|
Home Port Our Logs The Crew Calendar Favorite Links The Boat Photo Album Route and Charts Miscellaneous Stuff |
Larry's LogThe next morning, the refrigerator seemed to be working OK - the temperature was still 39 in the refrigerator part so the compressor obviously hadn't been on all night. The battery voltage also remained stabilized at about 13.05 volts. Two days ago I had noticed the voltage fluctuating between 12.7 and 13.8, going between these two values every 10-20 seconds. It went on for about an hour then seemed to stabilize at the right level. But the battery low indicator was showing on the inverter remote panel. I had sent off an email to Jack at Jack Rabbit Marine in Connecticut where I had bought the equipment but I didn't expect to hear from him until Monday at the earliest. This morning, the indicator was now green, meaning the batteries were OK. I guess I'll see what he says - I had seen the indicator fluctuate before but not so wildly or for so long. I was busy today doing several things - first moving everything on the side deck to under the awning so it would be out of the sun and then, since the side deck was clear, hosing off the deck there; the accumulation of dust and dirt was really bad. It was really hot and by the time I finished I was dripping so I just relaxed below until after lunch. After eating, I started putting the headliners back up on the starboard side. That area was completely varnished so to get them off the deck, I put them back. Of course, it also required doing some electrical work. That took the remainder of the day and I just relaxed and watched some TV. Monday, I started off cleaning the chainplate I had pulled. I got it and the cleaning supplies on the dock, as well as the polishing wheels and drill. I intended to polish it once I had gotten most of the surface rust off but once it was cleaned, I saw that the crack Mauritzio mentioned was real and there was another as well. So I brought everything back on the boat and looked at it with a magnifier - there were definitely 2 cracks so I decided that it had to be replaced. I called Don on Texas Reb since I knew he was replacing his chainplates now. He was having them done by the metal shop in the marina's yard and would show me later in the afternoon. I put away some more things in the cockpit after lunch and put all my manuals and instruction booklets on one of the free shelves. I had taken them out of the ring notebooks since I thought they would take less room that way and the metal parts of the notebooks were starting to rust anyway. I wanted to bring as much below as possible before we left on our visit to the States. Later on, I went over to Texas Reb and Don showed me the chainplates he had done. They were made of 316L stainless steel, so were of good quality. They were 3/8 inch thick and cut from a plate so they weren't exactly cut straight although for Don, it didn't make much of a difference since they were hidden. For me, since mine were in plain view, they needed to look good and have a 'finished' quality. We went over to see the guy in the yard and met the owner's son, who spoke English well. I explained what I needed and he said he would show the piece to his father and get a quote for me tomorrow. Don told me he had gotten a quote from the guy who did Mima's chainplates and it was almost 3 times the cost of this shop. As long as the quality was good, they were more convenient and less expensive. We would see what the quote was. Still later, I went and got the bill from North Sails for the parts and labor. It wasn't as bad as I expected but I would have to come back on Wednesday to pay since Mauritizio was in Caracas now. Tuesday we ran a lot of errands; but only some were successful. In the morning, I went over to see about the chainplate and was told that it would be about $46. It needed to be replaced so I said go ahead and Luis said it would be ready tomorrow morning. I said the cuts had to be straight and he told me that he could go to another shop with a turning machine (lathe, I think) that could make them straight, since the pieces were cut from a sheet with a plasma cutter. That would be another expense though. We went to Plaza Mayor so I could get a haircut, Diane could go to the pharmacy, and we could do some shopping and look up the train schedules on the Internet so she would know what the times and fares were when she went to pick up the car in Connecticut. We also stopped at the local chandlery near the marina so I could get more varnishing supplies. They had most of them but not all so I would have to try someplace else. When we got back to the boat, Elias was gone but he had finished everything he could for the day - he had put another coat on the trim pieces on the starboard side of the main cabin and put another coat on the doors, which were now taking up almost all the space on the settees. He had left us a place to sit. We had a busy day again with boat projects and errands. Diane went to pick up the shirts and caps we had embroidered as gifts and I went to pick up some more supplies for Elias and some netting that would hopefully keep the marina cats from jumping onboard. They like to sit on top of the dodger or mainsail. So far, they hadn't left any 'presents', just cat hair, but I didn't want to tempt fate. Later on, I also helped Ray again with his radio/email setup again. He had just gotten the cables to control radio frequencies from his PC and needed some help to setup the system. I got it working somewhat but couldn't finish since I needed to pick up the chainplate before they closed for the week. I also had to move the air conditioner so Elias could start the main hatch. Elias helped me move the unit and it got very hot inside the boat quickly without it. But he started sanding immediately after putting up some plastic to catch the dust so we could get it back on as soon as possible. The chainplate wasn't back from the shop yet but Luis said they would be in tomorrow morning around 10 so I said I would come back then. The rest of the day, we just watched some TV and Diane made a very nice shrimp teriyaki for dinner - we still had lots of shrimp left. Thursday morning I spoke to Andrea from Midnight Stroller very briefly on the SSB. They were in Las Aves and would be in Bonaire by Sunday so I said I would email Jim to let him know. After that, the morning was busy for each of us. While Diane went to the mall for some last minute shopping, I fixed some snaps on pieces of the dodger; picked up the new chainplate and put up the plastic netting I bought to keep the cats off the boat. The new chainplate looked pretty good as far as the straightness of the cuts was concerned