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Diane's DiaryApril 26 Tuesday Haul out day! We had a haul out time of 9am so were busy in the am getting ready to leave. Tom and Steph followed us over by dinghy and it's a good thing they did as Larry went into the haul out space at a bad angle, we had to reverse out and they had to push us in with their dinghy. I could see that our approach seemed to be wrong but didn't want to say anything to him. I was glad Tom and Steph were there to help out. Anyway, the haul was excellent and we were chocked and ready to get going by 10:30am. Since there was no working pressure washer and we were doing all the work ourselves, I was glad we had gotten the bottom cleaned yesterday or we would have had a real mess. There were loads of barnacles that Alexi removed yesterday and if they had dried on, we would have never gotten them off. Anyway, I started wet sanding the boat right away so I could get the bottom really cleaned so it could be painted. I wanted to do this before everything dried on. Larry started cleaning all the lines - why he didn't just leave them soaking until I could get them is beyond me. That's a job I could have easily down while he was doing the things I can't. I asked him to leave them for me but he wouldn't. Anyway, it was a long day and we were both tired at days end. I was glad I didn't have to cook- I had already had cooked a bunch of meals and froze whatever I could. I didn't get a chance to buy anything for Larry's birthday so at least wanted to make him a cake. I tried a new recipe (from my favorite cookbook of course!) called cheesecake diamonds. I was actually too tired to do this but wanted to at least do something for his birthday. Our boat is facing north-south in the boatyard and when we ever haul again, I will definitely make sure we face this direction, as one part of the hull is always shaded for part of the day. This is great, as we don't have to work directly in the sun. In the morning we work in the shade on the port side and after lunch we work in the shade on the starboard side. In Trinidad we faced east west so the sun was always on one side of the entire hull during the day giving us no relief from the unrelenting heat. The only thing we can't use on the boat while on the hard is the bathroom- we still have the AC and refrigerator. Many cruisers can't use all of these so we are definitely lucky. Not having the bathroom is definitely a hardship- you have to use a bucket at night or else take a long trip to the bathroom. You just get used to using a bucket even though it's not terrific. April 27 Wednesday Larry's birthday! Unfortunately, it was not the best birthday for him having to work so much all day. I continued wet sanding the boat bottom. Larry started to work on the blisters - we haven't pulled the boat in 2 years and we have lots of them. Larry thinks we have about 1000! The water here in the Caribbean is saltier than in the US plus the water temperature is a lot higher. At home, we only keep the boat in the water for 6 months of the year but now we have had it in the water 2 years nonstop so I am sure this has all contributed to the problem. Mima's company arrived today and their baggage was lost. Steph came over to borrow some clothes as their company was about my size. Our package of more DVD's arrived from the US. However, since we are on the hard now I don't think we'll have any time to record any more movies- fortunately we have lots to watch right now! Larry liked the desert I baked him- the recipe was very good and definitely a keeper! I was sorry I didn't have any type of present to get him or a card- the cards here are all in Spanish anyway! Larry washed the hull so it would be all ready for Elias to start waxing. April 28 Thursday I finished wet sanding the hull with 120 grit sandpaper. I started removing the blue plastic boot stripe that has been on the boat since it was built. It lasted well since it was 21 years old however, it was starting to peel off in sections and looked terrible- something had to be done! Larry bought paint from the US so we could take it off and just paint it instead. Larry continued drilling out all the blisters- fortunately they are gelcoat blisters that aren't too deep so we don't have too much of a problem but they need to be addressed. He has to drill out each one of them, clean it, put 2 coats of epoxy on them, sand it down, put Interprotect 2000 on them for protection and than we can paint them. As you can probably tell by now, it's a lot of work and this won't be a fast project. Plus, he has to fix the keel where we went aground in Chichiriviche over a year ago. Mima went to Plaza Mayor with their company and she was nice enough to pick us up a few groceries that we needed. She also brought my clothes back- the airlines found the missing bags! Tom and Steph came over