There is a chance for it! It depends on the work of Robin’s staff. Yesterday they could not work on the muffler. I hope they can do it today. I hope even more they can really close the hole.

This muffler is a pretty complex part. It first is the muffler, then it is the reservoir for the freshwater based coolant, then it has an opening for the real heat exchanger, and it includes also a ring shape injector from seawater circle and cool the exhausts gases before they go into the silencers.
I really would like to talk with a Kubota engineer on how the make this pretty complex “thing”.

Yesterday, I already cleaned the real heat exchanger with a 250 and 400 grade sandpaper. It is a pretty interesting part made of copper. A cylinder of about 25 cm length and about 5 m which is brazed onto a brass flange to mount it onto the muffler. Inside this cylinder flows the coolant (freshwater based) and the seawater. The coolant flow is pressure easy to understand. But the seawater flow goes through about 20 about 5 mm diameter copper tubes. While writing these lines, I recognized that a don’t yet fully understand the seawater flow. I have to make a test with my 50 cm3 syringe to see if my imagination is correct.

Back to Robin. Yesterday, he did me a great favor by calling a shop in Uturoa and asked if they have material to seal mufflers when the normal gasket cannot be replaced.

With knowing where to go, I hitchhiked to Uturoa. I quickly got a lift from a couple about my age. Did they hitchhike when we all where young? I got this thought when I left the car.

I love hitchhiking like in my young days when I hitched a lot in France. Every lift was kind of rolling study room to learn and practice French.

I got the material I needed but had to buy two different ones because no information about the heat resistance was given on the package. I’ll ask Robin.

Now about Robin. I learned his name from the office assistant at the reception only yesterday.

When I first met Robin, and I needed to explain this technical matter in French to him, I swallowed and asked in French if he maybe speaks English. “No!”, was his straight forward answer I I tried my best with French, paper and a pen. Then he started talking English muuuch better then I command French. Then he turned out to be real technical expert. He even knows that my problem happens more often with the Kubota diesel engines.

Although his assistant yesterday told me he is called “Robin”, he will stick in my mind as.”Mr. No-English” being a real technical expert. I like him and his attitude. Here I also have to involved the assistant who is very friendly, helpful, and speaks English. In summary a great place whenever a sailor needs welding work done; they are all experts in aluminum welding.

After I got the material to make a high temperature resistant gasket, I looked for a shower head for the STB stern shower.

The one I used got calcium deposits. As it looked and felt being made of metal, I put it overnight in a bit of my cleaning vinegar. Next day I threw it in the garbage bin. It was made of a type of plastic that dissolves in vinegar. Now I have in the STB shower hose end an M6 screw with a tesa textil tape sealing. Today I got a replacement. I’ m lucky.

I also got an SD card reader, which I need to activate my Lighthouse chart for NZ, and the western Pacific. I hope that when I put it thereafter in my Axiom plotter, that it contains the map for the Southern Pacific island as well; I was told that this is Raymarine’s planned upgrade. I also hope that Lighthouse doesn’t show the pee marks from every sailor who feels to leave his absolutely useless pee mark. In the new Navionics subscription of the Southern Pacific, which I need as an emergency backup, there is so much pee mark clutter that I would have liked to download the chart of at least 2 years ago.

A bit above I wrote that I’m lucky. Today it was really me lucky day.
When I bought some fruits and vegetables, I got big bunch of bananas as a present. I must have been born on a Sunday.

Lucky. Will I be lucky a third time today and the hole in the muffler is closed when I have a look again at the shop on my way home? Please keep fingers crossed!!!

Right now I’m sitting again in the “Pâtisserie Bon’ Apetahi” and write this narration. This place became my favorite one in Uturoa. I asked the waitress about “apetahi” and learned it’s the Polynesian name for a flower. Look at the following Wikipedia link.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sclerotheca_raiateensis