turns the engine key. Nothing. He tries again. Nothing.

5. After 7 or 8 long tries, the engine starts. Now we’re concerned that the engine won’t start up again when we need it. So we leave it on.

6. After some debating, we decide to turn back to Georgetown. If it’s a small engine problem, we can fix it. If not, we’ll be in a place with more resources than Duncantown.

7. By sunrise, we pass Duncantown, where we had left the previous day. We motor on. By 10:30pm, we started to go through the Comer Channel. Tide is going out. Super low tide. We might hit bottom (MLW depths ranging from 5.2 – 7 ft). And there’s no moon.

8. The waters get a bit too skinny. Tig throws down the anchor and we wait a couple hours until the tide comes back up. We leave the engine on, neutral. Then we proceed.

9. By next morning, we reached Georgetown. We arrive at Crab Cay, near the pavilion. We see that Fairchild is there. As we pull in to look for an anchoring spot, Tig throttles down. The engine sputters out and dies.

10. I tell him now’s a good time to throw down the anchor, and he does. The engine won’t start anymore. Having delivered us safely to Georgetown, it decided to call it quits.

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