Cruiser Tip for Slipping Up OR What to Add to Your Honey-Do List

VOLO anchored beside us in Don Juan

We met an Australian couple back in 2009 while cruising the Sea of  Cortez: Max and Sandy. What a delight these two are! Max designed and built their 44' aluminum boat VOLO and even designed and built the machines he needed to bend the aluminum. The man is ingenious! We refer to Max as The Wizard.
As Hotspur was motoring up from La Cruz Thursday/Friday of this week, I woke Jim up on my watch because I smelled a strong burning rubbery odor emanating from the engine room. He got up to investigate and discovered that the alternator and water pump belt was slipping. It was also shredding on one side. We have extra alt belts on board, but the belt is brand new. Not only that, it takes a cool engine and Houdini moves to replace one. We were bobbing about at midnight just 5 miles off the backside of Isla Isabela and 35 miles off the Islas Marias, a penal colony you're supposed to stay away from. Twist my arm.

Jim got a spray can of belt dressing and lubed the belt up, but it kept slipping anyway. This is when Max the Wizard must have whispered into Jim's ear. After I shut the engine off for the umpteenth time, Jim went into the galley and brought out a bottle of honey. That's right... bee vomit, as Carolyne calls it. He slathered a tablespoon of the stuff onto the belt and spread it around with his fingers. You think I'm kidding? The stuff works miracles in a pinch. So keep this little tip somewhere in the back of your cruiser brain. And Wizard? If you and your Wizardette read this, we miss the heck out of you!