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Larry's LogSeems like marina life is boat maintenance and projects - and I am living proof. Friday, after Elias came and started work, I started on the starboard locker itself. I cleaned the bottom of the locker, vacuumed and washed, and then got back in to clean up the shelf inside the locker where store oil and miscellaneous parts. I took everything off, intending to just inventory everything and put it back in place. But I saw that there was some whitish powder in 2 spots on the shelf - the powder was aluminum oxide from the backing plates on the stanchions. They were obviously leaking a little and the backing plates were corroding. It didn't seem very bad but I decided to try to fix them since I already had the locker empty and could get at them relatively easily ('relatively easy' being VERY relative). I out my other tools and removed the nuts and then the bolts holding the stanchion bases to the deck. After getting the backing plates off, I managed to remove the old caulk; although it was leaking, the caulk was still very tough. Unfortunately, the holes in the stanchion bases, and so the backing plates were directly on the hull to deck joint, so the backing plates were actually tilted and the bolts bent, and that was probably why they leaked in the first place. If I just replaced the assembly as it was, they would definitely leak again so I figured I would build up the area with thickened epoxy, re-drill the holes and then put the bases on with new caulk. That way the strain on the bases would be fair. Another project. I was about to start when the guy from Orient Canvas came over with the revised price quote for the items we had discussed. Diane came up but I was there already and couldn't really just go back to work so I got involved in the discussion as well. He was going to fix the sail cover and the dinghy cover on Monday and bring them back Monday night (at least the sail cover) so the mainsail would be protected from the sun. When he left, I first had to get the epoxy and supplies out. That meant moving some things around and then putting them back. Well, by the time I cleaned up the area under the deck, sanded the backing plates to remove the corrosion and cleaned up the locker some more, it was too late to start with the epoxy so I just put some things away and went for a shower. It had been pretty hot and I spent much of the day inside an airless locker. The next day was very tiring day for me. After breakfast, we discovered another problem with the toilet. We hadn't used it since I put it back together and tested it briefly but when it was used now, it was almost impossible to flush and it leaked. Since Elias was going to put the last coat in the area today, I just cleaned up the water and left it for another day. I went up a little before 9am to the swap meet here at the marina where people try to get rid of the stuff they don't need or want anymore. I found a nice Alpenglow light that I bought, and also got some spare 8-watt fluorescent bulbs. Texas Reb was selling their old refrigeration unit and I was very tempted to buy it as a spare since it was the same type as the one I now have, and it was very cheap, but I waited a little too long and someone else bought it as a spare for their boat. Oh well. Diane came up a little later and we both went back to the boat around 11 and I started to work on the stanchion bases again, but I didn't get too far since Diane wanted to have lunch at noon. I started again after lunch and got the epoxy in place to the thickness I hoped would be good to make the backing plates parallel with the deck surface. I also patched some old screw holes and some missing paint with the epoxy as well. Once that was done, since I had to wait for the epoxy to dry, I set about making the locker a more efficient storage area - I moved the heating vent hose out of the way and mounted some padeyes to hold up miscellaneous metal bars and tubing that I carry as spares. It took some time to finish because I had to stand up every so often to get the circulation going in my legs again - maybe that's a good reason for a bigger boat; more space to work in. Anyway, Diane had been taking a nap and then went to the mall with Andrea from Midnight Stroller so I when I finished at about 5:30, I just had a shower and came back to the boat. We were leaving early on Tuesday morning to go to Caracas for my eye evaluation and adjustment so we had to get the boat ready for Elias to continue varnishing and we had to get our stuff ready to go. On Sunday, we decided that the best place to finish next was the aft cabin. Before I could do anything else though, I had to finish the stanchion bases so I could get everything back in the starboard cockpit locker. It took until about noon to do the first one - sanding and cleaning the epoxy, cleaning the deck area and the underside of the base. I had Diane hold the bolts while I put the lock washers and nuts on underneath and made them just hand tight - I would torque them down after the caulk dried, probably after we came back from Caracas (of course, that