Week ending 11 November 2007 – one of those weeks!
Monday
Woke up too late for the Grenada Net, try again
tomorrow.
Did
a huge re-organisation of the tool lockers, using the tool boxes that I did not
want to keep. I hacksawed the
hinges off and used the open boxes, trays and lids separately. Now all the lockers are logical.- power
tools, non power tools, materials and bolts, screws and bits. Please let me now be able to find
everything when I need it.
I
topped up the diesel tank, just over 20 litres, for over 20 hours motoring is
very good.
I
thought I was doing very well, but then I checked the engine bilge. The good news is that the prop seal does
not leak. The bad news is that all
my coolant drained out of the engine.
I was too tired to do anything about this except mop up the coolant and
put it in a container for safe disposal later. I will have to face this tomorrow.
Tuesday
So
I was awake and worrying for what seems like all night. If the anchor drags or if the weather
turns I have a disabled engine. I
started early and found that the problem was a split hose, it had dropped onto
the pump housing where the alternator belt runs through. I removed the hose from this end and
traced it through to the hot water tank on the other side. I cut the damaged part off in case I
could not get the right size and would have to temporarily repair it.
The
Net here starts at 7.30, so I said a belated Hi to Grenada.
First I needed a replacement hose.
I was going to check the chandlers there, but people were going into
town, so I went on the bus with them.
I got the hose in an auto shop, I did not have enough EC so I had to use
my US. We looked in the chandlers
in town, but they did not have the safety netting that I was still looking
for. We caught another bus and I
got some cash, but not much as I had not planned on spending anything in
Grenada. I can use EC in lots of
islands on the way up, so this was probably not too bright, but I do not know
how much was in the bank.
We
left John looking for his plumbing fitting and Bruce and I got a bus back, but
Bruce got off part way to do some stuff.
I remembered where to get off and went into the sailmakers to enquire
about trampoline netting to use on the guard wires. It is the most expensive item they
stock, but I am thinking about it.
This is more solid than netting, can anyone tell me what the disadvantage
of having all that extra windage would be?? I went in the chandlers just to see what
they had, they did not have the hose or the anchor I had just bought, which made
me feel better. I was about to row
off, but I waited for the next maxi and Bruce was on it. I offered him a lift back to his boat in
my dinghy. The dinghy is small, I
had trouble rowing with the dog and Bruce is a lot bigger than the dog was. Bruce had to row and this meant getting
his legs somewhere so that his knees did not get in his way, and I had to sit on
the transom to avoid being bashed by the oars. Obviously it was into wind and slow
going, but we eventually made it to Bruce s boat. I said exercise was good for him, he
mentioned something about his next heart attack. The fastest 30 feet I managed was when I
pulled myself along his boat.
I
got the old hose off at the other end and instaledl the new hose. Not too much of a problem, then I had to
cable tie all the pipes back together, remembering to raise up the ones at the
alternator end. I flushed out the
heat exchanger and refilled with coolant.
I have just been to an auto shop and two chandlers and forgot to buy
coolant. The litre I have is enough
for now, it has to be diluted, there is not much risk of freezing here. Then it was the big tidy up and time to
test the engine.
The
engine started ok and I ran it for an hour, topping up the coolant when it had
worked through the system. I am
very pleased that I was able to deal with it without having to ask for help, so
far. I seem to have been very
lucky, no apparent damage, but I will have to keep an eye on everything. If it had not been a 24 hour trip I
should have caught this a lot earlier.
I
ran the watermaker and bottled the water, the quality is over 1200 ppm, which is
high like that in the tank, but it will do for washing, I cannot waste it. I will see how it
goes.
I
had to sort the main. If it is a
problem with a sheave in the boom I could find that out by running the rope
through the other side which has never been used. It was too windy to try the sail very
much, but it may work.
Time for an evening meal. I
had taken the battery out of the voltmeter tester and fitted it in the smoke
alarm. I have got quite quick at
removing the smoke alarm and putting it outside whenever I use the frying
pan. Annoying, but it means
well.
Wednesday
I
cut and fitted a piece of wood down each side of the anchor roller in the hope
that the anchor will not come up between the roller and the hull, but I am not
taking the anchor up now to try it.
I
cleaned the filters on the watermaker and will have to see if this makes the
water quality any better or whether further action is
necessary.
The
hull had black streaks and a dirty waterline from Trinidad and so I got the
dinghy down to clean the sides. The
wind and current made it hard work on the first side and as the boat goes into
wind and tide the second side was no easier.
11
O clock and I was too tired to do anything else. There is a good breeze here most of the
time, which is good for the wind generator and the batteries, even if it did
make the housework difficult. The
batteries were fully charged and then some on the way over and have maintained a
good charge so far.
I
am getting over the feeling that I was run out of Trinidad – I should not have
checked out that early, but I need a head start to cover the same distances as
bigger boats. If I had gone down
the coast immediately I would have had to deal with the problem that noone would
have joined me for a week. The boat
was in Trinidad for 8 months, and I was there for 5, it was overall good. Instead of seagulls sitting on posts and
buoys it was pelicans, I liked that.
Grenada has a lighter feel.
I am sure that if I had been too tired to row over until Monday morning
to Customs they would have been ok.
I am happy to walk the roads and catch a maxi alone, even in the dark,
but I do find the accent here difficult to understand.
Apart from milk, water and drinks there is only some butter in the fridge
and if batteries get low I may turn it off. My batteries are still over 90% and I am
trying to keep them there and only running the engine for an hour every 3 days
to run the watermaker. The wind
generator is rarely still.
