Oriental Goings On - Work
AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Sun 23 Jun 2013 15:46
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We are still in Oriental and are likely to be for another few
weeks if our progress into the jobs list is anything to go by.
Having removed two of the boats windows that were leaking profusely we then
waited nearly three weeks for the required Sikaflex primer to
arrive which is a vitally important component in the bonding process,
thus ensuring they won't leak again (ha ha). The primer, which is
considered an utterly hazardous material probably on a par with
Uranium or Plutonium, needed to be shipped overland from
Florida ( with a police escort no doubt!) to the
local distributor somewhere north of here before heading south
again and finally arriving at the local marine store. Such was the
proprietors embarrassment over the ongoing delay he actually turned up to
deliver the bad news of yet another failed promised delivery day clutching
a six-pack of local beer. Now that's what we call customer service.
Unfortunately the beers, which were excellent, never did get to see
the arrival of the primer.
  The two leaking windows in question - the rubber
mallet, a recent acquisition, is particularly useful for crushing nuts for
the 'Admiral's' nut roasts and other things
Now, good quality paint can be quite pricey at the best of
times but this liquid breaks all known records, as a small 250mm sized
tin which was only 2/3's full on opening costs $80 (£55 in the
Queen's money). For the mathematically curious but non metric-minded that
comes out at a staggering £960 per gallon. And that excludes the delivery
cost. As we are, in the inimitable words of Edmund Blackadder, 'not at home
to Mr Cock-up' on this job we also ordered the same sized tin of Aktivator
(their spelling not ours) which also plays a part in the bonding
process and contains similar dire health warnings on the can. This can
was of better value at just $20 although there was barely enough
in the container to quench the thirst of a small tree
shrew. The pressure on our resident window
installer (Skip) charged with using this paint was such that the
left hand holding the cans was visibly shaking during
application to the window surfaces. And then it rained.......
 
They look like similar pics to those above but they now have the primer painted
on - $100 in those two little tins!
The delay for weather amongst other distractions meant that
the primer had been sitting on the windows and GRP frame for about 4-5 days
so a quick e-mail to manufacturer Sika USA to check all would be well was
answered very efficiently but with mind-numbing bad news. They recommended that
we do not re-use the Aktivator we had already bought (at $20 per small can) on
the primer as it would not be suitable. We should buy another type of
Aktivator presumably at a similar price which would resurrect the primer into
doing what the primer should do. Another e-mail to Sika was in order. We
suggested that as we had already spent nearly three weeks waiting for the
items we already had we didn't have the luxury of time to wait longer
for yet another pot of liquid gold. Perhaps we could grind off what
had already been applied (at great cost) and apply a new coat of primer.
This brought slightly better but also confusing news. As it was now
Friday and we had applied the primer the previous Monday it would probably be
OK, but if it had been applied the Monday previous to the previous Monday then
we were probably pushing our luck a little. However the job remains undone
as we've had continuous poor weather conditions since Friday. So we'll
probably have to grind off the primer and start again when the weather settles
down !!
Talking of jobs outstanding.....most marinas in the USA have a
holding tank pump-out system at the fuel dock or, in the case of Marathon they
had a couple of flat decked boats that travelled the mooring field pumping
hundreds of gallons of err... waste out of peoples boats. The operator proudly
boasted that he could accommodate one thousand gallons of the stuff on board.
(Nice !!). They are very strict over here and there are even specialist police
in boats that hide up creeks and pounce out at full speed and
board likely suspects to ensure the relevant toilet valves are set so as
not to pollute their waters with human waste. Understandable but maybe a little
Draconian especially as one boater 'enjoying' a visit from the 'poo-police' (as
they are affectionately known amongst cruisers) ended with the
policeman pointing his weapon at the boat owner whilst onboard due to a
misunderstanding. In the marina we are currently residing in the system is a
little different. If your tank is approaching maximum capacity then a visit to a
shed at the root of the dock reveals a two wheeled trolley containing a large
plastic tank with lengthy sections of hose and a bag of pipe fittings to adapt
to your tank outlet on deck. In our case this is a two person job in more ways
than one and whilst 'Skip' holds the pipe in position to form a seal over the
outlet hole on deck the 'Admiral' has to pump the handle on the trolley
until no more waste enters the pipe. Then it's off to a special place
located just a few yards upwind from the marina restaurant where
the contents of the mobile tank are pumped into a six inch diameter pipe hidden
under a very healthy looking bush where it presumably runs off to some place we
have yet to ask about and maybe won't bother to. So far we have negotiated this
delicate task on two occasions without mishap, but forget to open a vent valve
and have the tank explode and, well, the resulting fall out just doesn't
bear thinking about! Of course just wheeling the full tank along the dock needs
absolutely no explanation as to what you are up to!
'Skip's Power
Pump-outs' - No Job too small... You called
Madam?
An unavoidable stoppage in our daily proceedings to allow
Tropical Storm Andrea, the first named storm of the season, to swing by inland
of us was another lost day of progress. A storm of this category is
well below hurricane strength but we still saw 45 knots maximum speed recorded
at the mast head. We had already doubled up on our lines but the marina
dockmaster had a busy day coping with boats badly tied and in one instance a
genoa that became partially unfurled. Not in any way due to lines not made off
but to a very loose roll of the genoa round the foil which allowed the wind to
get inside the rolls and unravel the top part of the sail. You would not think
it was possible but winds of that strength gradually pick at boats gear hour by
hour until something gives and then you have the devil of a job getting things
under control again. In fact it can get dangerous and in the end it took three
of us to drop the genoa and stow it in the cockpit. In the anchorage one boat
dragged after breaking it's lines and two others went aground. With the wind
blowing from the southwest the water levels in the river dropped by 3-4 feet and
we found that later in the day we were also bumping the bottom. Still it was a distraction from the daily grind of gelcoating some
repairs whilst pondering how best to deal with the
windows.
  The shallow harbour is battered by gale force
winds although this one tree branch was not likely to cause too much
damage when it fell   Off for the first time in five years - our
bimini canvas away for re-stitching - the cockpit felt naked without it but
they had it back the next day
  Mixing up some more filler for the 'hurt'
we suffered to the port bow in the Canaries in 2009 - yes we are a
little behind on our jobs list
Recently we took a well earned break from our morning lay-ins
by piling a ton of boat stuff into two marina carts and walking 300 yards down
the road to the local marine store that was kindly hosting a boaters flea
market. Not quite Beaulieu Boat Jumble but with just eight or so sellers we were
in with a good chance of selling something. The previous night we both agreed
that selling $50 worth of bits and pieces would be worth the effort of looking
everything out of various places on the boat, pricing the items and laying them
out on a tarpaulin for potential buyers to ponder over. The humour at these
events has to be experienced and the negotiating would certainly not secure an
apprenticeship with Lord Sugar. However, we had exceeded our target after twenty
minutes (maybe we did set the benchmark a little low). Once we had stopped
yawning we quite enjoyed the event although this has to be blogged under the
heading of work rather than play as it was about recouping some
dosh!
  First
rule of selling, don't stand with your hands in your pockets! And maybe get a
haircut!!!
So, are we downhearted with our lack of progress?
No not a bit of it, as we are having a good time in this cruiser friendly town.
Which is perhaps where our problem lies. So on to the fun side of things
next.........
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