La Diosa Mar is out of Commission!

2 Aug 2026

At least for the next 4-6 days, La Diosa Mar is confined to the slip. The cooling issue needs to be resolved before sailing can resume. Running the engine for 10-15 minutes drops the coolant by a quart. Not good.

Nothing can happen until Ellis of Riverside Motor Works comes over to assess the situation. As I have come to find out, the boating community has it’s own unique sense of timing. They are all good and well meaning people but when they say they’ll be there on Wednesday, that means -0, +5 days. It’s pretty hard to make plans with that kind of unpredictability.

The first order of business is to do a pressure test. That will determine if there is a leak in the heat exchanger, which I am pretty certain is the case. Then we’ll determine what to do about it. Hopefully, the leak can be repaired, but worst case is a new heat exchanger.

I have a 3-4 day trip planned for Aug 10-13 so I hope this will all be resolved before then! Meanwhile, I am catching up on small chores and projects. I have some sails on Solace for Sail Beyond Cancer coming up so that is at least that.