Progress over the last three months has been focused heavily on resolving our propulsion issues. The highlight of this quarter is that we have officially placed an order for two FIMEA N80L 96V motors equipped with marine-grade mounts. These are currently in production at FIMEA in Italy, and we anticipate their arrival in Alicante by late July.

In other news, we have finalized our navigation system setup. The interior helm will feature a Linux computer running OpenCPN for electronic navigation and comprehensive system monitoring. For redundancy, a dedicated marine chart plotter will be installed at the exterior helm.

Preparing for the New Motor Installation

With the new motors on order, our immediate task was to plan the removal of the old units. On the port side, this required the temporary removal of two of the four battery boxes to create the necessary access.

New Hatch for Starboard Motor Access

Replacing the starboard motor presented a greater challenge. The access was blocked by the 265kg backup diesel generator, which is now fully installed. To avoid the complex task of moving the generator, we opted for an alternative solution: creating a new access hatch in the floor of the starboard aft cabin’s bathroom.

We used an existing hatch from the port side as a template to ensure to cut the correct size.

The new opening provides ample space to lift the old motor out and lower the new one into place.

The cutout piece of flooring was then repurposed to construct the new, perfectly fitted hatch cover.

Motors Removed

With the access pathways cleared, both N80X2 motor halves have now been successfully removed from the hulls of Escargot.

Interior Refit Continues

Work on the interior has also continued. The forward starboard bathroom received a thorough cleaning and a fresh, durable coat of International Danboline bilge paint.