E19 – LIAZARD ISLAND
Lizard Island and lots to fix.
At Lizard Island, I got a last chance to do some maintenance at a place where obtaining parts might actually be possible through the kindness of the Lizard Island Resort. As the resort has daily flights from Cairns, it is possible to get emergency parts flown in which is a heaven sent kindness in such a remote part of the world. After Lizard Island, the next place where you might get parts, that I know of, is Thursday Island. So, fixing the toilet, shower sump and generator were things I wanted to get sorted before we left.
I had found that the two spare generator impellors I had onboard prior to leaving Airlie Beach were both second hand and missing their gaskets and looked dodgy as. I couldn’t have been more pissed off as I had bought both from a ‘reputable’ engine parts supplier/mechanic in Airlie beach. I can only assume they were removed from a previous engine and put back in their box and then inadvertently put back on the shelf for sale. I never checked the contents of the box after buying them, but I sure will in future!
Anyway, I had a new one (and two more spares)flown in from Cairns and I replaced the one on our genset which got her running sweet again. It did make me think though, what would we do if the generator died again and we couldn’t fix it for months ? It would mean we couldn’t make water which is a major part of our cruising long distance ability. So I sourced and again, had flown in, a brand new Hinda 2.2kva portable petrol generator. It cost us a fair bit of our cruising kitty, but the peace of mind it brought as a backup, couldn’t be measured. As it turned out, for the next year, we used the emergency generator more often than I care to remember. Our main generator, an admittedly old Fisher Panda 8kva generator, gave us nothing but trouble the entire voyage.
After all the work was done, we spent some time exploring the Lizard Island beach opposite the anchorage and had a little ‘us’ time.