I
rowed ashore to swap some TT for EC $ with someone going the other way. TT money is no good out of the country,
even the RBTT, Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, here in town does not accept
the money. I opened a tin of
mandarins, Canaries stock, and they were out of date and awful, so I threw them
away. There were another two tins
that I also had to ditch, but the fourth tin was a different make and tasted a
bit tainted, but I ate those. I
have been checking through the food, but I will have to check the
tins.
Thursday
Are
we having fun yet? This question
comes up quite frequently, especially when a problem has arisen. There is always work to be done and as
soon as one problem is fixed something else breaks; it seems endless.
There are cruisers that seem to have been doing this for ever; new
enthusiastic cruisers; not so enthusiastic ones where the couple, or just one of
them, want to give up and go back to normal life; and then ones like me who are
not new, but not old hands and are not sure whether they are enjoying
themselves.
As
soon as I set off for somewhere new I get excited, I realise that I do love my
boat, my wind generator and all the equipment. I just wish these things would tell me
if they are in difficulty rather than wait until it gets so bad that they give
up.
Today I put the extra anode on the prop shaft. This is just in case the shaft comes out
of the coupling. I have placed the
anode near enough to hopefully keep the engine going while I deal with the
problem. There is the danger that I
will not notice there is a problem in time and then the anode will wear away at
my prop seal. ****** if you do and
****** if you don’t.
Then I went to the chandlers here and bought 4 set screws for the prop
shaft, all the same thread size, but in different lengths. I have put the shortest one in the shaft
over the top of the original one to help keep it in. All this attention to the shaft, where
it never has given me a problem, but belt and braces wherever
possible.
I
did try the main when I had the awning down; I cannot put it by hand but it
winches in and out very easily.
The
only other task I did was to replace the tape on the rigging screws. A bit of a lazy day, because tomorrow
will not be.
Friday
Time to change the oil. I
ran the engine for an hour to run the watermaker and warm the oil up. I have a little brass pump to pump the
oil out, but I could not get any pressure.
I gave up on the pump and took the nut out of the bottom of the engine
and all the oil ran into the bilge.
Very messy. I was covered in
oil and the stairs were up in the air; the hatches and the cockpit locker were
open and it rained. I finished
changing the oil and the filter and decided that if anyone was doing the survey
today on ‘Are we having fun yet?’ they could put me down as a
‘No’.
I
topped up the batteries, even though it was not the middle of the month, because
I had done more motoring in 24 hours than in any normal 2 week period. I checked the impeller, which was
fine. I heard a noise coming from
somewhere and found it was the raw water strainer, so I tightened the top until
the noise stopped.
I
seem to have too much air in the watermaker hoses and when I was investigating
this I found the hose from the washbasin had a hole in it. I could put a plug in the basin, but the
problem is the water coming in from the sea, any through hull fitting is scary
and potentially lethal from a sinking point of view – why do we have this
many? I have 7 including the log
impeller and must keep more of an eye on them. The hard part was getting the old hose
off the stopcock without causing damage.
You hear of fittings coming out of the bottom of the boat when people
start with them, not good at any time and especially so when afloat. I replaced the
hose.
Now
I only have two extra pieces to deal with.
The
hose that was obviously an overflow in the engine compartment, I have a new
piece of hose, but do not know where it goes.
There is a washer type fitting that I found on the side by the
engine. I am fairly sure that this
goes on the throttle lever that was adjusted, but I will think about this for a
little longer before I take anything apart.
I
had a snooze on deck in the afternoon and then managed a couple of hours ashore,
where they had a band. This is the
first social thing I have done since I arrived.
Saturday
It
rained. I used the water from the
dinghy to do the washing. A short
rain shower supplies quite a few litres of water. I have some good water in bottles that I
am saving to refill the tank when I have used up what is in there that is not so
good. I also have some 5 litre
bottles of TTSA water that is also not so good, but I do not want to add it to
the tank. I realise that I should
have been using the bottled water rather than the tank, that way I will release
bottles to store good rainwater in.
This self-sufficiency takes adapting to, but I get
there.
I
disposed of the used oil and the clothes that I had been wearing and looked
round the chandlers, but managed to come away without buying anything. Once a day I have to row somewhere, to
get some exercise and get off the boat.
I
heard that the flotilla had reached the river, I think there are 4 boats.
Spent the morning redesigning the water catcher. When I thought I had got a reasonable
set up it didn’t rain anymore.
Those people lucky enough to be in the Caribbean, if you pick up a copy
of November Caribbean Compass turn to page 5 and I am there – 1044. Otherwise you could try www.caribbeancompass.com.
Sunday
It
had rained a little overnight, there was some in the rain catcher, but it was
forming pools and not getting to the hose fitting, more adjustment
necessary.
I
listened in to the Coconut Net on the SSB this morning to try to hear how the
boats are doing down the river. My
reception was bad, I heard something about Rainbow Warrior, but I will have to
do something with the aerial. I had
tried to wire the aerial in to the shrouds, but obviously more adjustment is
necessary.
I
wanted to buy a spare spark plug for the outboard, but I did not know what size
it was. I had the outboard undone
now, no other tools would fit through the opening and do the job, so I would
have to get the big socket set out.
This is the exception to the organized lockers; it is so big it has to go
in with the bolts and bits, right at the bottom. There in the box was a 10mm spark plug
remover socket and it took moments to get the plug out. If I had taken the time to get the
correct tool in the first place then I could have avoided all that
struggle.
We
have arranged a game of dominoes here this afternoon, old habits die
hard.
