Yeah yeah, we're back. Made the crossing yesterday afternoon with a pitstop in Dielette for lunch. Forecast wasn't looking good at all but luckily it was easterley which meant wind and tide together for the important bits around the Cape. We almost did a night crossing Friday evening as the wind seemed to die and the forecast was for F4-5 on Saturday, but we were all tired after 6hrs on the river getting back to Le Havre and decided we'd take our chances on the Sat morning instead.
Hopefully Antoine is going to contact a local Mercury agent based 30km away from the boat. If we can get them to carry out the necessary repairs then I will get a ferry and train back to the boat and continue my mission to get M2 to Paris.
I could do with a crew to join me if and when this does happen, Channel Ribs has already kindly offered his services
If anyone else feels they missed out then here's a 2nd chance without having to do the full mileage. If you can get yourself to Conflans St. Honorine I'll cover fuel/hotel costs etc if you pay for your meals and drinks.
It'll take half a day to get to Paris, I'd like to stay for 2 nights there (there's so much to see and do), then it takes 3 days motoring to get back to Le Havre so you'll need a week off work at short notice.
From here there's a slow boat to Portsmouth and a fast (3hr) cat as of 26th May.
PM me if you're interested and note I did say crew not passengers!
Some good news on Martini II at last, Antoine has arranged for a friend to pilot her further up the river Oise to a Merc dealer called Nord Nautic this saturday where they will look at the motor.
I can't thank Antoine enough for the time and effort he's put into helping out a complete stranger
Anyone fancy a guess at what google translator means by "clamshell box" or "boite à clapet"?! A possible cause suggested by NN
Just been given the diagnosis - predictably the worst case scenario
Quote:
Unfortunately I havent't very good news ...
We made a diagnosis of your engine.
The cylinder 4 is out of order ago - 4 bars while the compression cylinder 1,2,3,5 and 6 are about 10.5 bars
We also saw that there is a major sticking point on a position of the crankshaft, which means that the engine block was also damaged. The compressor valves present traces of oxidation due to the presence of water which we attribute to a passage of water between the cooling and combustion chambers.
You'd have hoped with only the one night in Paris that at least the head would have been OK - but as your shaft is sticking and your water is a funny colour, I guess not...
