The Mai Toi

The Mai Toi
Year Built: 2009, Hull # 25, Hailing Port: Guilford, Ct. USCG COD # 1222048, MMSI # 367425460, SSB Call Sign: WDF-2154

Monday, April 11, 2011

Transmission problem

I began experiencing difficulty putting my transmission into forward gear.  Sometimes it would go and sometimes it would not.   It became progressively worse on my last trip to the Bahamas.  I checked the throttle and the linkage and there didn’t seem to be anything wrong so I called Volvo.  They acknowledged a problem with this particular S-Drive transmission model and year and agreed to replace it under warranty without an argument.  I obviously couldn’t get the boat to an authorized Volvo dealer so I had to pay for my local Volvo technician from Connecticut to go down to the boat.  Volvo paid for the transmission and labor to install it and I had to pay to have the boat brought to Marsh Harbor, hauled and for the technician’s R/T airfare and travel time.   
The Mai Toi is currently on the hard in Marsh Harbor Boat Yard. The Volvo
technician arrived at the boat on Monday 4/11 to install the new transmission.

By Tuesday afternoon the old transmission was removed, the new transmission was installed and the Sail Drive was already back on underneath the boat. Some remaining  assembly work and diagnostics tests were completed on Wednesday and the boat was back in the water and on it's way back to Treasure Cay on Thursday afternoon. The problem was evidently caused by the clutch slipping and there was a service bulletin  issued to replace the ATF on this particular transmission with motor oil.   

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

The Lanzilli's do the Bahamas








We arrived Treasure Cay with our friends Tom & Joyce Lanzilli on Wednesday March 23rd.  This was their first visit to the Abacos.  We spent Thursday enjoying the beach at Treasure Cay, preparing and provisioning the boat.  They were predicting the weather to be absolutely beautiful during our entire stay and it certainly was. Sunny and 80 degrees. Friday we sailed to Hope Town. I miss calculated our departure time to coincide with high tide at Hope Town by about an hour but luckily we were still able to get into the channel without hitting bottom when we arrived about 45 minutes after high tide. We went for a dinghy ride to a deserted beach outside the harbor to swim and look for Star Fish. The water was beautiful and we found several huge Star Fish.  We went to Tommy Bahamas restaurant at the Harbors Inn and had a wonderful dinner. Saturday morning we toured Hope Town and left at high tide on Saturday afternoon for Man-O-War. I had difficulity getting the transmission into forward gear leaving the mooring in Hope Town.  We disconneted and checked the linkage but the problem appeared to be inside the transmission possibly the clutch. Fortunately with a little persuassion it would eventually go into gear so we continued on our way to Man-O-War Cay.
The entrance to Man-O-War harbor is very narrow and somewhat tricky with the current. Once inside the channel is well marked to the harbor on port. We picked-up a mooring right outside Man-O-War Marina where the harbor is the deepest.  With 9-1/2 ft. at high tide and a 3-1/2 ft. tide it only leaves 6" under the keel at low tide . There is not very much to see or do in Man-O-War.  There is a very nice Canvas Sail/Bag shop and several sovereign stores. Man-O-War is famous for a particular type  boat called an Albury which strangely enough is also the last name of most everyone on the island. We went to dinner at Dock & Dine next to the marina.  Man-O-War is a dry town so it's BYOB if you want wine with your meal.  Sunday morning we had breakfast onboard and dignied to a wonderful beach where you could walk out the length of a football field in only knee deep water.  We left Man-O-War at high tide on Sunday and had a beautiful sail on a beam reach in 12-15 knot winds all the way back to Treasure Cay.
We did some further diagnosis on the transmission when we got back to the dock and decided a call into Volvo was in order. We had dinner Sunny night at the Touch of Class restaurant just outside the main gate and on Monday we did laundry, cleaned the boat and prepared to go home. 
Volvo ultimately acknowledged the problem with the transmission and agreed to replace it and pay for the labor to install it. Coincidentally we found out that there was a service bulletin issued on this particular transmission (150s Sail Drive) for the exact same problem.  There are no authorized Volvo service centers in the Bahamas and since I couldn't get the boat to the nearest one in Florida I had to arrange to fly in a technician from McDonnell Marine the authorized Volvo service center in Connecticut I use regularily and haul the boat in Marsh Harbor at my expense so they could replace the transmission.
The transmission is scheduled to be replaced the week of April 11th and we are scheduled to go back to the boat with the entire family on April 22nd for Easter.