Blue Sky was berthed at the Coral Marina in Ensenada, Mexico, after the purchase for the 90 day yacht club. In 2004, you could purchase a boat "off shore" and then take it our of the country for 90 days to avoid paying California State Tax. Little did we know that the 90 day yacht club would turn into almost a year.
December, 2004
Emma's side of the family came to the Hotel Coral to stay and see the boat. We celebrated Christmas there. Sadly on the 26th, we watched in horror the destruction of the Tsunami that ravaged Thailand and the surrounding area.
Pictured are William Byrne-Quinn, Justin and George Wilson, Maggie and Katie Byrne-Quinn
and Drake and Phoebe Mather.
One day, we went for a day sail in the bay with the whole family. When we returned to the slip there was an alarm sounding. As we were not familiar with the boat, we did not know what the alarm was for. Once we turned the engine off it stopped, and we did not think any more of it. The next day we all left Ensenada to travel home.
The drive from Redondo Beach to Ensenada took four hours. It was 6-8 hours coming back across the boarder. We would go down for the weekend to work on her and check up on it. When we returned two weeks later, we found salt water under the engine, fortunate the boat did not sink. Sadly, the heat exchanger failed, which caused the water. The engine was a complete loss. Hindsight, this was a blessing in disguise. After researching engines, we purchased a new Perkins M92 from a dealer in Seattle. The engine was lighter than the old Perkins 4326, and more efficient. Fortunately it broke down on us before our circumnavigation, and now we would have a much better engine to get us around the world. They shipped it to Jim's office and we put it in our 1982 VW Vanagon. Disguising it with boogey boards and camping equipment, Jim drove it across the board, with none the wiser.
Fortunately there was an ex-pat living on his boat at the Coral Marina who worked on engines. We had Blue Sky towed over to Baja Naval, so we could haul her out and get the old Perkins out and the new one in.
While in the yard, in addition to the engine, there were many other jobs that needed to be addressed:
New anti-fouling applied
Thru hulls serviced or replaced
The varnish on the teak toe rail was stripped, bleached and oiled, as we did not want to be a slave to varnish while cruising.
The feathering Max Prop was removed and shipped back to PYI in Seattle for a complete rebuild
The cutlass bearing, size Chubb made by Morse, was replaced as well as the shaft mid-bearing
A zinc plate was attached to the exterior of the hull in order to properly bond the entire boat
Jim added a “guest” galvanic isolator to the shore power receptacle, to minimize electrolysis.
The small side navigation lights, which were embedded in the boat, were removed and the holes patched. A new nav light was installed on the bow sprit, a more visible location.