Hello everyone, I’ve been continuing to clean the black mold and green growth from inside and outside of INTENTION. It has been raining almost every day since I got here. Which means some days not much gets accomplished. Oh well, I just have to sit back and enjoy myself, my friends, and the wonderfully friendly Fijians. With the help of mind cruising friends, Jeff and Christie, I have been discovering new recipes and exciting foods to try here in Fiji. I tried a new version of a Waldorf salad with dried cranberries instead of raisins. Of course there were the usual apples, walnuts, and mayonnaise. The flavor was very unique and tasty. I met Jeff and Christie at the market last Saturday morning and Christie showed me some interesting little green berries. They look like good size caviar and taste very much like caviar too. They are called namas and we split an order. They have a wonderful little crunchiness to them and a salty taste again like caviar. They added texture and taste to my onion and tomato omelet. I also like their crunchiness when I added them to my tuna fish and walnut salad sandwich. Best Foods mayonnaise is very expensive here so Christie gave me the recipe and I’m going to make my own and try adding additional ingredients like powdered mustard seed and white pepper to give it a little different flavor. Just might substitute lime juice for the usual ingredient of vinegar. As you can tell I’m having fun playing in the kitchen now that it’s cleaned up well enough to use easily. Up till now I’ve been getting my exercise by walking, swimming, and by rowing my small hard dingy to shore and back on a daily basis but especially when I need to do shopping. Because of needing to ferry mechanics and tools multiple times a day, I assembled my ten foot inflatable dingy and mounted my 5 HP Suki outboard which ran very erratically, but has settled down to to Early run at a slow idle and at least get us there. The reason for the engine’s poor performance may have been the drying out/shrinking of the carburetor gaskets from 6 months of disuse.  Now that I can get the RPM’s higher, the propeller clutch is slipping and the inflatable still will not travel faster than a slow idle again.  This engine is a four cycle and weighs more than my 8 hp two cycle outboard, because of this I would really like to get a light two or 3 hp outboard in its place.  And anything that is light enough for me to be able to just lift on an off the dingy would be ideal.
I am starting the engine work on INTENTION’s SABB diesel which blew a head gasket.  I am using the assistance of a local mechanic by the name of Sen Lee and his nephew.  In the Polynesian culture, uncle’s have the same responsibilities as and act as fathers.  And, Bogi, calls him father.  He  and I worked for 4 hours on Thursday and got much of the engine disassembled lightening it to mainly make hoisting it out of INTENTION and into a  local Fijan’s  skiff.  After another 4 hours of removing the motor mounts and rigging a block and tackle from the boom on Friday the still very heavy block and flywheel was finally taken ashore to the mechanic’s shop.  We cleaned up the engine some and celebrated with a few beers.  I have been able to see for the first time in 25 years the mess  of dirty, greasy, gunk that has accumulated.  Then Saturday, Bogi, his girl friend, Terri,  and two year old Bogi junior came out to INTENTION to help me clean up the mess in the inaccessible place under the engine.  While junior took a long nap, Bogi cleaned up the engine room and Terri washed the dishes and some of the decks.  Bogi has 3 children by Terri and yet no marriage is expected.  He is also the second son of the chief or Ratu of the village he’s from.  He has lived with his uncle, Sen Lee, most his life who has taught him an excellent skill of being a mechanic and understanding machinery.  I met his biological father, the Ratu, on Monday and he invited me for a special feast out at his village which is on an island about a days sail away from Savusavu.  Bogi and I have made plans to make that sail after the repair of INTENTION’S engine are complete.   Sunday was about putting the sails and boom back together after using it as a lifting hoist for the engine,  and after it began raining for the rest of the day and most of the night as I put away and organized tools and the inside of INTENTION.
The following Friday exactly to the hour one week later,  the cleaned and fresh blue painted SABB block old and flywheel rejoined us here on INTENTION.  We decided to use the old connecting rod bearings temporally as the replacment bearings are not arriving from SABB Norway until much later.  After the motor mounts were attached to the hull, the new head gasket and  rebuilt head was slowly torqued to the block.  The installation of important parts like the coolant tank, heat exchanger cooling pump, alternator, and starter motor and making  plumbing and electrical connections will be accomplished tomorrow, Saturday.  Then just after adding some oil, coolant and water, comes the real test, to see if she starts and runs.
Success, by 4 PM Saturday she was running  and the propeller was turning.  Not everything having to do with the engine is completed or put quite right, but INTENTION and I are feeling much happier with this big job being mostly done.  Soon we will be back to catching up on maintenance and having some more sailing adventures and exploring new areas of Fiji.
Monday, they were back on INTENTION completing the job of connecting the controls and making another greasy mess after I spent most of Sunday Cleaning the outside  and organizing the inside.  A fellow cruiser, Doug on a Bristol Channel Cutter RENAGADE, came over to fix the timing on  my Sailrite sewing machine but after two and a half hours later it still needed more work.  It was hard work and I appreciated his effort. We’re planning on giving it another shot in a week or two.
At the end of April I took a great overnight ferry, the WESTERLAND, to Latokato get my spare fuel injectors and injector pump on the SABB rebuilt and meet my new crew, Alice, at Nadi Airport.  Also visited my shipping company to handle forwarding to Savusavu my boxes of of engine parts and personal items being shipped from the US  that is scheduled to arrive in the first half of May.