After a month of battling termite-damaged bulkheads and a cranky engine, we have finally launched the boat and are floating. But on the very first test sail, the engine dies completely and we are drifting helplessly out to sea. There have been so many setbacks and disappointments, that we had plenty of reason to give up, but that was not in our minds at all. As long as I had an idea of how to fix the problems in front of me, I would do my best to do so. I am an engineer after all.
Once the engine died, on our very first test sail, I had a feeling it was fatal. I did some half-hearted attempts to revive it, but it was not to be. We were drifting away from the beach and the island, and we needed to do something quick. We first tried to launch the tender and pull ourselves along with the small 2 hp outboard motor, but the wind and chop was making it impossible. We regrouped onboard and decided to rig up the sails. All the running rigging and the sails had not yet been rigged up, and this was a good time to do so. But of course, as soon as we had the sails up, the wind died completely. So, we went back to our original plan to tow ourselves with the tender, and we were able to slowly inch our way to the coast and anchor in a protected bay for the night. We needed to rest and re-group.
It felt great to be on anchor with the Vaka Hop’e, even though we were less than a mile from where we launched. We had a beautiful anchorage, and we were all super tired from working non stop in getting the boat on the water. We deserved this little break, despite the lack of a working engine. The next day we just relaxed until the current turned in our favor in the afternoon. With almost no wind, we sailed and paddled back to Alorro beach. We needed internet access in order to figure out the problem with our outboard motor.
From the very beginning of our engine trouble, we had a broken CDI unit as one of the possible suspects. I was unsure if the batteries had been connected in reverse polarity the first time, and that it could have fried the CDI unit for the motor. I got back into the service manual and found out how to troubleshoot the CDI. With a multimeter, we found that the CDI most likely was fried, and I ordered a new one from China. I also consulted with the mechanic who had fixed our engine, and he said that he very much doubted the CDI to be broken, but he couldn’t come to visit us for another week. This sowed doubt in me, but I did some more checks with the multimeter according to the manual, and I felt more confident that it was the CDI unit that was our problem. So what now? Should we wait for the mechanic to show up and troubleshoot our engine, or should we get moving and prepare for our departure to Indonesia?