There is a reason we all know what it means to “swear like a sailor.”

It seems like every boat project we started led us to ten more projects. After the heat exchanger elbow popped off of our engine we discovered that the entire heat exchanger was corroded. So we had to take that off too. In the end, we had the heat exchanger refurbished because it was cheaper and because getting a new one was going to take several days.

After inflating the dinghy we learned that it had several places that it was leaking air, no surprise there, but we also discovered that our outboard motor was leaking fuel. The fix for the dinghy was a two-part Hypalon adhesive, pressure and time. The fix for the outboard would not be quite so simple.

To fix the outboard we took apart and cleaned the carburetor. Putting the carburetor back together was a little bit like putting together secondhand Ikea furniture without directions and then discovering that you have pieces left over. It wasn’t until we took apart the whole fuel line that we discovered that we had put the carburetor together incorrectly. Now the outboard runs like a dream!

Next stop, West End, Grand Bahama!

We’ve checked the weather and it looks like we have an excellent opportunity to cross the 50 miles from Florida to the Bahamas on Thursday (tomorrow). Because of the Gulf Stream we will be going 20ish miles South of West End before making the crossing East. That way we sail dead East and the current pushes us North to where we want to be. That’s the plan at least!

If all goes well, we drop off a friend in Freeport in a few days and pick up a new friend on time!