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Larry's LogWe both got up early the next day and Diane hoisted me up to the first spreader on the mast so I could re-reeve the flag halyard. I told her it was easy to do, just put the line through the block but she didn't want to go up with the boat rolling. That early in the morning it wasn't rolling much, but she hoisted me up and I got the line through easily. We ate breakfast and I dropped her off at the dock to go, where else, shopping. This time, it was for liquor and wine at Sigo on the free bus that comes to Marina Juan three times a week. I stayed on the boat and fixed the boom with my "spare" and revised the dinghy hoist arrangement a little and did some other little things. We hadn't been able to find a replacement bail in Margarita so I used the one from the end of the boom and would have to figure out something else for that later. Diane got back and I picked her up with lots of provisions - 3 cases of rum, 1 of wine and some other stuff. Margarita is the place to stock up since its duty free and the Venezuelan rum is excellent. After lunch, we went over to the local chandlery and I bought a small block for the lazyjacks and we also exchanged some money. We went looking for some special glue used for diving wetsuits that's also good for dinghies but couldn't find any. The taxi driver was very nice in this search - he went top several stores and waited while we checked them. Diane had taken his cab before and he seemed to recognize her. He brought us back to the dock and we went back to the boat to start putting all the stuff away and get ready for our company. We had invited Dan and Jan from Sojourner over for drinks. We hadn't seen them in a few weeks - they left Trinidad before we did. They came over around 5:30 and we had a very nice evening - we hadn't gotten together since we had all been in Chacachacare together over New Years. The next morning, we went over to a boat leaving for PLC today or tomorrow and brought them the mineral spirits for Plenum. We felt we might be out longer than 2 weeks or so and they said they needed it so we made a request over the net here for a boat going in that direction. We got a call almost immediately and went over an hour later to drop it off. Back at the boat, I rigged a bridle so we would face into the waves rather than the wind because the anchorage got very rolly last evening. That took about an hour but also meant I had to move the block and tackle for the hoist and the side boarding ladder, since it was mounted in the starboard side gate. We would have to use that side to get in and out of the dinghy now since the bridle was on the port side and it was a risk to go there with the bridle line. I had rigged a bridle here before but then it wasn't really necessary - this time it helped keep our sanity. All that took me about 90 minutes and I just relaxed the rest of the day, although I did make another small rope mat from the line I had replaced on the starboard lazyjacks. I also finished the one I made previously, seizing the ends under the mat to the line next to it (so they wouldn't fray) and then cutting off the remainder. If you want to call it work, I also continued updating the logs and making changes to our web site on the PC. I wanted to get something new uploaded before we left Margarita. So while Diane took a nap in the afternoon, I just did some little stuff. Friday wasn't quite as easy as Thursday. We were getting ready to go shopping (I was going too) when the toilet stopped working. The handle would move but nothing was being pumped. Diane called me to see what was wrong - this symptom had happened once before and it had been an easy fix, just put the woodruff key back in the handle shaft. That wasn't it this time. Either the shaft had lost the keyway inside that attached it to the piston or something broke. Either way, it would require that the entire pump mechanism be taken apart which meant that the toilet had to be removed. Terrific - I had just rebuilt it using a new rebuild kit less than a month ago. It would wait though until we got back from shopping so off we went. First we went to a mall that has a Wal-Mart type store, with a large grocery and separate hardware parts. I picked up a new garden hose (ours was almost falling apart) and some other stuff. We ate lunch there and I had a small PIZZA. I decided that I had been on the diet for a long time, lost about 25 pounds (about as much as I wanted to lose) and it was time to "cheat" every once in a while. Diane didn't though; she had something that seemed OK. Then we went to another mall where I looked at watches as a possible present for my birthday. The one I liked was a sailing watch with lots of different functions. There was a GPS watch also but that was much too expensive. We didn't buy it then since Diane wanted me to see one she had seen at a different store. So we went back to the boat around 2:30 and I started taking the head apart. It came apart fairly easily once I got it out of the head compartment. The only problem was disconnecting all the hoses and catching the water that came out. Once removed, I took off the base (the only way to get at the pump inside) and saw the problem immediately - the piston lever arm that connected to the handle to the piston had broken in half. I removed it and wasn't at all sure if it could be repaired. The piece was bronze but had obviously bent and work hardened over the years. We were supposed to go over to Spice Island Lady for drinks and to talk to them about the Gulf of Cariaco (they were going there and we had been there last year and loved it) but I told Diane that I needed to try to fix the toilet and that I was already tired. So she called and said we had to cancel - Lois and Lynne were very understanding and I asked Lynne, a former aircraft mechanic, how I might fix the piece. He suggested using the steel reinforced epoxy sticks, the ones where you cut off a piece of the stick, knead the inside and outside together and then have 2 minutes to effect the repair before you get a little artificial rock. I had several of those on board. I also had a product call JB Weld that had been highly recommended by several other people. Lynne hadn't heard of that stuff though. I thanked him and went back to the repair. I looked at the instructions for both - the epoxy stick said the repaired part would be ready in an hour, the JB Weld said it would need overnight to cure. So I tried the epoxy stick first - it