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Larry's LogOn Thursday, Elias continued with the varnish and by the end of the day, the forward head had 2 coats and the aft head had one. They were looking good and I suppose the discomfort is worth it. Of course, I wasn't able to do anything I needed to get done, but Diane and I went to Makro (a Price Club type store) after Elias started so we got some things done. We got back around lunchtime and afterward, I worked on the web site some more. That evening, we went to dinner and the movie at the marina restaurant - the food was better this week as we both had the pizza, and the movie was Lord of the Rings, part 3, on their big screen, and although long, we both enjoyed it. Elias came very late the next morning - he had gone to Cumana on some emergency (his girlfriend lived there) and so didn't bring us the arepas he said he would. Oh well. I went up after eating some oatmeal to the North Sails shop in the marina. I had sent an email to Navtec about the boom vang and got an email from the North Sails representative for South America, who had been contacted by Navtec. He had also contacted the North Sails office here in PLC. They had also sent me an email so I went up to see them and Mauritzio, the manager, said that they could get the vang fixed and would come by early next week to see it and pick up the sail that also needed some repair. He said the vang repair should only cost about $30 to $40, so that wasn't too bad at all. Coming back to the boat, Elias had arrived and started work so I decided to remove the board I used to hold the jerry jugs and round the edges. I hadn't done it when I first mounted it but rounding the edges will make tying the jugs easier and also reduce the chance of scratching or chafing the jugs, the covers or my skin. I got the board off the stanchions after a little 'persuasion' and got out the angle grinder and palm sander. Between those two tools, I got the edges nice and smooth. Now though, I needed to paint the board again. But that would wait until another day - it was already 4 by the time I finished and working in the hot sun was tough. At least I could get everything off the boat and on the dock so the dust wouldn't make a mess on deck. Elias finished the third coat on the forward head and the second coat in the aft head - both were looking good. Diane had made some phone calls earlier to make arrangements for the hotel in Caracas we were going to stay in when we went for my eye 'adjustment' in a couple of weeks, and also found out some more prices on flying back to the States in March or April, which we were thinking about. Lots to do - seems like that's always the way when we're in a marina. Saturday we had a fun day, rather than a productive one. After Elias came (late again - he went to Cumana again but brought the arepas finally) we went to town to see one of the dive shops there. We found it and spoke to the manager for a while and he was nice enough to let us borrow some of his dive magazines (they were in English so I wonder how many of his customers read them anyway). We walked around a little and then had lunch at the Pizza Hut there. We got back to the boat and I went to see if the small marine store at the marina had started their clearance sale yet - it had gone out of business some time ago. They hadn't so I sat down in the restaurant with Pete and Lanie from Marnel 4. Ashley, from Blind Date was also there. A bit later, Pete and I went back to the store and they were open. It got as little crowded for a while but I found some things to buy and then went back to the restaurant. I was going back to the boat but Pete and Lanie were still there as well as Judy and Bud from Gonzo 2. I sat with them for a while and had a good time telling stories and such. Diane was at the pool but came over and we all had some drinks. We all finally went back to our boats and just had a relaxing evening reading our new (to us) dive magazines. We planned to do a little diving in PLC but since I was going to get my eye adjusted soon, I would have to do it soon or else wait 30 days after the surgery to go in the water. As easy as yesterday was, today was difficult. The aft head toilet had been very difficult to pump out for a day or so, but not on every pump. Since Elias wasn't working today it was a good day to try to fix it. So, while Diane worked on her PC and then went to play dominoes, I worked on finding the problem. Doing that required that I take everything apart so I first had to empty the water as much as possible and disconnect the hoses. Since the wood trim around the toilet was now partly varnished, I tried to be as careful as possible. I managed to pump through some fresh water by closing the seacock and pouring water into the head sink - the head intake and sink discharge are on the same through-hull. Everything came apart fairly easily except I couldn't get the bronze handle off the main shaft so I worked around that. Eventually I got everything disconnected, emptied all the water and lifted the heavy bronze body of the pump off the floor and put it on the countertop where I had already placed some plastic sheeting. I found the problem once the back of the pump was off - the metal washer riveted to the back of one of the flapper valves had broken off and was lodged in the bowl flush line. That caused a partial vacuum, making the bowl hard to flush. Fortunately, this was part of the spares kit that I have for the toilet. Since the head was partially torn apart anyway, I decided that I may as well go the rest of the way and do a full rebuild. I took the pieces out into the cockpit and washed everything with fresh water and then took them back inside for further cleaning, greasing and reassembly. The entire process took from about 9:30 in the morning to about 5 in the evening and I still wasn't completely done. I had bedded the base down to the floor again and reconnected the hoses but the handle and the bowl were still sitting next to the base - it would wait until tomorrow. I had used silicone to bed the base down and seal the back, where it sometimes leaks. I would have to see if it leaked tomorrow once the bowl was back in place. Monday Elias was late from coming back from Cumana over the weekend, but he started right away and didn't take lunch and since he does a really good job, we can't complain. And with the current exchange rate, we're paying him less than before even though he's getting more Bs (Bolivars) per day. Anyway, the boat is looking good (the teak only, the rest is a mess from stuff all over). Before he came though, I worked on finishing putting the toilet back together. After I got everything back assembled, I used fresh water to test it and, naturally, there were leaks. Some were easy to fix, just tighten a bolt