Sunday, January 22, 2017

Work work work. Chaguaramas Trinidad

I'm having a tea and wondering what I can get done today. Monday we have a surveyor coming aboard to inspect KN for our insurance company. The boat is a mess. I have several projects going on and you know when a guy starts a project it tends to spread out. I can't stand the clutter anymore. The surveyor said to make sure he can access everything. Uh, sure.

I have not even had a chance to clean the green mold off the deck yet. It's driving me crazy. People returned to the boat next to us last week. They hired the yard to prep the boat. They never lifted a finger. Not even to put the sails on. The crew installed everything and cleaned everything. They ran new running rigging, ran up the engine, installed electronics, polished her up and put her in the water. Off they go. WTF!

They looked over at us while the travel lift carried them away. I got a small wave. A wave of pity.


The windlass install is looking good. The old thing is gone and the new thing sits close by waiting for the captain to drill some holes. I started to do that yesterday but it rained most
of the day. Not sure about today. Nothing worse then drilling a hole and watching the rain pour down it. Instant wet deck. I got the old holes filled in. The epoxy kicked about 15 minutes before the rain. Phew!

We have a new bottom! Yes the old ablative paint had to come off so the new hard paint can stick, so the yard scraped and sanded her smooth and put a barrier coat down and then the new free paint. I like free paint. It was free because Pettit felt sorry that I bought the Hydrocoat and had to watch it fail all the way down here. Trinidad Pro is on there now. Supposed to need a light scrubbing every now and then. Cool.

We have been here too long already but what the hell, things need to get done. It will be a short cruising season for us before we have to go back to the States again for hurricane season. Stateside will be much shorter this time.

Several things have come up while we sit here. A temperature probe on the holding plate in the fridge died. I swapped it for the box temp probe. This worked but the fridge temp reading is off. No matter as long as the thing cycles on and off when it should and the beer is cold I am happy.

The Honda Gen rubber feet rusted out. The rubber feet have springs in them. Not stainless. The Gen now has two good feet. Can't get replacements for another month. Have to come up with something as a replacement. The gen is going to look like it belongs outside a trailer in the Floriduh woods.

The sink drain in the forward head broke off. Plastic shit. No replacement found. May have to leave this until we can order something.

We have several new leaks because the hot sun here baked off the sealant in several spots. I have found that the butyl tape that worked so well in the states will melt in this heat down here. It can get pretty messy. Nothing worse then having it stick to your new Keen sandals and you mark up the whole deck with little gray spots. Shit doesn't come off easy either.

We met some nice folks down here in the yard. We attended a jam session that was fun. Lot's of talent in the cruising community. They handed me a tambourine and it was like a brick in my hand. I really do not like the tambourine. Songs with too much of it are annoying to me. I started to hit it a few times and one of the players looked over like...what are you doing? I put it down. Tapping my feet was much better.

My guitar practice ended the week before we left the states. Too busy I guess. Our daughter lived with us in the cottage the last week in NY and we lived with them the last week in SC. At that time my grandson Aiden was prowling around and I feared that if he heard the guitar he would be relentless in his pursuit to get at it and pluck it to death. He actually climbed on it once and started to kind of hump it a little. Guess he likes guitars. I should have plugged it in and cranked up the volume so his Mom would come running in to see what the noise was. What a sight that would have been.

The second tea is kicking in and I have work to do so we can get the hell out of here. That's all for now.

Barrier coated. Kind of like the gray color.

My girl likes her red bottom.

Cheers!
P
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