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Larry's LogI intended to paint the entire bottom on Sunday. Of course, things sometimes (usually, with a boat) don't go as planned. I was cleaning out the through hulls with an old screwdriver, getting all the dried crud and barnacles out, starting from the bow. The one for the forward head discharge (unused and closed) was fine. As I moved back, all were OK except the galley sink discharge and the starboard side cockpit drain. The through hulls were fine (I had put them in myself just 18 months ago) but the epoxy over the bronze was not firmly attached. I could take a putty knife and break away the 1/8 inch thick epoxy fairing the fitting to the hull. I wasn't concerned about the hull or the fitting, both were fine and the bronze would live in seawater with no problem. But I didn't want the hull that way and the bronze by itself wouldn't hold bottom paint very well and there would be a lot of growth. I decided to fair it again using some more epoxy and then start painting the hull. I had to get out the epoxy that I had already put away, and started to sand the bronze and clean it, to make sure the epoxy would stick. Randy, from Caribee, stopped by and I talked to him about the problem. He had also experienced that type of problem and said that it would probably keep happening every 2-3 years. Oh well, I guess I could live with that. Maybe somebody could tell me of a more permanent fix at some point. Anyway, I put on the thickened epoxy and faired it with a large plastic putty knife. I then started painting the rest of the boat. Painting the bottom took most of the day, and I only finished around 3:30. The 2 gallons of red antifouling we had bought barely covered everything since I had used some already to paint the keel and went once around the waterline. I also had to save some to paint under the jackstands when we were launched. Diane and I agreed that next time we would need to get 3 gallons of paint. Once the painting was done, I put on another layer of fairing epoxy to the 2 through hulls and sprayed the MOB pole again. I then removed the blue, long-life tape masking the topsides and looked at the hull. Except for the breaks and tears in the boot stripe tape, it looked pretty good. I would try to replace sections of the boot stripe tomorrow but for now, that was enough. I put away the supplies and had a drink. Monday was occupied with applying the boot stripe tape. I started in the morning, and although we got a late start, I was at it almost all day. I replaced various sections and patched others. The problem was that the tape was straight but the hull is curved. Since the tape was fairly wide, 2 ½ inches, it didn't like stretching very much and along the stern sections especially where the hull curves more. The stripe also widens at the stern so I had to put more pieces on to match the old line. Diane did the laundry most of the day and also made some meals in advance so she wouldn't have to cook after a passage. She washed most everything that was even remotely dirty, and the clothesline I setup and the lifelines were full. After finishing with the boot stripe tape, I continued putting things away and getting everything organized. It's actually an ongoing process, but since we had been on the hard for so long, more stuff than usual was out. Tomorrow was launch day, and we were looking forward to it. Tuesday, April 22, and I got up early and listened to the weather. I had tried downloading some weatherfax charts last night but the messages back from Winlink said that NOAA was refusing the connection, meaning there was probably a problem with their server. Anyway, I listened to the weather at 7:15. Right after doing the net for the last time and eating breakfast, I started getting the boat ready to be launched; I put some more stuff away and got the paint ready to put on the spots where the jackstands were. The yard guys came by early and moved them so I could paint the areas where they supported the hull. I had just barely enough paint for them and to do the 2 redone through hulls. The bottom of the keel, where it was sitting on the wood blocks, would have to go bare. After finishing the painting. I went over to Peake's to get the fan belt they were supposed to have for me. Diane rinsed off the boat from the accumulated dirt and ash from the fires that were still burning near Chaguaramas and when I got back, she went over to the Powerboat's office and paid our bill and we had a quick lunch. She then walked to Customs and Immigration to clear out and I got the air conditioner ready to bring below. I cleared the spot for it on the settee, got the lines around it and then went to get Randy to help bring it below, he had said he would. His friend Grant was also there and they both came over, and between the 3 of us, we got it below fairly easily. I thanked them and then rinsed off the boat again from where the air conditioner had been, and filled the water tanks. Diane got back around 2:30, getting a ride back from another cruiser - Customs hadn't charged her the extra month we had been here since it was really only an extra day over, and so she bought some more groceries with the money she had saved for that. She then went to take a shower and the yard guys came by and waited for us to be ready. She came back and I left to take my shower but when I got back, the boat was already in the slings and the ladder taken down. No problem, everything was ready except the shore power cord that I disconnected and one of the yard guys managed to get on the deck by balancing on the top rung of a scaffold. Donald Stollmeyer was driving the Travelift since Ray was on vacation. He asked if we wanted to paint the underside of the keel and when we said we didn't have any paint left, he asked one of the yard guys to find some left over paint and to do it for us. It was very nice and something that he certainly didn't have to do. He drove the boat down to the launching pit and stopped just before putting the boat in so they guys could sand the underneath of the keel and then paint it. The paint was red Jotun, a very popular tin-based paint, and it would be very interesting to see what it would do. Of course, it didn't have any time to dry since we were put in the water about 10 minutes after it was applied. Still, it was better than nothing and we appreciated the effort. We were launched very gently and everything was