or fitting. One though, required that I make a new rubber washer out of the gasket material I have. Finally though, I think I got them all so I cleaned up and rubbed everything with denatured alcohol so when Elias continued varnishing, there wouldn't be any grease or dirt to ruin the job. I asked him to clean everything again though, just in case. Diane and I left him around noon to go to Plaza Mayor so she could get her new passport picture, I could get on the Internet and we could go shopping. We did all those things and went to a new place to get ice cream that Weedie and Janice recommended. It was outstanding! By the time we got back to the boat though, we were tired and it was almost 5 so we decided not to go to the weekly potluck but just eat on the boat. Elias was on time the following morning and brought a video for us to see later - they were 'possibly' bootleg copies, but we enjoyed them. Diane and I decided what part of the boat for him to start next and then we continued our work. I emptied the lazarette and took the steering wheel off to make to easier to get around the cockpit. I decided that the staysail should probably be rinsed since I hadn't done it recently so I took it on the foredeck, hosed it off and raised it with a halyard to let it dry. The breeze started to come up so I brought it down again and clipped it to the lifelines like a huge bed sheet. Around then, Diane came back and she helped me flake the now dry sail and put it in the bag. It was pretty easy since it was a small sail. She had gone to make some phone calls and see when the North Sails guy was coming - it seems he was in Caracas and wouldn't make it until Thursday. After lunch, Diane continued washing some canvas things and the small rugs we used on the cabin sole and I cleaned the lazarette and found some electrical connections that were suspect. I got out all my electrical tools and supplies and changed the connectors - they were pretty corroded so I was glad to have found them. The guy who had put them on initially didn't use heat shrink tubing so the wires inside the connectors started getting corroded from the damp salt air. Of course, working inside the lazarette isn't easy so it took quite some time to get it all done and by the time it was finished I just put some things back in and left it until tomorrow. Diane went off to do some more errands and I just put my tools away and let my knees straighten out. Wednesday was another very busy day but at least it wasn't all work. Elias came and started on the new area we gave him across from the forward head and did another coat on some of the areas in the aft head. I worked on the steering system most of the day, which meant getting back in the lazarette to access the radial and the wires to it. I cleaned, inspected and re-greased the steering cables, cleaned off the radial itself, greased the rudder shaft and cleaned and regreased the attachment for the autopilot. Fortunately, everything looked pretty good. I also finally got the flexible conduit for the diesel heater out of the way - not much call for a heating system right now. That made everything much easier to access. It rained a bit during the day so I couldn't put everything back in the locker but I managed to put the spinnaker that had been in the other locker in the lazarette and I could see that the staysail and several other larger (but relatively light) things would fit, like the dinghy cover, the sea anchor, etc. That would free up a lot of room in the starboard locker. That was were I had to get into next. By the time I finished with the steering system and put some things away, Diane came back from her shopping. Since it was raining, we stayed inside while Elias varnished. We decided to go to the movies with Janice and Weedie rather than the Maremares party and then go to dinner so around 3:30 we stopped for the day and got ready to go. We met them at the movies (at Plaza Mayor) and saw the movie "Master and Commander", with Russell Crowe, based on the Patrick O'Brian books. I didn't know we were going to see that. When I saw it was based on the O'Brian books, I hoped it would live up to the novels I liked so much and it did somewhat - it borrowed pieces from the various books and I enjoyed it but there wasn't much of a plot although there was a good story line. Since I recognized all the little pieces and, of course, the characters, so I enjoyed it more than the others but they liked it too. After the movie, we went to a restaurant/sports bar and I had a very good burger while the other had excellent fajitas. Dinner and a movie, what a concept. Thursday was another busy day in which I managed to at least get something accomplished. Elias continued the varnishing, Diane did some hand laundry and made phone calls and I took everything out of the starboard cockpit locker, including the 45-pound CQR and 80-pound Luke anchors. Since there was no place else to put it, all the stuff sat in the cockpit. I had to empty the locker so I could get into it to reach the autopilot power take off box that was mounted on the aft bulkhead at the bottom. Once I was able to get in, I took the power/control box off and removed all the wires from the connectors and examined each. The ones going to the solenoid on the engine (the ones I had re-spliced in the lazarette) were somewhat corroded at the terminals as well, so I cut off the ends and redid the connections. I cleaned the connections on all of the wires, using my micro-files to clean up the connectors that had a wire harness attached to internal pins. I then tried the pilot. I plugged in the remote controller and turned it on and there was no display. Damn! I looked at the manual and saw that the remote is actually powered and fed data by the compass controller, which is mounted inside the boat under the port settee, on the centerline. So, I emptied the locker where it's mounted, removed it and took off the connectors. I cleaned them with the micro-files, sprayed them with the electronics spray cleaner and reattached the 2 connectors and mounted the compass. I then plugged in the remote and turned the pilot on. Alright, there was now a display. I loosened the wheel brake and tested the pilot. It seemed to work OK but of course, we weren't moving. We would have to do a sea trial to see if it was really repaired. I had suspected an electrical problem, most likely corroded wires, but it remained to be seen if it was really fixed. By the time that was all done, it was late and so I just took a shower and went back to the boat. The restaurant was showing a DVD movie that night that sounded good so Diane had gone up to get us a table so I met her there, we had dinner and watched the movie, "The Last Samurai." It was very good but it should be seen on the big screen for the full effect. |