We expected that there would of course be some boat problems during this crossing. It is said that an Atlantic crossing is equivalent to three seasons of coastal sailing. We prepared and preempted this as much as possible by carrying out our scheduled maintenance projects early. We made lists of likely problems and made sure we had plenty of spares onboard.
However, what went wrong today did not even feature on our lists. During Captain’s routine check this morning, he discovered that one of the three mountings that hold our brand new Mastervolt 4.2kW domestic alternator to the engine had broken. We switched out the 17 year old existing one to keep as a spare back in February. The function of an alternator, if you are not familiar, is to charge our main batteries whilst the engine is running.
Captain quickly got on WhatsApp with the Oyster Technical Services team. Although we carry a spare alternator, we decide the safest option is to simply disconnect the alternator drive belts, support the mounting with 4mm dyneema and wait until we reach St. Lucia for repairs. With other means of battery charging through our 7kW generator and solar panels, we assessed that trying to install our spare in a rolling sea isn’t worth the risk of injury. These things are super heavy even for two burly Montenegrin men to manage! So the likelihood of Captain, myself and the kids doing it without resulting in mutiny was a no-brainer.
One of the main reasons we were attracted to an Oyster yacht is the benefit of lifetime technical and after-sales support. Even though Kaizen is coming up to her 18th birthday, we still receive the same support as an owner of a yacht just out of the factory would expect. The brand has one of the highest number yachts completing circumnavigations, so the Oyster team has pretty much seen every problem. They are also very good at shipping spare parts to remote destinations at short notice.
We think the breakage originated through our engine service by the Yanmar master dealer in Santa Cruz, Tenerife last month. Captain recalls watching in horror as the technician took a hammer to our new $3000 alternator to get a loose bush back into the mounting. This is the exact place where the breakage has been discovered today.
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