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Larry's LogBefore they left that evening, we said we would help with their lines in the morning, just come by after clearing out. They had some things left to do before leaving, so they went back to their boat at around 8. We would see them tomorrow, at least for a little while. The next morning they came by at around 8am and said they would be ready in about 20 minutes. I had already gotten the outboard on the dinghy and was ready. OK guys, we'll see you in a bit. We went over and I dropped Diane off on the dock so she could handle the dock lines. I stayed in the dinghy to untie the stern line going to the mooring. It all went very cleanly and quickly. We wished them Bon Voyage. Hopefully we would see them again in Trinidad or Venezuela. Good people; we would miss them. We walked to the supermarket some distance from the marina and bought a few things and then the rest of the day I worked on miscellaneous chores around the boat. Later on, a singlehander was towed into the spot next to us. Diane had met Luis aboard Coqui in Guadeloupe in the marina after he had a problem with his engine and had to be brought in. He was now having a problem with his transmission, which had already been removed. He had ordered parts, which could take QUITE a while in the Caribbean. That evening, Patrick and Teresa from Kajsa, who we had met in Anse Mitan, came over for drinks, we also invited Luis and we had a very enjoyable, if late evening. Teresa had brought over a very nice hors d'eurves made with a sliced and toasted baguette with olive oil, with goat cheese and roasted red peppers - very nice. The next day we planned to go to lunch at a restaurant recommended to us by someone on the dock who had lived there for 18 months. Unfortunately it was closed so we went to a different one that was also pretty good, although not as good as Marie Sainte in Fort-de-France. We tend to eat out for lunch rather than dinner because its generally less expensive and we don't get back to the boat late. After lunch, we went to an internet place where we tried to access our accounts. Although I could see them, I had some problems printing or saving them to the diskette I had brought. The fact that the menus and keyboard were all in French didn't help. Eventually, I left although Diane stayed a bit. When she came back to the boat, she said the girl working there would help her so she went back. I started working on replacing the gasket on the main hatch since it leaked in a heavy rain. We didn't do much that evening except Diane worked on the financial information she got that day. I worked on my logs. But we did watch a video that night - "Any Given Sunday" with Al Pacino. I'm not a football fan but it was a good movie. Sunday, May 6, I worked on rebedding the windlass. It leaked from the bolt holes that were over the v-berth, wetting the sheet and cushions, so it was important that it get fixed. In looking at the windlass manual, I saw that once the nuts were off, the windlass should lift off, and that is how it worked. Actually, the nuts holding the studs forward were loose already, so I was very glad I had looked at it. The forces on the windlass were perpendicular (sheer force) so I wasn't worried that the windlass would jump off the deck, but I was sure these must have been leaking as well (I never saw them leak since these were located in the chain locker). After I removed the nuts and lifted the windlass, I could see why the bolts were leaking. The sealant was almost completely gone. I also discovered that the balsa core under the bolt holes had never been sealed so the wood was a bit wet. I decided that I would have to seal the wood core before rebedding the windlass. The hawse hole (where the chain dropped down was also not sealed, although this wasn't as critical since the wood there was open to the air and could dry out periodically. So one project turned into two and I dug out the epoxy. After cleaning the area, I redrilled the bolt holes to ½ inch. Although they were only 5/16 bolts, I drilled the holes to ½ inch so I could fill the holes with thickened epoxy and then drill them out to the proper size. This would leave the holes with epoxy surrounding the bolts so if they ever leaked again, at least the wood core would not get wet and possibly start to rot. THAT would mean replacing that portion of the deck. I got as far as preparing the bolt holes and hawse hole since we also cleaned the dinghy. Another boat was leaving the marina in the early afternoon and we helped (there was a bad cross wind) by having Diane on their boat helping with lines while I released the lines on the bow. I then got in the dinghy to retrieve Diane once the boat was off the dock (good thing it was flat water). Well, we decided that we should clean the dinghy bottom and remove the engine at that point since we didn't want a repeat of the problem we had at Simpson Bay Lagoon, with barnacles growing on the bottom. So, I took the engine off, placed it on the dock, and we hauled the dinghy out onto the dock. I put the outboard back on the stern rail by hefting it over the bow and then manhandling it aft and onto the bracket (it weighs about 65 pounds). It's a lot easier with the lifting arm! We then turned the dinghy over and although there wasn't much growth, there were the beginnings of barnacles there that you could feel if you ran your hand across the bottom. So we cleaned the bottom and then flipped it and washed off the top as well. We left the dinghy overturned on the dock and I went back to my epoxy work and Diane decided to clean the cockpit and the cushions. After all that, we just had a beer. Dinner was early; we watched another video and then bed. The following morning, Diane went shopping with another couple we had rented a car with while I continued with the windlass. I applied epoxy to the teak pad that raised the unit up from the bottom of the anchor well and I had to wait for that to dry before I could finish mounting the windlass. While I waited for them to come back from shopping I did miscellaneous chores like fixing the valve on the dinghy, cleaning up some rope ends and the like. By 4pm I probably could have started mounting the windlass but Diane wasn't back yet. I didn't want to get involved in a long process since she would need help with the provisions. |