A hackneyed phrase to bring tears to the eyes, 'it's a boat', commonly used in conjunction with a call to the chandlers and 'do you have a ________ in stock?'. Yesterday's 'it's a boat' moment was triggered by the discovery of loss of coolant out of the engine. Following David's extensive examinations he concluded we have a leak from the water pump. The ultimate remedy is to fit a new pump unit which involves a) finding one in stock, b) flexing the credit card and c) dissembling a large part of the engine to fit it. The intermediate, immediate and cheaper, short term fix (to get us to Australia) is to add a car product to the water system which finds and and plugs the leak.
So this morning we left Ilot Maître and sailed the short 3 miles to Nouméa in the hope of finding a car accessory shop. None in the centre of town but at the petrol station we found the leak stop product. There were two similar products and with the generous help of their English speaking staff member to translate the use and application directions we squirrelled away our quick fix option more easily and for less tokens than locating a Volvo pump in Nouméa. (We later had a positive email reply on availability from the Volvo Penta dealer in Bundaberg and plan to buy and fit when we arrive there).
With our 'fix' and new supplies of salad, bread, pate and cheese we departed Noumea harbour and returned to the delightful Ilot Maître and free internet.
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