My experience with engines is that if you depend on them they fail you, but if it just doesn’t matter, they serve you. - Frank Wightman
Oh, the engine... decisions, decisions. And at long last, we have arrived at one! After a month of waffling, distracting side paths, and dead ends, we have a new Yanmar 3jh5e in the back of the truck. Holly and I both really, really wanted an electric option to work out, but several final nails finally sealed that coffin for good. First, of the two best electric options for our boat, one company has been under investigation for fraud and the other would not return our repeated calls and emails despite being located less than two hours away. What would we do when two months away? In addition, several very experienced ocean sailors warned us strongly away from electric currently being a viable option for cruising sailboats.
The decision on a new Yanmar was still very tough even after excluding electric propulsion. Our last engine was derived from a Perkins 4-108. These were/are great engines but based on 40 year old technology with parts that are becoming harder to find and expensive. Our next price point up from a rebuilt 4-108 was a rebuilt Yanmar 3jh series. By the time that we factored in all the actual costs, a rebuilt and brand new Yanmar differed by less than $2000. Thus, I finally swallowed hard, drove over to the dealer, and parted with several thousand of our hard earned freedom chips for our new, shiny “powerful gem”. Next step ... installation.
On the the domestic front, we have the interior cleaned up nicely and no longer smelling like a superfund site. Last week, we spent our first night aboard and enjoyed the continued bonding with Audacious. We worked the cobwebs out of the galley with a nice Oregon pink shrimp linguine and rocked to sleep with a golden moon rise over the channel. More to follow on the engine installation.
