THE LATEST

Friday was oil day.  It seems like there is a limit of one project per day while cruising, no matter how trivial the project.  This was the case for getting the oil tested.  I took the sample up to the shop about 10 in the morning, thinking that by then they would surely be open, even in Latin America.  Not the case, they came about 12:30, but promised the results by 3:00 that afternoon.  They were going to call, so I grabbed a cab and went back to the boat.  I got comfy in the cockpit, reached for my Kindle, and then dug in my pocket for the phone.  NO PHONE.  Crap, I had to do an emergency back track.  I jumped into the next water taxi to the dock and rushed up to the restaurant, where I had stopped to chat.  My friends were gone.  No phone on the table and no phone turned in at the bar.  Shoot, this meant another wasted day buying a new one.  Since it was about 2;00 by then, I grabbed a taxi and headed back to the oil shop to get the report in person.  Got there and hung out until 3:00, went in for my report and was handed my phone instead. Fantastic, just saved a day.  In order to get my report I had to go outside with the owner and technician and have my picture taken.  I was their first customer and they wanted to photograph the handover while standing in front of their new business sign hanging in the window.  We were all happy.  They had a paying customer and I had my phone and a oil report that gave the dad gum Volvo a clean bill of health.  No water or Leak Stop present, plus all the other measurements were perfect.  The bottom line was the head gasket was not leaking.  This is good news, I guess.  Instead of having a cheap and easy to replace head gasket leaking, the expensive and unavailable wet exhaust manifold remained our chief leak suspect.

Saturday Judy and a friend went over to the Caribbean for the day, so our test run was put on hold until Sunday.  I puttered around all day and actually did some good.

This morning we went out for a 4 hour test run.  Everything worked great, the radios, radar, autopilot and all the rest of the lightening damaged pieces, except we lost about a cup and a half of water.  This is much better then it used to be, but still a serious bother.

I will confer with Kenny tomorrow about what's next.  I think a tear down and leak test of the exhaust manifold.