although the holes were a little bigger than the original since they were using metric sizes. They said to check it out on the boat and let them know on Monday, after the Easter holiday - very fair. I couldn't to it today since Elias was working there but certainly by Sunday I could. I was also busy putting some more things away or tying things down on deck. I also got on the Internet and got some more information on windlasses - not too good; none of the other windlass companies knew anything about the chain I had. They thought it might fit but wanted a sample of the chain to make sure. I was planning to bring some back with me but didn't want to bring too much since its very heavy and hard to cut. I got on the Internet again in the next afternoon and got a message from one of the windlass makers. He couldn't tell me if the chain I had would fit the gypsy they made or not since they weren't familiar with it. I may have to bring more than I planned back and just send it out and see what happens. I also saw Geoffrey, from Panache, who was looking at our broken Penn reel. It seems he had contacted Penn. lost the phone connection but had then gotten a friend who lives close to there to go to the headquarters in NJ and find out about it personally. The reel belonged to Diane's grandfather, so it's probably 50 years old. Penn didn't have parts for it anymore but would make parts for it for $85. Well, the reel wasn't worth that much so I thanked Geoffrey and said no thanks. It was very nice how he had followed up and even gotten his friend in the States involved. Elias worked just half a day so I took the opportunity to flush the engine with fresh water. I ran the hose back to the cockpit and moved some stuff around so I could rinse the layer of dust off and then brought the hose below. I closed the seacock, took the intake hose off and put it in a bucket of fresh water. Unfortunately, when I started the engine, I had forgotten to check that the engine wasn't in gear. It was in forward so the boat hit the dock a little when I started it. There was just a little wood dented on the dock but the boat was undamaged since it hit on the forward external chainplate. I stopped the engine as soon as I realized it and started it again after I put it in neutral. I ran the engine with fresh water for about 15 minutes, rinsed off the engine from the salt water that spilled when I took the hose off and replaced everything, leaving the seacock closed, with a note attached to the engine keys. The rest of the day we just relaxed and continued getting ready for the trip. Saturday we continued getting ready for our visit to the States and since Elias only worked half of the day, it was much easier getting things out. He only worked for 3 hours since there was nothing for him to do once he put another coat on the port side window, the main hatch and some more doors. I rearranged things in the cabin to make more room and also started taking things off the bulkheads in the galley and navigation area, getting ready for Elias to start there on Tuesday. When he left around noon, I got out our bags and started sorting through things. Diane was making a chocolate cake for a little party we were going to later for Bob and Susan from Pipe Dream. They were finally leaving the country since their 18 months was up. They were planning to go to Trinidad for the 45 days and then come back though. We went to the party around 7 after dinner since this was a dessert only potluck party, the best kind. Easter Sunday was nice - we went to Maremares Marina for the brunch with Janice and Weedie from Plenum and Bob and Norma from Happy Ours. The food was very good and we all had a very nice time. We stopped at White Tiger after we finished eating to say hi and ask about some help in cutting the chain samples. Denny had a die grinder (Dremel tool on steroids) that he kindly lent to me. He also had a chain chart from Acco, which illustrated the different sizes of chain available from the major chain manufacturer. I had brought some chain over but rather than cutting it there I just brought the tool back with me. Before we left to go to Maremares though, I checked the chain I had in the bilge with the chain on the anchor rode. It was a little different. The chain in the bilge had G3 marked on each link, meaning it was basic Acco BBB chain. The chain on the anchor rode was marked SL and was also a slightly different size. Another mystery. We got back to the boat and I just raised the dinghy, rinsed it off since we wouldn't be using it and relaxed the rest of the day. Diane went out for a walk and went to another boat that had a nurse on board to ask about a small rash that developed on her leg - turns out she had gotten ringworm, a fungus that sometimes develops when in contact with cats or dogs in the wild (our marina cats were the most likely culprits since she always handles them.) At least it's easily treated. Monday we continued to get ready to leave on our trip tomorrow. The morning was occupied with taking the galley apart, taking the various things down and finally taking the stove off. It would have been very difficult for Elias to varnish near the stove with it still hanging on its brackets so we had decided to take it off. It was easier said than done although it wasn't heavy. Actually, once I got the little metal flaps on the hangers bent out of the way it was relatively simple to remove the gas hose (I had already turned off the propane bottle and burned the remaining gas out of the line) and once it was sitting on the small platform underneath it, Elias just helped me move it to the settee. Needless to say, it was really dirty on the sides and back and the area underneath, behind and next to the stove sides were also pretty bad. It was to be expected since the only way to clean those areas was to remove the stove, which we had not done before. Once the stove was off, I continued moving things around while Diane went to Plaza Mayor to get the ringworm cream that the Sherry on Lorelei (a nurse) had recommended. By the time she got back, I was doing some last minute things on the Internet and made another phone call to my brother. I was going to see him but I didn't know yet if he was picking me up. All I could do was send another email and call when I hoped he would be home. (I did finally get a message that evening when I picked up email that he would meet me.) The rest of the day, we just tried to finish up all the last minute preparations and then went to the marina restaurant for dinner with Janice and Weedie. We didn't have to get up too early since our bus for Caracas left at 11:30 but there were some other things to do just before we left. |