Antigua great- boat still a four letter word
Pelekan
Tom & Jos Hollway
Wed 20 Mar 2013 18:28
17:01.00N 61:46.00W
Tom and I escaped the appalling British weather 10 days ago. Having to have the wings of the plane de-iced on the tarmac at Gatwick before take off was a novel experience- hopefully not to be repeated. Still, only 2 1/2 hrs late taking off......
We extracted the boat from the mangroves the following day and moved to our favourite anchorage, Freemans Bay.
Tom had warned me that a new water pump had to be installed in order to have any pressure other than a trickle of water- not quite accurate. On Wednesday morning( his sore throat had developed into a fruity cold with more fluid output than our tanks) he spent 5 hours upside down changing the pump- with no improvement.
There then followed a systematic diagnostic exercise to try and locate the problem which involved disconnecting numerous pipes and general mayhem on the boat. In the end Tom decided that the problem lay in the exit from each tank ( port and starboard), and had to relate to the malfunction of non returnable valves. He rigged up a temporary system with hoses crossing the main cabin and on Saturday morning Oscar came to the boat and replaced both valves. The old ones had disintegrated internally. A great triumph and of course the Wales win at the Millenium Stadium in the afternoon was the cherry on the top for the day. The new water pump could have stayed in the shop.
The two D400 generators fitted in February are spinning brilliantly in the strong winds we have had more or less since arrival. We have hardly had to run the engine. The main drawback (without the ******generator), is the lack of hot water. Although we are in the sublime climate of the Caribbean it is still better to have a warm shower than a cold one.
The replacement genoa is sitting on deck, waiting to be launched. I think Tom reckons if he and I try to put it up in these strong gusts that the sail is likely to go overboard, possibly taking one or both of us with it. With luck the boat will be in sailing order by the weekend but no guarantees.
More later and love from us both on
Pelekan