Sunday 26 and Monday 27 January 2014

 

Our appointment for the fuel polish / tank clean was 9am Monday so on Sunday we raised anchor in Mount Hartman Bay to motor around to Le Phare Bleu Marina, only about 5 miles away.  As we raised the anchor the chain jammed in the windlass in such a way that there was no movement up or down.  Fortunately the anchor was up so we could move and we would next be tied up in a marina where we didn’t need to use the anchor.  BUT, we would be motoring amongst reefs and should the engine fail then the normal fallback option of lowering the anchor was not available to us.  We knew we had a problem with one diesel tank and could only hope the second tank was reasonably clean.

 

The journey was only about one and a half hours but the seas were choppy and we were pitching heavily, nice conditions for stirring up any muck from the bottom of the tank.  We probably shouldn’t have taken the risk and it was a heart stopping time but all went well.  We were met by very friendly staff at the marina, Kenny and Staron who helped us tie up. 

 

The Palm Tree Marine guys came to the boat the next morning and Kevon cut holes in the top of each fuel tank and fitted inspection hatches (these tend not to be already fitted to the majority of sailing boats).  Then each tank was pumped out in turn and the fuel passed through a centrifugal pump and filter and the clean fuel stored in a temporary tank.  Our fuel tanks were then cleaned out before pumping the fuel back in.  There was so much ‘diesel bug’ in the first tank that it kept blocking their pipework.  There is always a little water in diesel and over time it gathers in the bottom of the tank under the diesel.  An algae can grow where the water and diesel meet and modern bio diesels are even more susceptible.  To minimise this we use a biocide as a preventative - I need to find a better one!  The second tank was relatively clean with only two or three blobs of algae.  We were really impressed with Kevon who was a very clean worker which was important since the tanks are under our bed in the aft cabin and all sorts of pipes and pumps were being fed in through the side ports.

 

Mike from Palm Tree inspected our windlass and reckoned it was repairable with some aluminium welding and some other work.  He warned me that he couldn’t complete it this week because he was involved in organising and would be taking part the South Grenada Regatta which starts on Thursday and continues until the following Tuesday.  With no possibility of anchoring that committed us to the marina for at least another week, but at least it was a nice place to stay.

 

 

 

Tied up at Le Phare Bleu with the ‘Blue Lighthouse’ on the red lightship in the background.  The lightship houses showers down below and a very nice restaurant on the upper deck:-

 

 

 

 

 

 

The showers were surprisingly good.  Looking from the showers through the porthole:-

 

 

 

 

On Tuesday I dismantled enough of the windlass to free the anchor chain and remove the gypsy.  There is a stainless steel bolt screwed into the windlass case which is made of aluminium alloy.  The two dissimilar metals in the saltwater environment corrode and part of the alloy case had crumbled away.  The missing bolt holds the part which stops the chain wrapping itself into a jam.

 

I removed the whole of the windlass and on Wednesday Palm Tree sent it if to ‘the best aluminium welder in Grenada’.  There can’t be many so I suspect he’s the worst one as well.

 

The saying is true – long term cruising is merely boat maintenance in nice places!