We came into the Marina in Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe with one goal in mind – fix the generator! It has been making a heck of a lot of noise recently – so much so that when I first heard it while we were down in Dominica, I thought the main bearings had gone, however it continued to run, just with lots of noise.

I ordered spare parts – including engine mounts – which I hoped might solve the problem and had Neal bring them to us on his visit.

This was always going to be a messy job – lifting the generator out and working on it’s oily extremities in the cockpit – and it lived up to expectations! Fortunately, we discovered the cause of the noise… an Aluminium plate between the engine and generator had broken and one of three mounting bolts was therefore inoperable. However, of the two remaining mounts, one had lost it’s nut and the other’s nut was loose. Basically the thing was held together by the drive belt!!

Messy Generator

Cleaned up

I spotted a tech working on a Halberg Rassey a few slips down and confirmed that he is a welder – he came and took a look and confirmed that he’d be able to weld it up – though because it’s aluminium, there were to be no guarantees! I gave him the piece the following morning and he brought it back in the afternoon!

Broken Mount

Fixed!

It took all this morning to reassemble the thing and get it back into it’s spot on it’s new engine mounts. Turned the thing on – and bliss – purrs like a kitten!!!

I love it when a plan works out!

We’re off tomorrow – back to Dominica!