Hanging around

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Mon 10 Jun 2013 03:17

Fri, Sat & Sun – 7th, 8th & 9th June

 

Friday saw Sarah getting one of her wishes granted in record time!

 

As David Masters and I were wandering over the bridge above the swamp area in  the marina in the pouring rain, I was telling him how much I would really like to see a ‘snapping turtle’.  We have heard some fairly hair-raising stories from Eric, the guy David works with:  about how his grandfather used to hunt them in the Philadelphia area hauling them out of burrows by the tail, then holding them out at arm’s length (some weighed up to  60lbs!) to prevent its very mobile head doing him severe damage (hence snapping turtles!) – Eric’s role was to despatch the animal by way of a decapitation with a pair of shears.

 

After a day of little real work on the boat due to Tropical Storm Andrea’s fallout, we went out for an evening meal along with David and Candy to cheer ourselves up.   On the way back David came to a shuddering halt (we were in his boneshaker of a van) having spotted a lump in the road, which duly turned out to be the requested snapping turtle.   It was a really impressive prehistoric animal with a shell of at least 1ft long, a very long tail and vicious looking head (the record size is 19” but we are not sure which bit they are measuring).   They are known as ‘snapping turtles’ as the bodies are too big to withdraw into the shell, so their defence response is to attack.  As we waded around in the puddle it was wallowing in, another guy leaped out of his truck to tell us he was a professional turtle hunter and this specimen was worth about $200 with eight types of meat on it.  As a truly stupid Englishwoman I, of course, started protesting;  meanwhile Candy decided to deliver it to the other side of the road where it seemed to be headed and encouraged it to make its escape.  In the event the guy didn’t want to soil his Friday night going out clothes, phew!”

 

Saturday and Sunday were productive days for Sarah as she set about doing all the jobs that had been added to ‘the list’ after the rigging check. Mostly this involved me winching her up the mast so she could set to work with the magic Spotless stainless cleaner on the rigging and mast fittings. A quick look around the marina revealed that few people seem to be too concerned about this concept, but given our plans for the Pacific, we felt that we should do our best to ensure Serafina is in the best condition for this epic adventure. So hanging about in the rigging for a day or two is not a comfortable pastime, but in the end Sarah got it all done and re-taped the spreaders so we are about all set there. Sadly though the inspection also mentioned the wisdom of waxing the mast itself, so Sarah is bracing herself for yet another session aloft.

 

The day was not improved by the receipt of an email from some friends in the Caribbean (Bob & Lin) with the news that the composite propane tanks sold down there for US gas had been withdrawn and the US authorities had demanded a total recall on safety grounds. The company promptly declared itself insolvent and is refusing to consider replacements etc….. and guess which bottles we have.  So Monday we will be trying to source two new propane tanks that will fit the space we have created.

 

No sign of the taps that were posted to us from Sweden either. The Swedish postal service thinks that they were delivered, but the boatyard has no knowledge of this at all it seems. Various investigations are underway, but it is a weekend of course. Hopefully this will be resolved quickly as we are not able to head off without a suitable solution in place.

 

Replacing the gear (transmission) cable clamp has also proved problematical and as part of this process we have decide to replace the gear cable as well as they can fail at any time after a few years in the field and since ours has done 5 years it is probably a wise precaution to simply replace it as we do this job. After all, these things can only break when in use, and I cannot imagine many ‘good’ times for a gear cable to let you down! Of course this has proved tricky as the bolts holding the various parts in place have all suffered from the interaction of Stainless and aluminium (aluminum for our US readers) and are proving reluctant to come apart.

 

All in all it does seem that we are destined to remain here getting stuff done until the end of this coming week, but it does seem worthwhile getting all of this sorted now and then we can concentrate on enjoying the rest of the season as we prepare in more detail for the Pacific.

 

The weather has been better than expected overall, but lots of rain and temperatures that alternate between very hot and humid and frankly quite chilly.