I return to Savusavu after a quick trip to the states to pick up all of our boat parts (see blog “Life as a Pack Mule“). Now, Matt is ready to begin working on the lengthy list of repairs.
He tackles the most important jobs first: Port Engine and Starboard Steering
Port Engine Timing Belt
An engine cannot run without its timing belt. We lost the port engine timing belt in Tuvalu which rendered us short one engine. See Failures Bring on Frustrating Times.
The new timing belt was a lot tighter than the original. It took Matt a few tries to get it on. Once it was on, Matt triple checked everything before attempting to start the engine. And….it would not start. He worked on it all day before he finally asked a fellow cruiser (Michael from sv Promises Kept) to take a look. They bounced a lot of ideas off each other and worked on it for several hours. Still nothing! It would try to turn over and it sounded like it was almost there.
Finally, Matt took it apart again and triple checked everything again. Hoping that all of the pieces were aligned and “in time.” He moved one piece a few cm over and tried to start the engine. It was the most beautiful sound to hear that engine fire up! And we are back to being a two engine boat!
Starboard Steering Gear Box
This project is a little trickier as we require a machine shop to press the bearings out before Matt can finish this project.
Matt was able to get one of the small and one of the large bearings out using his new tool kit. The Orion Motor Tech Blind Hole Collet Bearing and Seal Puller Extractor Kit. This heavy tool kit was part of the reason my check in bag weighed 66lbs!
So we had two of the four bearings/seals out. The other two required a machine shop.
What we learned:
- The small bearing is completely missing its seal. See old vs new bearings in the photo below.
- The large bearing and seal are workable but since we are taking it all apart we will replace them too.
In the photo below, Matt uses the extractor tool to remove the bearing (green arrow).
The red arrow shows the spot where the bearing came from out of the gear box.
We also noticed that there are a few teeth in the gear that are “worn.” This wearing is at the center position (when the helm is centered) which is the most used position.
Finding a Machine Shop
We need to find a machine shop that has a large press to remove the gear. This would give us access to the two bottom bearings.
Stay tuned for a follow up blog post on our trip to Labasa to find a machine shop.
Wash Down Pump
The wash down pump is located at the front of the boat by the mast. We use it to clean off the ground tackle and the boat. We can use both fresh water and salt water through the same pump and 50′ of hose which makes it super convenient.
This poor pump is constantly exposed to salt water as it lives inside the anchor locker.
It stopped working as we were lifting the anchor up to leave the Marshall Islands. Which was a real bummer as the anchor chain was really dirty and needed a good scrub.
Matt thought he could repair the pump.
However, when he took it apart he realized it was too rusted to repair. We ordered a new one which I brought back with me from the states.
Matt got it installed with little effort and ow it is working perfectly.
Leaks at the Bow
It is never good to have a leak on a boat and we had 2! At least both leaks were contained to the bow peaks.
We use our two forward bow peaks for storage.
The port bow peak houses (5) A4 and (8) F4 fenders, a passerelle, SUP, and (8) PFD’s.
Starboard houses (3) spinnakers, (2) large bean bags, (4) empty large water bottles, and some fun floats and noodles.
Both lockers were getting wet and it was a challenge to find their source.
Matt discovered that the starboard leak was coming from the outside cleat.
First, he had to remove everything from the locker and to clean it out.
Then he took apart the cleat fittings, cleaned it, and sealed it up. No more leaks!
It does look like we need to repaint the interior of this locker at some point.
The port leak came from the outside rub strake. Matt removed the strake. The water dripped in through some of the old holes were never filled in.
Matt fixed the leak by filled the holes and applying lots of 5200 (extra strength adhesive).
Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual events. Matt worked on these projects over the month of May 2025.
How did we get all of these new parts to Fiji? Check out my life as a Pack Mule.