at 6pm to say goodbye and have a few drinks. We won't be seeing them again until we are all together out in the islands sometime in June or July. We will really miss them but we know we will be definitely seeing them again. Our friends on Plenum were robbed in Bahia Redonda! They were just about to head out to Trinidad in a few days with the boat also! They stole their cameras, 2 computers and most of their cash. We offered to help them with any cash or anything else they needed. The robbers got in from the water at night so this makes things a bit scarier for all those boat in BR. How safe is an unoccupied boat at night if someone can break in? Also, they had gone to the emergency room the night before so obviously it was an inside job, as people knew they were off the boat. BR has had 4 recent break-ins on boats and this is the fifth incident so they better get their act together or everyone will leave! Between Pierre, the bad yard manager, and these break-ins maybe it's time we left Venezuela especially since things are getting worse with Chavez also! If people don't feel secure here they will leave Venezuela. Anyway, Elias had been working on Plenum and since this happened they needed him for an extra day or so. He was supposed to start with us yesterday but since Plenum is good friends of ours we didn't mind and certainly understood when they asked if they could keep him longer. He helped them clean up the robber's mess after the police had arrived to take fingerprints. It's unfortunate but I doubt they will catch the person who did the job- the police here obviously could care less so it's really up to the marina. However, I don't think they are making such a big effort either although they certainly should. April 29 Friday Plenum was through having Elias work for them so he started with us today. It was nice to have him back with us again! He is definitely a big help. We had to pay the marina 5000B or $2USD per day to have him but we felt it was worth the price. This is just a kickback for the marina but we wanted our own worker. Elias also gets 45000B a day or $18 USD per day up from the $13-14 per day we previously paid him and that's working at a discount since he normally wants 50,000B a day. So labor here is not as cheap as it once was but still a lot cheaper than the US. Elias is an excellent worker and doesn't "lime" like many of the other workers do. Today Elias and I removed the rest of the blue tape from the hull. We want him to compound and wax the hull but we have a number of stains on the hull. Fortunately, we have some FSR we bought at one of the flea markets here so we'll try that along with 320-grit sandpaper. It is a pleasure having Elias back with us. This is the first time we have ever had anyone help us with the boat though- we usually just do the work ourselves but this time we thought it would help to have Elias. It's difficult for me to work so high up on the scaffold and he is used to it. Also, Larry needs some help with the blisters. Since I got diagnosed with the arthrosis in my hands the doctor said using the hands less would help- this is difficult when you are working on your boat all day long! So, using Elias seemed the best thing to do. We used him since we have had him before, trusted him and knew he was an excellent worker. I don't know if we would have just hired any old worker though. April 30 Saturday I used the FSR on the waterline to get off the discolored spots off the hull. Some of the stains are not coming off so we'll try it with sandpaper also. Elias started compounding the hull with the orbital waxer we got delivered from the US. There really seems to be a big difference when you use the buffer to remove the wax. I wish I had this when we were on the hard in Trinidad- I think it would have made a big difference! Elias finished compounding the starboard side and did half of the port side. Just to give you an example of price, BR wanted $260 USD to "polish the topsides"- I'm not sure if that's including compounding it but think it may be to do just one coat of wax. It may include the materials but you are always better with using your own supplies. So, even if we keep Elias for over 2 weeks we still make out better than using the yard! Elias works fast and does good work. Larry is working on the boot stripe - we got the paint from the US - a royal blue color- so he'll start painting it after he tapes it off. Janice and Weedie came over and we all went out to dinner at the Syrian Club next door. The food was great, cheap and much better quality and cheaper than BR. We'll have to start coming here more often! We had not been here for several years and think we will definitely start coming again. The only problem is it's difficult to come directly to the restaurant via dinghy- there is no ladder and the dock is very high. It's much better to just park in Aqua-Vi