What happens when your engine is toast?
Trilleen is stopped in Stornoway with a serious defect to her engine. There has been a cascade of failures. I and local engineers think the that the block – the hunk of cast metal which contains the whizzy whooshy bits of the engine has died. Unfortunately my diligent periodic maintenance couldn’t change the fact that the engine had been ill handled before I bought Trilleen. Thanks to local engineers and some luck a solution is on hand. I don’t know how long the delay will be but weeks in beautiful Stornoway stretch ahead.
Those who follow me know this is the latest in a series of failures which have afflicted Trilleen. Unfortunately this is just the way with sailing. Every sailboat at sea floats on corrosive fluid, slapped by waves, stressed by wind, and often alternately baked and frozen. The consequences of being out in this wild and hostile environment, which I love with all my heart, is that things break from time to time. This aspect of longer term cruising isn’t talked about enough so I’m pleased to share my pain.
Stornoway is the best place in the Western Isles for this to happen. I diverted here from East Loch Roag in the face of persistent northerlies in part to get advice regarding the engine which was giving me cause for concern. Now I am stuck here I’m taking the opportunity to do all the available periodic maintenance and hopefully reduce the snags list to zero to ensure that Trilleen and I are ready to depart when we are able to do so.
The list of people in Stornoway I have cause to thank is growing by the day, and already includes Stornoway Port Authority, Macleod and Macleod Engineering, We Love Stornoway, Martins Memorial Church, The Green Laundry, and many, many others.