Volvo Penta to the Rescue!

On Thursday, October fourth, while transiting south to Norfolk, Virginia to work with the Wounded Warriors organization, the Impossible Dream‘s starboard engine stopped running. With one engine down and the port engine doing the work of two, the Dream limped into the nearest marina.

Some may have called losing an engine a major setback, but we consider ourselves lucky because ironically, our great sponsors, Volvo Penta, were located only twenty minutes from the Impossible Dream‘s location. The sailing gods were on our side that day, looking after our crew and boat.

With a quick phone call, we spoke to our friends at Volvo, who, without hesitation sent a team down to diagnose the issue. The verdict was grim, the Dream would

Looking at the aft engine compartment with the old engine out

need a new engine. This was not an ideal scenario considering we had a sail scheduled with the Veterans from the Norfolk Vet Center and nearly 1,000 miles between us and our winter port, Miami.

Understanding the importance of keeping the Dream on schedule and avoiding cancelling any sails, Volvo Penta announced the donation of a brand new D2-75/150S marine diesel engine. Matching our port engine, the D2-75/150S is the ideal engine for our 5,000 mile Summer voyages because of their power, reliability, and quietness.

With the donation of the new engine secured from the kind people at Volvo, a superhero team of mechanics from Action Masters Marine Service went to work installing our new power plant. In less than three days, the mechanics removed the old engine and had the new Volvo installed and test driven, just in time for our group sail with Veterans from the Norfolk Vet Center.

Thanks to the outstanding work from our partner Volvo Penta, the entire experience took less than a week from the time our old engine quit to when the Impossible Dream was back in service taking local wounded veterans for a sail on the Chesapeake Bay. A truly unheard of turnaround!

The donation of the Volvo Penta engine means we can continue our mission of inspiring people with disabilities through sailing, a meaningful gift for all people who sail with the Impossible Dream.

Our journey is continuing on south toward home (this time powered by a new engine!), so stay tuned to our Facebook page and website for our latest happenings.  And like always, to help us keep sailing and making differences in people’s lives, please donate to Impossible Dream