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Larry's LogThursday, as usual lately, was busy. In the morning, Diane went into town to get some snaps for her sewing projects and I went over to the yard where we were hauling to hand in some paperwork. I also stopped at the wood shop and spoke to the owner and mentioned that the back of the magazine rack they made seemed to be plywood. He said he thought it was solid teak but said he would stop by at the boat to check it. I also went and bought some stainless hardware at a small local store at a surprisingly reasonable price. Finally, I checked some prices on hardware that I might get back in the States. By the time I finished all my errands, it looked like rain so I went over to the marina where Mima was and visited with them a buit and then ate lunch at Joe's Pizza with Steph. Tom had already eaten. After we finished, we went back to Mima and I visited for a bit more (they kept offering me beer - how could I refuse?) and at around 3 I biked back to Destiny. Diane had just gotten back and said the woodshop owner had been there and picked up the magazine rack to fix up. Very good, he really did care about it. The rest of the day Diane did some more sewing and I started installing the other woodwork pieces. We then had the weekly potluck dinner at our marina - there was some really good food this week. Friday was Trinidad's Independence Day and so most of the businesses were closed but that didn't mean we weren't doing things. Diane started her sewing as soon as breakfast was over and I continued with the woodwork. The morning was spent sanding to get rid of the saw marks and other signs of the rough sanding. They grow teak locally but the mills only produce certain sizes of rough lumber so the wood shops mill their own sizes of lumber and there were still some saw marks showing. After sanding three of the pieces all morning, we ate lunch and then I started to mount them. These were galley spice racks to replace some ugly wire ones that the prior owner had put up. Some of them had started to rust in spots as well. It took most of the afternoon to measure, mark and mount these. Then they had to be oiled and finally at around 4:30 they were mounted. The rest of the day I helped Diane with the sewing projects, then dinner and bed. The next day was a continuation of Friday. I started sanding the magazine rack, off the boat this time so the sawdust wouldn't get all over. Again, by the time I finished it was lunchtime. I helped Diane some more and started a list of things we needed to do before we left for home next Thursday. It turned out to be a very long list; I had doubts about finishing all of it. By evening, we were both tired and just had dinner and relaxed. Sunday was taken up with getting ready to leave. I also inventoried supplies with an eye to what I would need to buy while at home. Diane and I got the things together that we wanted to take home, both permanently and for just the visit.We had both brought things along that were never used, so we were taking them off the boat, relieving the clutter. It wasn't really enough, but it helped. In the evening, we had Paul over for dinner. We had a very nice dinner and conversation and he very kindly offered to drive us to the airport. Thanks Paul. Well, Monday was naturally occupied with getting ready. In the morning, I ran some more errands to get some paperwork so we could leave and get back in the country and also to finally pay the woodwork shop. I also stopped by Mima so Tom could show me how to install the snaps we were using on the canvas projects Diane was sewing. We also had lunch and we talked about going home for a bit to make enough money to cruise permanently. He had some good ideas for both Diane and me. We would have to talk about them when we leave on our visit. When I got back, I hoisted the outboard onto the stern, got the dinghy on deck and washed it thoroughly and rolled it up. I then helped Diane some more to try to finish some of the sewing projects that seemed to be taking forever. The problem was that she didn't know how to use the Sailrite machine very well and kept having troubles with breaking the thread or getting the right tension on the stitches. I was beginning to have my doubts that any of these things would get finished, although some projects were almost done. Actually, after dinner, I finished the dodger to bimini tie-in covers by attaching the snaps to hold them in place. At least something was done. The jerry jug covers wouldn't need much more work but she had to get the sewing machine to work correctly first. Tuesday was much the same. We were actually in pretty good shape as far as getting ready but the sewing was not progressing well. I crossed more things off the list and Diane struggled. The biggest thing was "pickling" the watermaker so it would be able to get through the next month without being run. The membrane is sensitive to being dried out but you don't want plain water in it or bacteria may start to grow. Diane finally gave up after she just couldn't get the tension on the thread right. When that happens, for those of us who don't know, the stitches don't look right and have no strength. She called Tom and he tried to explain it but it just wasn't working. I packed up the machine shortly after lunch and Paul drove her and the recalcitrant machine over to the other marina. Diane returned the machine, picked up some pieces from the seamstress and Paul drove her back. We would see Steph and Tom later anyway - we had invited them to dinner. They came over at around 7 and we had a very nice meal and conversation. When they came over, Tom brought the sewing pieces that Diane had been working on - he had figured out what was wrong and sewed them for us. Thanks again Tom. Evidently, a little spring that comes out from the machine to tension the thread was bent wrong and as soon as he fixed it, the machine worked well again. For someone who knew how, the sewing he did for us only took 20-30 minutes. It had taken Diane hours of struggle. Wednesday we were to be hauled at a different yard so I got up early and started to make last minute preparations, like disconnecting the water hose, cable TV and shore power. Rich, from Island Spirit, and his brother, who was down on a visit, helped with the dock lines and we finally left at around 9:15. We had called the boatyard by radio a few times but the Travelift operator hadn't arrived yet so we had waited until they were ready rather than get to the haul out area and have to wait. Diane wanted to get the air conditioner off the boat early but they didn't show up until after we got to the other boatyard, so it would be a little difficult to get it off now. |