Engine Rituals and Sunset Drinks (Monday, February 8, 2010)

At 9:00am, Victor Gamboa and his employee, Ramon, showed up to begin pulling the Ford Lehman 80HP engine apart from our 41' Tartan TOCK. All Jim's previous efforts to get the motor to move failed... WD-40, Marvel Mystery Oil, Diesel, his last being to pour cola on the piston cylinders (Someone on the dock swore by it). What the heck, we have nothing to lose, right?

The 'maestro', as Victor Gamboa is called around here, convinced Jim that he can rebuild our engine for $800 - $2,000 US. That beats the cost of a new Yanmar... $18,000 US shipped to Mexico and installed. So, Jim had readied the wiring the previous day by marking, cataloging and photographing the disassembled wires so that we can easily replace the engine and hook her back up without crossing wires.

Ramon spent all day unhooking hoses and taking out the massive engine in parts. He worked until 5:00pm and took only one 30 minute break. Victor, meanwhile, took the head back to his garage to clean and paint. Victor and Ramon speak only Spanish, so it is a great hurdle for me to blunder through the Spanish I know... learning new things about engine parts in Spanish and then translating it to English... crazy! Manguesa: hose... cinta: tape measure... martillo: hammer... discus: I still don't know, but am pretty sure it's the big round plate looking thing that is part of the engine that they removed yesterday. Victor complemented me yesterday by telling me my Spanish is very good, which motivates me to try even harder.

After Victor and Ramon departed, we hurriedly dressed for a cocktail invite Jim and I had with an elderly English/Canadian couple who live in their condo here in Mazatlan six months out of the year. Norman and Sylvia Peters are delightful and it was a sincere pleasure to enjoy their company for several hours. Sylvia had a spread of crab dip, salmon cheese balls, Dutch Gouda, homemade antipasto, and an array of nuts and olives, crackers and sausages... really nice. They introduced us to a Paloma... tequila and Squirt with a twist of lime.... delicioso!