fine - no leaks and the engine started right away. We had a difficult time getting the forestay back on until I remembered to loosen the backstay again about one-half inch. I had tightened it about that much after it was first disconnected. With the forestay on, but with the yard guys now gone home (it was after 4:30), we asked some other cruisers there to cast off our lines and we made our way to Scotland Bay, where we anchored last Christmas. After setting the hook, raising the dinghy from the deck on a halyard to get some breeze below, Diane and I sat in the cockpit for the first time in 4 months and had a rum and Coke. It felt good to be back in the water and away from marinas. I got up very early the next day - guess I wasn't used to the motion anymore, but I did sleep well. Right after breakfast, I started getting the boat ready for a passage, but first I had to get everything put away that was still on deck. I was doing that when I saw someone get out of the small boat anchored near us and into a small skiff. It was Doug from KISS Wind Generators. We have one of his wind generators and am very happy with it and with his customer service. He lives on board while working here in Trinidad and I waved to him. He came by and said hello and I asked a favor. We had gotten an email from our friends on Plenum, still in PLC, asking us to get another gallon of mineral spirits. There had been a problem with their varnish and they would need more and it wasn't available there. So I asked Doug if he could bring back a gallon of it when he came back that evening. He said sure and sped off to his shop. I went back to getting the boat straightened out, requiring restowing everything in the lazarette and most of the things in the starboard cockpit locker, as well as trying to get everything to fit back in the forward head compartment, now used as my tools and supplies storage area. It took almost all day to do that, as well as tying down the jerry jugs, fenders, getting the lines organized, etc. I also had to setup the jib sheets again since I had hung them on the forestay to get them out from underfoot as we walked along the deck, While doing that, I noticed that the new furling line was slightly frayed where it crossed the lip of the drum. So I got out some seizing and put a piece of firehose chafe gear on at that spot. Hopefully that would prevent any problems. By the time all that was done, I was really tired. And there was no air conditioning to get into anymore. Diane suggested that we leave tomorrow since I was so tired. The weather was supposed to be good for the rest of the week so I readily agreed. We were relaxing with a drink when Doug came back with the mineral spirits. We invited him aboard, paid him for the purchase and then we all had a drink together to thank him for the favor. I really didn't know him that well; we had met several times when I had a problem or question about his product, but he's a very nice guy and we enjoyed his company as we learned some of the history of the company and how he had met John and Libby, from Hotwire, where we originally bought the KISS unit. I got up early on Thursday to try to listen to the early weather, Eric at 6:15, but didn't hear him - just the usual net traffic. I did hear the weather net at 7:15 though and everything seemed to be fine for leaving tonight. It agreed with the downloaded weather fax and text I got last night through Winlink. After breakfast, I did some more preparations but would wait until later to take down the awning and tie down the dinghy. We then relaxed for the rest of the morning. Around 3, I started tying down the dinghy, and then we took down the awning. It was breezy so that made it difficult but it came down with no mishap. We got out our 'traveling clothes', binoculars, deck shoes, etc. and had an early dinner. We were going to leave around 6:30 but we were prepared early so we left a little before 6. We were both anxious to be outta Trinidad. We both like Trinidad tremendously (or we wouldn't spend so much time there) but after 4 months, some of them very tiring, we were ready to leave. We got up the main and motored out of the Boca and into some sloppy seas. The wind was only 10-15 from the ENE but the tidal currents at the entrance to the Gulf of Paria makes the seas confused and often steep. So we motor sailed across all 3 Bocas to the tip of Venezuela, the Paria Peninsula. At that point, we were doing about 7.5 knots over the ground with the motor, the breeze and the favorable Equatorial Current, on a course of 315 magnetic. I wanted to get a little further out to sea before turning towards Los Testigos to get away from the potentially dangerous coast of the Paria Peninsula. I decided to try sailing after we got the batteries charged a little more - they were down to about 85 percent over the last 36 hours we had been out of the yard. So, around 8pm, I put the engine in neutral, pulled out the jib, turned the engine off and we slowed down to 4 knots from about 6.5. We were on a very broad reach, almost a run, and the relatively light winds weren't making the trip any easier. The seas were still about 3-5 feet, pretty small for this part of the Caribbean, but large enough to cause us to roll since the wind pressure wasn't enough to keep the boat at a proper angle. The rolling had 2 effects - one was that the sails would loose their wind and then fill with a loud crack (not good for the sails or the rig) and two, Diane was getting seasick (not good for either crew). So after about 40 minutes of trying to get the "big white sheets hanging on the sticks and wires" to do something constructive, I furled the jib, tightened the mainsheet so it would stabilize the boat and turned on the engine. We motor sailed like that all the way to Los Testigos, again. Magically, Diane's seasickness got better and the noise on the boat went down, except of course for the drone of the engine. Oh, well, Venezuela had cheap fuel. We saw very little that night except for 2 freighters along the coast and we arrived at Isla Testigo Grande at 8:30 in the morning, a trip of 14 and one-half hours. We knew people that said it only took them 10 hours to get here from Trinidad - they must have a really fast boat or 'exaggerate' very well. After getting our anchor down in 20 feet of beautiful blue water (what a change from Trinidad), we got the boat setup for anchor and had breakfast. Buenas Dias Venezuela! |