Graptolite - Back on the Road Again
Graptolite's Sailing Log
Martyn Pickup & Heike Richter
Wed 30 Jan 2008 07:58
When all the major wiring and switches inside a boat turns into a nest of
smoking, dripping black and red snakes, surely a skipper can be forgiven for
thinking that it's all over. To those I sent text messages to, saying just
that, well, I might have been a bit pessimistic.
After three days of rewiring by Clifford Rosa and his electrical men we got
the welcome sound of engine and generator back. Not all is perfect and there
are some circuits still fried but we had enough to put to sea about 22:30
UTC Tuesday and we are now going at flank speed to get to Panama while there
are still WARC boats still around to be rafted up with.
What was the problem with the wiring? The electricians had found that a big
cable coming out of the generator had got heat and vibration damaged and
short-circuited against the casing. The generator was only installed last
summer. The company shall remain nameless for the moment (you know who you
are) until they have had an opportunity to make amends.
I'm sure you are all bored to tears by now about these problems. Not all was
bad news in Aruba. Once we could get the main engine running we moved out of
the cruise ship dock to the marina in Oranjestad. As part of the marina
package we got full use of the Marriott Renaissance Resort & Casino
facilities of pool, gym, spa and private island and beaches. Although we
never got to the private island. Or used the gym either but they did have
nice showers. Oranjestad is mostly a town set up for huge cruise ships to
dump their portly American passengers for a day of spending in the
Dutch-meets-Disney shopping malls, but the Aruban people seem friendly and
the place is probably worth a longer visit sometime.
M