and just walk around. May 1 Sunday Melanie's Communion. I was thinking of her today and hope she has a great day. We are both just exhausted and very tired with lots of body aches and pains. The yard doesn't work on Sundays so Victor told us we couldn't have our worker today. We would have liked to have him but we understand the yard's position and respect it. Also, we both need some down time so we'll work today but not as hard as previous days. We even watched an episode of West Wing this morning. I did some boat cleaning, vacuumed and hand washed some clothes and rags. Larry taped the port side of the boat so we can start painting the boot stripe in the am. I took a nap, as I was tired. In the pm, I made Ceasar salad dressing, carrot soup and wrapped lomito in bacon for dinner tonight. S/V Sylvester left without saying goodbye to us so we were very disappointed. They could have at least come over to say goodbye. It was hard to get a hold of us via the radio as we are only on in the am or during lunch. I'm not sure if we'll catch up with them and they have no SSB radio on board. Oh, well. I hope they email us. We watched the DVD "Boiling Point" at night, which wasn't very good. It had a good cast but the movie wasn't that great. May 2 Monday Larry started taping the starboard side of the boat. Elias finished compounding the port side of the boat. We want him to put 2 coats of wax on it also. Larry had Elias do more wet sanding of the bottom - this time with 80-grit sandpaper. I did the dishes, put away the laundry and did some sewing. One pair of my work shorts is badly torn and needs mending. All in all it was another day of boat work. We are glad we have so many movies as we have lots of things to watch at night- we have no cable TV or wireless Internet here though so it's pretty boring if we didn't have any movies to watch! May 3 Tuesday We are on the hard one-week today- it's amazing how fast time goes by. I think it will be close to 3 weeks before we leave here. The work is going well but the heat is hard to take. We usually go in around noontime for a long rest during the hottest part of the day. Elias sanded the water line and Larry painted one coat of primer on it. Elias is working on putting the first coat of wax on the hull. He almost finished the port side when the sun was starting to hit it so we all took lunch and he'll continue with that side tomorrow. He'll switch to the starboard side this afternoon. Elias is using lots of rags and bonnets for the waxer that need to be continuously washed out as the wax really adheres to the rags. It's actually difficult to get the wax out and requires a lot of rinsing. Even if I had a washing machine I don't think I would use it as the wax just gets everywhere. I also hand washed some of Larry's shirts that he is wearing every day and literally smell at the end of the day. I don't want them contaminating my other clothes! May 4 Wednesday Elias sanded the primer on the boot stripe and Larry painted the first coat of paint this morning on the port side since that's in the shade. The color looks really good. We will definitely have to do 2-3 coats though as the first coat is so thin. Elias finished the first coat of wax on the port side and will switch to the starboard side in the pm. He started the last coat of wax on the port side but only got as far as the bow when the sun hit the hull. Wax is not supposed to be applied in the direct sun though so he'll just continue that side tomorrow. I stayed outside with them working on the boat finances and to be available to give them water or whatever they need while working. May 5 Thursday Elias sanded the boot stripe for Larry again- it has to be sanded between coats. Larry painted the second coat on the boot stripe and it looks really good. Elias is almost done waxing the boat. It really looks great and the shine has come back to the hull again. It still needs a paint job and the marina is going to give us a quote. Larry is polishing the propeller and working on the keel. May 6 Friday Elias is all finished the waxing. He sanded the boot stripe again and Larry did the third and final coat of paint on it. It looks really good. We have nothing else for Elias to do at this moment although Larry knows he'll need help with the blisters when he gets to that part. We didn't want to lose Elias right now so we just kept him working by cleaning and waxing all the stainless steel. We also want him to compound and wax the deck. However we need the hull dry right now so can't wash the deck yet. I wanted to go out shopping, as we need a few things but Larry wanted me to wait until Elias came before I left. We had asked Elias to get a few things for us from the store so he didn't arrive till 9:30am. So, I didn't get shopping till after 10am. We watched the DVD "Women of Valor" at night- it was OK but not that terrific. |