Sails on and watermaker installation progressing

Between showers we were able to get all of the sails on today and also nearly completed the installation of the new watermaker.  I plan to post some pictures in the next several days but at this point I have all of the plumbing completed and have a small amount of wiring to do to finish the installation.

Lesley is stowing all of the stuff that we brought with us this year and inventorying and noting stowage locations.

Putting the boat back together

We spent the first full day with the boat back in the water by cleaning, putting provisions and spares away, and desperately searching for four Right Hand thread "T" bolts for our new lifelines!  We had four new lifelines fabricated this summer using the old lifelines as templates.  Since we did not need new turnbuckles  we got just the lifelines - seems that Seco South has changed the way they are making lifelines.  The original lifelines have swaged ends that are Right Handed (RH) threaded to fit the turnbuckle - and the "T" bolt side has left hand threads.  The new lifelines we got had swaged ends with Left Handed (LH) threads so we had a crisis - new lifelines could not be attached to the stanchions!  There is only one rigger on the Island (Turbulence) so we borrowed a car and headed to the rigger.  Turns out the lifeline ends they use here are not the same as used on our boat so we were out of luck, almost.  I checked the scrap pile and found the ends we needed and asked the shop manager if we could scrounge them.  He said yes, we did, and after 2 hours in some Spotless Stainless our new lifelines are in place.

Tomorrow we will put the dinghy back in the water, move our frozen meat to the boat, and continue unpacking and stowing stuff from our barrels.

Have penciled Greg in for a visit on board for 24 Dec after his arrival from Spain.

We are whipped but the boats in the water

New record for us - we flew in Friday, spent Saturday doing some shopping and staging then started working on the boat Sunday - Lesley did a major portion of the hull and I did the bottom paint and a few other projects.  My stomach is still tender so any heavy strain creates a problem - I can rely on Lesley to help and that makes a big difference.  This year simple things broke - but due to the logistics of finding parts simple is not simple here.  We fixed the broken parts and we tried again to confirm our launch time - BIG QUESTION AM or PM on Thursday? 

No answer - regardless of who we talked to - Lesley said that we are ready so why not ask if they could launch us today - SHOCK OF ALL SHOCKS they did - we were in the water by 3:30 and moved to Le Phare Bleu shortly thereafter. 

What a shock - all systems go, freezer was at 16 degrees when we left and we are now looking at a nice calm schedule to get things sorted out on the boat.  All of the additional work we did in the spring to get the boat ready for haul out and summer storage paid off - we are back in the water and ready to start loading the material the we shipped from Florida.

Looking forward to hooking up with Greg when he arrives here later this month - party time for sure!

Boat Prep continues

We continue to make good progress getting the boat ready to launch.  We've had a few small setbacks - yesterday the sink drain in the head decided to come apart.  I tried several times to put it back together but the 1" elbow that threads into the sink drain insert was very flexible and kept popping apart.  We finally bit the bullet hopped in the rental car and make the circuit looking for a better fitting.  Again, Island Water World saved the day and we found what we were looking for.

We stopped and had pizza for lunch then came back to the boat and continued prep work.  We brought a new name/hailing port decal back this year as the old hand painted name was fading very badly.  We used Easy Off to remove the old paint and then cleaned the transom.  The new decal went on very easily and really looks nice.  Lesley is going to take a few pictures on the transom later today.

We are scheduled to launch tomorrow (yard will not confirm if morning or afternoon) then we will move to Le Phare Bleu Marina to finish re commissioning the boat.

Today in the Boat Yard

We had some pretty heavy showers overnight and then early this morning so I was skeptical about getting any outside work done on the boat.  We got to the yard about 8:30 this morning and there were lots of puddles and standing water.  I used a 1 gallon bucket and moved some cinders up near our boat to help give us a bit drier area from which to work.  We set up a small scaffold and Lesley started cleaning and waxing the hull while I started on the bottom paint.  I finished on the starboard side and had just move to port when a Dutchman on the boat next to us lifted his awning and dumped a load of water on me, in the bottom paint, etc.  I dumped the water and bottom paint and wiped up the roller pan then dried the hull cussing the hole time.  The neighbor apologized and I said no problem - that the paint was going to get wet anyway in a few days.  I might haven even spoken a few foul words in German!

Things continued to dry and Lesley finished waxing the starboard side as I finished the bottom paint>  We had a few light sprinkles but no downpours so were able to finish.

Tomorrow we finish waxing the hull and then reinstall the GPS, 12 Volt monitor for the NAV computer and test start the engine.  Looks like we are well on track for our scheduled AM launch on Thursday.

Back in Grenada

We left the house today at about 9:00AM and took a one way rental car to the airport in Miami.  Stopped and had a nice lunch in Pembroke Pines and then drove on to the airport and returned the rental car.  The plane was about and hour late but the flight over was good and after a short trip thru Customs and Immigration we were on our way back to the Yellow House.

All of our checked baggage (2 roll aboards and an ice chest of frozen meat) made it safely.  The meat has been transferred to the apartment freezer and we are relaxing now, 12:10 AM.

Will start getting the boat ready to launch again tomorrow.

Shrimp and Grits

I worked on a friends Island Packet 31 today and then came home and Lesley had made homemade shrimp and grits for dinner and key lime pie for desert.  I'm in heaven!