Day 18: Oh Otto

Mechanic’s Hands?

Out Grease! Out!

Not quite. But I have been scrubbing them for the last five minutes. When the grease gets into my callouses, it is game over.

But why do I have such greasy hands? Well, best to start at the beginning. Lets go in chronological order and watch the day unfold.

5:45am: Time to get going – Kolby has a ferry to catch!

7:00am: Call from Kolby: “Guess you haven’t left shore yet.” “No, why?” “Because the dinghy keys are in my pocket!” Lucky for me he made this discovery before getting off the boat. Ferry driver Mike will deliver keys to me at 8am

8:00am: Grab keys from Mike and return to Asunto. Fynn goes down for her nap. What a great morning!

10am: Head off to the beach to go for a walk to Killarney Lake. Get wet jumping out of Otto while anchoring. Tide is going out.

11am: Return to Otto, happily floating. Fynn is asleep on my back. A wonderful day! Get ready to start the engine…. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.  Just a tiny ‘click’. Pull off the hood and check the connections (loose connections had been a problem yesterday), but the connections are fine.

11:30am: Determine I am not going to get the engine started and commence paddling Otto towards Asunto. The optimum position seems to be on my stomach in the bow. Fynn is still sleeping on my back.

12:00pm:  Reach Asunto with aching arms and Fynn wakes up. Try to troubleshoot engine while occupying baby. Why am I always alone when stuff gets messy?

1:00pm: Learn about fuses with baby clinging onto my arms and trying to eat the 12 Volt Bible book. Think our fuse is toast.

1:30pm: Call everyone on Bowen, trying to find a replacement fuse. Leigh Automotive comes to the rescue and offers to drive the fuse to me at the public beach. Amazing people!

3:00pm: Load Fynn in her lifejacket on my back and take the paddleboard to shore to pick up the fuse (much easier to paddle around then Otto).  If I stay on my knees on the paddleboard, it is so easy I even go back to get Kyber!

4:00pm: Back on board, I try the new fuse and nothing. Not even a ‘click’. Learn some more about fuses. Decide the fuse was never the problem.

7:00pm: Spend two hours troubleshooting the electrical supply, with Kolby on the phone talking me through it. Narrow the problem down to either the starter or the starting relay. I pull the starter and clean up for the night.

9:00pm: Pick Kolby up from the beach. I had Otto anchored near the shore, then ferried his stuff to Otto with the paddleboard. We then paddled Otto back to Asunto.

As a follow up, (because I know you are on the edge of you seat: ‘Did they get Otto running?’)  Kolby mucked about with the starting relay the next morning (doing what I was doing last night) and suddenly everything started working. I am beginning to wonder if Otto hates me.