would mean taking everything out of the locker again). The second base was a little more difficult to do and needed more sanding but that one was finished by about 3. Finally, I could put everything back in the locker; both anchors, sails, hoses, lines, the parachute sea anchor, etc. That brought me to about 4pm, at which point I was thoroughly tired, so I got a shower put my tools away. Diane had worked on the PC during the day, made some phone calls and had a nap in the afternoon but helped me a little. She also helped me hang the BCDs back in the aft head's shower stall to get them out of the way and I put the 2 scuba tanks in the aft shower as well. Finally, I also got the dinghy cover off so when Orient Canvas came by tomorrow (hopefully) at 8:30, they could just pick up that and the sail cover quickly and bring them back the same day. I never did get to try to fix the aft head toilet or get the other stuff out of the aft cabin. Diane suggested that we have Elias start with the screens outside first so we would have time to get the aft cabin ready for him to start tomorrow. Since he would probably be late coming from Cumana, that would work, and I was just too tired to do anything else anyway. Monday was a busy day getting ready to go to Caracas and preparing the aft cabin for Elias. I got the aft cabin emptied but I first had to arrange everything that was already sitting in the main cabin so that more stuff would fit. Elias came at about 10 and started outside so I had some time. Orient Canvas had come by at 8:30 as promised and picked up the mainsail cover and the dinghy cover. He looked at the mainsail cover to get an idea of where the vinyl covering would go and then took both and promised that the mainsail cover would be returned that afternoon. I had just gone back to my work when the guy from North Sails came over and looked at the vang. He explained how to remove the hose fitting so I told him I would get it off and bring it up to the shop. Elias helped me remove it since Diane was at the marina office. First, I had to figure how to support the boom once the vang was off since it holds the boom up and I don't have a topping lift. I could have used a halyard but the main halyard was holding up the awning and the awning tie-downs were in the way so I used the diesel jugs underneath the boom. I released the main sheet to get some pressure off the vang and the boom rose as expected. I had Elias hold the boom while I knocked the pin out. Unfortunately, the pressure was still very great and it required a lot of banging to get the clevis pin out. Then when the pin popped out, the vang jaws got struck on the vang's mast fitting. I had gotten the hose off with no problem but left the little stainless elbow fitting attached. That turned out to be a mistake since when I finally got the vang off the fitting, the pressure pushed it forward and the fitting hit the tang. Naturally, the fitting bent, which is no a big deal but I'm not sure if the threads on the vang were damaged, which might be a bigger problem. I got the other end of the vang off the boom and balanced the boom on the jerry jugs. About that time, Diane came back so I handed the vang to her and she brought it up to the North Sails shop. I was unhappy with using the jugs to support the boom since they were bending under the weight so I got out a board from the starboard cockpit locker (not an easy thing to do with all the stuff on top of it and in it) and asked Elias to help again by holding up the boom while I tried to get the board underneath it without getting the sail stuck between the boom and the board. Diane came back again and just as she got on the boat, one of the jerry jugs fell overboard as I was trying to balance the boom on the board. Of course, she got all excited and bent-out-of-shape. The dinghy was raised against the side of the boat so once I got the boom balanced on the support I lowered the dinghy and went after the jug. By that time, it had drifted under the dock and I had to go back to the boat to get the boathook. Just as I went back, one of Elias' friends managed to get it and brought it back to Diane, who rinsed it off. I went back to the boat, raised the dinghy and went back to work. Another adventure. Elias went to lunch about that time and I continued getting the aft cabin ready for him. Diane helped take some things out and then I took off the doors, headliners and such. I got everything to fit someplace but you could barely move around the boat. The cushions from the aft cabin berth were very large and I had to put them in the v-berth. We would need to move them to go to sleep. Once the aft cabin was ready, I finally had lunch around 2:30. After lunch, everything went back in the starboard cockpit locker (from when I emptied it to get out the board to support the boom), I straightened things out on deck, put some more things away in the cockpit and called it quits, at least as far as boat work was concerned. We both still had to pack for the trip. I had gotten the travel bags out as the aft cabin was being emptied and had found the small locks and keys as