Last night, Friday 20 we joined our French friends Michel & Jeanne-Claire on board their  Oyster 53 “Sea Life” for aperitifs. They are lovely people, a little older than us and bought their Oyster in 2000 as Hull No 4 and she is beautiful and enjoys the full service support form Oyster. They have a house in Guadeloupe, one in Aix-en-Provence and a ski chalet in Alp D’Huez so we will hook up with them again in Guadeloupe where their house is in the Point a Pitre Marina.

 

The aperitifs were overwhelming, fresh sashimi tuna they caught between Miami and Bimini with lemon and rose peppercorns, half a lobster each (which were grilled in the oven as the BBQ was out of gas), a salad, then a banana flambé which they flambéed with great flourish in their galley !! – Scary on a boat !!

 

Today they leave to meet a friend in the Dominican Republic who has arrived to spend 3 weeks with them and they are late as they had to wait in Nassau for a new Lewmar windlass to be shipped from Oyster. During the evening though Michel mentioned his yacht has 23 pumps – Wow – “That’s crazy” I thought, then I started counting.

 

8 Toilet Pumps – 4 Heads each 1 flush and 1 macerator pump

3 Shower Pumps – Gulper drain pumps

1 Freezer cooling pump

1 Freezer drain pump

1 Salt water tap pump in the galley

1 Deck wash pump

2 Water system pumps

2 A/C Cooling Pumps

5 A/C Condensation drain pumps – 1 for each unit

1 Water Maker Booster pump

1 Water Maker High Pressure pump

3 Bilge pumps 2 electric and 1 manual

1 Engine impeller

1 Generator impeller

1 Generator electric fuel pump

1 Fuel transfer pump

1 Hydraulic pump – steering and swim platform

 

So that's 34 and I bet I’ve forgotten/haven't found some – no wonder we spend so much time (and money) servicing and maintaining our yachts