would be nice to fix the toilet in one day. I cleaned the part, first with alcohol and then with acetone (something I don't like to use much) and then mixed up a test batch of the stick. Sure enough, in 10 minutes it hardened up and I had a little lump of blackish epoxy. So I mixed up a second batch and put it on the 2 parts and held it together for 5 minutes. It seemed to harden well and I left it for an hour. While waiting, we were having our nightly sundowner when we noticed that we were much closer to the boats behind us and further away from the boats in front of us. We had dragged (maybe still dragging) so I said we had to get the anchor up right away. It was still light out fortunately and we could see. Of course, the bridle line from the stern complicated it a bit but we had to move now. I got Diane at the wheel and took in the chain, removed the bridle line, with a little difficulty, and got the anchor up. We moved around further back in the anchorage and set the hook again. Once the anchor was up I saw why we dragged - there was a large loop of rope that had fouled the anchor and probably prevented it from setting properly. It would have been ok, I think, if the load hadn't been so great from having the bridle setup. The bridle increased the load on the anchor by exposing the side of the boat to the wind, increasing the windage tremendously. Well, we were re-anchored with the bridle on again within 30 minutes and went back to our drinks. I turned out it was very fortuitous that we didn't go visiting. After dinner, I tested the part I fixed. It looked ok initially but when I put some strain on it, the epoxy crumbled. So I cleaned off the remainder and tried the JB Weld. It was also advertised as steel reinforced epoxy but mixed more like a 'traditional' epoxy and I got the pieces aligned and applied it, taping the pieces together for the night. We would see if it worked tomorrow. The next day was a busy one although the main project, fixing the head, was not successful. I didn't know that in the morning though and we went to do some more shopping, buying me a nice birthday present, the sailing watch that I had read about in Practical Sailor magazine. We also bought some dumbbells, one for Diane and one for me (one dumbbell each) so we could exercise on the boat. Of course, we had to carry them around all day since we bought them in the morning. We then went to another mall, did some more shopping, had lunch (pizza again and this time Diane had some also - we were off the diet for a bit) and saw an excellent movie, 'The Pianist', in English with Spanish subtitles. We got back to the boat and just relaxed the rest of he day. We did though see a 'high voltage' alarm that had gone off on the electrical monitor while we were gone. The wind had been blowing steadily and the sun was bright so I'm sure the voltage got up there during the day. I doubt if there was any damage though. I also tried the repaired part and unfortunately, the repair didn't work - it came apart in my hand with slight pressure. I emailed the manufacturer to see of I could get a replacement and also a local ex-pat American who supposedly can fix this kind of thing. The next morning we spoke to Mima in the morning on the SSB and they were in Tortuga, where we hoped to go soon. The broken piece for the head was really putting a crimp in our plans. Of course, we could always just use the 'bucket and chuck it" method but I don't think Diane would like that for long. We went in to shore around 10 to make a call to the guy that Moonglow recommended and he said that we should talk to Don, who was the local rigger (Jak's significant other) and had a "shop" near the restaurant. Since it was Sunday, they were closed so we would have to wait until Monday to see if he could even try to fix it. I had sent an email to the maker and hoped to hear something from them on Monday also. So, after a slight disappointment with Moonglow's guy, we went back to the boat and I just did some small things around the boat and Diane worked on her logs until about 1 when she went in to play dominoes. I didn't go - instead I just relaxed and did some work on an abandoned seat cushion I though might be useful as a dinghy fender. I guess we'll see - it might look too dumb! I also did a double braid rope splice to put a small block on the end of a line I wanted to eventually use to improve the lazyjack system. Diane came back and then went into shore again with Moonglow to go to a barbeque at a local beach restaurant. Again, I didn't go but did some work around the boat and just read some of the magazines we had received back in Trinidad. I still hadn't read most of them. Monday was a disappointing day in a way - we went in to see Don in the morning about fixing the part for the head. Don, an ex-pat American (and ex-Army chopper pilot in Viet Nam) ran the local rigging shop, and after looking at the broken head part, said he could try brazing it but would recommend replacement. I had a feeling he would say that and we agreed. While we were there, he made a call to the States, ordered the part from a large wholesaler in Florida and said to Fed Ex it to Margarita. They had the part in stock and would ship it that day, so hopefully we would see it Wednesday. Well, we were further delayed but at least not by much, hopefully. And the part wouldn't be any more expensive here than in PLC so it could have been worse. After that, we just went back to the boat and while Diane worked on her logs, I did some miscellaneous jobs around the boat. Not too exciting. At least we were running the watermaker and not running short of electricity - it was very sunny and breezy and had been for the entire time we had been in Margarita. We didn't do much the next day but Diane did manage to go shopping again and I worked on the web site for most of the day. The wind and sun were good again so the watermaker was on for 2 ½ hours again, although it still only makes 4 to 4.5 gallons per hour, as opposed to the 8 that's advertised. Every time I look at the gauge, it bugs me. In the afternoon, I experimented with making some rope mats and finally figured out a good one to protect the sides of the dinghy from rough docks. I'll try it on tomorrow. Hopefully the part we're waiting for will arrive and I'll be able to install and test it. We'd like to leave by Thursday or Friday, although the wind and seas still seem to be up, we would just go to Juangriego and wait there for good weather for passage to La Blanquilla. |