well. After a shower, and some relaxation, we ate and started to pack. Tuesday we were up at 5am and left at 6. The taxi was waiting since Diane had asked the guards yesterday to get one for us this morning. The bus trip was fine (our 5th or 6th time) and we had lunch of arepas at the usual stop and got to Caracas at about 12:30. We got a cab to TGIFriday's for lunch and enjoyed a good "American" hamburger. The general manager of the restaurant was very nice - he called the hotel to confirm our reservation and then got us a cab to go to the US Embassy so Diane could renew her passport. When we got to the embassy though, I had forgotten that I had a scissor in my bag that I use to trim my beard, so I had to wait outside. Not a big problem; there was a shaded area with some benches set up for the Venezuelans who want to get a visa to visit the US. It was a nice day and Caracas was cooler than PLC and there was a nice breeze, although the concrete benches were hard. Diane finally came out about 90 minutes later and we got a cab to the hotel. The Embassy would send her new passport to the marina by courier (an extra expense) in about 2-3 weeks. Arriving at 4:30 at the hotel though, we found that our room wasn't ready because we hadn't used a credit card to make our reservation. Well, we don't have a Venezuelan credit card and we were warned not to use our American ones in Venezuela because of fraud. So we went to make a phone call to Giulio and by the time we got back, the room was ready. We relaxed in the room until Giulio came about an hour later. It was very nice to see him again and we talked in the lobby for about an hour and made arrangements to have dinner together tomorrow. He, Giancarla and Lucas, their 3-year old son, were going to Florida on Friday and coming back on the 23rd. They were going to the Miami Boatshow, then driving to Orlando to show Mickey Mouse to Lucas, and then to Charleston, South Carolina to see about the new mast for Sotavento, their C&C 34 that had been dismasted. Once they got back to Venezuela, Giancarla, Lucas and her mother were going to Italy for 6 months for Giancarla's sabbatical. She was also a professor at a nearby university. They were extremely busy getting ready for all the upcoming travel and we were just glad to be able to see them. After Giulio left, we just ate in the hotel restaurant, which was pretty good. We got up fairly early the next morning, skipped breakfast and went directly to Centro Medico Docente, where my eye exam was scheduled. The 'appointment' was for 7am but evidently, there are no real appointments; it seems making one is just a way of the doctors' knowing how many people will be coming in during a morning or afternoon. We got there at 8:30 and after some initial confusion (like we had the first time we were there) our 'appointment' was confirmed although I wasn't going to see Dr. Suarez, who did my surgery. I was examined by a technician first and then saw the doctor who examined me after my surgery, who I also trusted. I was prepared to have a surgical adjustment to my left eye, which now had a slight astigmatism. The doctor said though, that the amount of astigmatism was only .05 percent and the focus correction (my original problem) was excellent. They couldn't correct the slight double vision through more surgery so he offered to write a prescription for glasses! Since the whole point was so that I didn't have to wear glasses anymore, I declined. I had told Diane that the current problem was more of an annoyance than a problem so I figured I could live with it. Well, I needed a checkup anyway. After that slight disappointment, we went to eat something, and decided to get a PSA test done at the laboratory. Since the results would be ready tomorrow and since we were going to stay anyway (for a variety of reasons), we also made an appointment with an urologist. It was worth doing here rather than in PLC because I knew the quality of service was good throughout the clinic. Although the only doctor available the next day was a woman, after some hesitation, I said OK and made the appointment for the next afternoon. Once we were done at CMD, we took a cab to the Sambil Mall to eat at Chili's (we ate there last time we were in Caracas with Samantha, Giulio's daughter, and her boyfriend, Miguel). After a very nice lunch, I got on the Internet while Diane walked around. Back at the hotel, we got someone to check our TV since they told us that there were English channels available, which we weren't getting. We still couldn't get them so the engineer came up, tried unsuccessfully to program the TV and then replaced it with another - with the same results. He finally got another one, slightly newer, and another guy came up as well. This time they got all the channels programmed and we had 2 movie channels in English, with Spanish subtitles. Giulio, Giancarla and Lucas came to the hotel at about 8, and we had dinner in a little Italian restaurant in the mall that the hotel was in. There was a small play area for Lucas to run around so it worked out very well, the food was good and we had a very nice time. |