The first mate had her locks chopped off a little shorter than anticipated, leaving her captain quite convinced he is now cheating on his real wife, who is not a grey haired old lady, who is somewhat boyish in nature.
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| A Selfie, Mulligan's Happy Hour |
Nanny Cay is the place to be for repairs. All the boats on C-Dock are in the process of working with various trades to get ourselves back to the life of being cruisers. Guess who we found on C-dock? Happy Chaos and Unknown Island, of course! They are both having their rudders replaced and these will have to come from the factory in Germany (under warranty). There was a problem with the electrical connectivity that caused rudder post corrosion. They are both lucky to have caught the problem before a crisis occurred. Volver is of a much older vintage, and does not appear to have the problem. Although we have not lifted the boat for a proper inspection, we don't have the "ground" that appears to be responsible for their troubles.
Volver has enough electrical problems of her own. Bill and Linda Knowles from the Salty Dawg rally directed us to Lincoln (behind Quantum) to sort out our alternator problem. In less than a one hour service call he was able to determine that the two guys at the Bitter End did not know how to install our alternator, and he fixed it quietly and left. But Alfred the fridge guy has been here twice and no luck. The first time, he was here for 2 hours just trying to access the compressor, and left advising that we must tear up the boat before he can help us. The captain spent the entire afternoon, but eventually was able to remove the compressor from it's bracket and expose it sufficiently. Called Alfred, he comes this morning and tells us the compressor and the controller seem fine. Can we please re-wire the system and then call him again.
Yes, we can. This takes several hours. Much dirt, more intimate aquaintance with the bilge (truly thought they were all cleaned) and when we figured out a way, we hoped to just hook up the wires and ask Alfred to inspect. The wires, when tested by touching the batteries, turn on the compressor and Bob is your uncle! Not so soon hopefulness, for as soon as the circuit was closed we lost power to the entire boat! Yes, we need Alfred. This will have to wait until next week. It is friday, and he is on family time now.
Both of our sails are in to the sailmaker and we have asked him for a quote for new windows for the dodger. People kept falling on them and they are horribly yellow anyway. We bought new lines for the 2nd reef. Have not heard from New England Ropes about how we can cash in our raffle winnings, so we have held off on buying a replacement for now. We need a bunch of new blocks and a rigger to come and do some work on our boom but no luck in getting him to come for a visit so far. We somehow ended up with a piece of re-bar in our cockpit table instead of stainless steel, which nearly rusted itself in place, and caused rust stains to permeate the binnacle, so we have a stainless guy replacing that.
We've run out of groceries again and it is a
$32 cab fare to get more. We hoped to have a fridge/freezer by the time we needed to buy meat/fish again. Does not take long when you are buying a 3 day supply. Veggies are still unrefrigerated but the fridge is stocked with cold beer. One has to prioritize. We are back to creative use of tinned tuna and the restos.
Are we having fun? Some. I think we feel stalled. Waiting all the time. Capt'n not sure if he can live with so little structure: wants to have a functional boat now. Wants to sail now! We've done nothing but plan, organize, repair, and spend money for months. Would like to start reaping the rewards. If we could access retail stores more easily we would be happier. Eating well is a very important part of our happiness. I bought my folding MAC wagon and would be happy to cart it around town and fill it up and enjoy the shopping in Road Town. But Nanny Cay is where it is at for concentrated Trades people, and that is what we needed, so here we are, rounding out the better part of a whole month, without much in the way of produce/refrigeration!
This weekend, we have laundry, some sewing, but mostly a lot of waiting. There is a beach, pool, and a beach bar. We'll do some of that, and pretend we are tourists on vacation. I did not mention that it is raining here, alot. Pretty well as soon as you get your hatches open to vent the heat out, the wind starts up and you know you have 5 minutes. Then, a few drops, then a deluge. More significant when your dodger is elsewhere as your companionway is unprotected! The rain also starts when you have left the boat and are about 50 feet away: too far to turn back, but we wouldn't anyway. It is a warm rain, and you'll never get anywhere if you wait for it to stop. I should not have spoken. such a nice night. I have challenged the Gods. Gotta get cover now.
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