A sailing season at last.

Long overdue update...

The engine arrived and started a two week period of waranty issues. It leaked coolant and oil from several areas. The new impellor was destroyed from it having been spun backwards during the rebuild. The engine had never been run up promised, and was not close to being ready. Once I got her sytarted she was throwing oil from a very loose output shaft flange. After I completed several other repairs I called Nova back in to finish. They removed the plain bolts and installed the correct manifold studs. They removed the 2:1 Paragon reducer and returned in two hours with it repaired. (I think they dropped it during the rebuild and knocked out a beraing retainer.) They did a few other jobs and she is ready-enough to go. The Nova Automotive mechanic said that 70% of his work was warranty issues form improperly assembled engines. He said that they now send most engines across the street for reassembly and, depending on the skills of the mechanic, they could be perfect or crap. I guess I got the apprentice assembler. Ah well, except for a monir oil leak from behing the lifter access plate she's running well.

We finally got it sorted out and went for test sails on August 2nd and 3rd. On August 4th we were loaded and off for Mahone Bay, hoping to catch up with the folks from SYC on our club cruise. The engine ran well, but would run hot if held above 5.5 knots for long. We were in consort with Tide-N-Knots but they had to turn back early on. The picture is us following them past Sleepy Cove. Our son Brian came for the trip and we made it to Mahone Bay in good time. With darkness approaching we decided to head north to Deep Cove, rather than cross the bay. We spent a quiet night on a friend's mooring and crossed the bay the next day.

This was Brian's first time aboard any of our boats. (He'd never had the interest.) He caught on in a flash and in barely 24 hours on board was able to do most everything. He brought her across the bay steering for best winds and keeping her at speed. He only had to watch something being done once and he could repeat it perfectly every time afterwards. Damn smart young man... He must take after his parents!

We caught up with friends at Backman's island, where we spent the night. The next day we went half way into back harbour Lunenburg to find a quiet spot out of the west winds. We rafted up on our anchor with Judy aboard Altair. This was followed by a trip out to Cross Island with Altair, Southwind and Allons-Y. What a beautiful island with a tricky narrow entrance.

During a hike around to the southern side to see the lighthouse we found a small field filled with Monarch butterflies.

After two weeks criss crossing Mahone Bay we headed home to Halifax so that Dee could return to work. Sitting home didn`t last long as I wanted more. I`ll cover part two of the Mahone Bay vacation in the next entry.

My Kingdom for an engine... AKA Lord of the 0.010" Rings

S/V Kiskadee was launched almost six weeks ago and still sits without engine and mast. I wanted to wait for the rebuilt Atomic-4 engine before stepping the mast, so that the backstay wouldn't be in the way of the crane. However, the engine delays are excessive so I may drop in the mast soon. The engine has been at Nova Automotive for a couple of months... So much for the one-week rebuild estimate. First it was my spare block being useable then un-useable, then useable, now un-useable. They used their spare block but for a month they've been waiting on 0.010" oversize piston rings. Today I learned that their supplier is out of stock and may have to wait until a better excuse is available. Nova has been great on previous jobs, so I'm giving them time to pull this one off. Still, had I ordered a Moyer Marine engine I'd have been sailing a month ago.


This extended delay has allowed us time to catch up on a ton of maintenance. Dee has completely cleaned and oiled all of the teak interior. And there is a lot of teak. I've installed a complete new head and plumbing system and repaired a decades old crack in the holding tank. The deckhead leaks are fixed, except for one drip at the saloon hatch. I need a dry day and it'll be done as well. Four new halyards are ready to go into the mast along with a new wind speed/direction unit and cabling. Two dozen other jobs are done and the boat will be much better off when she leaves the dock.


With only a week until the Canada Day Sailpast it's looking like the second year in a row with a boat stuck alongside. Still, the list of boat-jobs continues to shrink each day. Hopefully the next entry will see her off the dock.