An update on our situation. July 17, 2007

Hello All . .

Our situation has improved since our last post. We have been towed to Collins Bay Marina, which has a crane available to lift the new engine that should be delivered today. Since Yanmar is no longer manufacturing our particular engine, we thought we would not be able to locate an engine but were finally able to find one in St Petersburg. It is on a plane coming this way as I write this. Today, we'll have to deal with the GST tax and get it through customs.

There are 2 possibilities of ways to install - either disassemble the new engine and reassemble it in the boat or cut a hole in the boat and lift it by crane into the boat. Since the 1st choice would probably negate the warranty, we have decided on the 2nd choice.

Since we don't want to watch our boat cut apart (and don't want to deal with all that fiberglass dust) we are going to leave the boat for a few days. We'll probably drive up to Ottawa for a couple of days and then drive over to Penetanguishene for the Summer Rendezvous.

Thanks to all for your good thoughts. And thanks to all you wonderful folks here in Kingston who have been helping us put our lives (and our boat) back together again. By the way, we're taking up a collection for the "Levine Engine Fund". Strictly non-profit, of course.

We're still not sure where we'll go from here. It's obvious that we'll not finish the loop this year. We'll probably take the boat back to New York and store it for the winter. We'll keep you up to date on our progress and will see many of you in Pentetanguishene. (At least I can spell that - have no idea how to pronounce it! I can pronounce rendezvous but can't spell it! Ah well . . .)

See you that there somewhere - sometime . . . .
Rob & Ann