Around 8am I took the dinghy ashore to visit Catermarine to pick up our long awaited for charger. I learned that a second package had also arrived which turned out to be two replacement rudder pins provided free of charge from Lagoon. Unfortunately, as my new design has enlarged the bore on the flanges, these are of little use to us. But we appreciate the sentiment. While in the store I also picked up a gas fitting which we’d ordered at the end of last week to replace the one that had failed aboard.
Back on the boat I set about inspecting the new charger and prepping for the work. As soon as the charger had been inspected I notified the tech in the US who I’d been told would be ready to receive our call. While waiting for a response I continued with as much preparation as I could. I traced and labeled all the wires coming out of the new unit and the old so I’d have no difficulties rewiring. I took pictures of the old charger so I had something for possible future reference. I then waited for contact with the tech.
While waiting I set about fixing the gas connector that had failed. I’m not sure what was going on in my head but I cut the wrong end off of the hose with the damaged connector. That required another trip ashore to order a new connector and hose. The guy in the store actually made up the hose for me and probably did a better job of it. Back on the boat I puzzled over why I couldn’t put everything back together. I then realized I’d asked for a connector to go into the wrong end of the regulator. So an embarrassing third trip in was required to get the right connector. They switched over connectors without charging.
I was then able to reassemble everything. After testing all the connections with soapy water and finding/fixing a leak in a joint I hadn’t touched all was done. The new hose is a lot more flexible than the old so things are a little easier to manage in the gas cannister department so all in all it worked out well.
In the afternoon Helen and I drove to Paihia to shop. While out we were contacted by the upholterer who wanted to visit the boat. He didn’t want to go out in the dinghy as he had the new covers and foam which he wanted to bring aboard to fine tune. We had an hour to get back to the boat, put the food away, raise the anchor and get onto the delivery dock. We managed this with a few minutes to spare even though we had to take our time raising the anchor to wash all the mud off.
With the fine tuning done, the upholsterer left and we departed anchoring in a different and shallower spot. One of the changes we’re implementing is to improve the fastenings on the cushions as the old ones don’t hold very well. The last project of the day was to remove all the old fastenings, drill out and retap all the holes, seal all the holes, screw in all the new fittings and clean up.
We were not contacted by the tech for the charger. We’re getting kind of used to this. Sadly.
I did receive an email overnight from France saying that we will be able to contact the tech at 2pm our time. We had planned to go hiking today but are now staying in to hopefully establish contact and hence replace the charger.
This morning we’ve ordered a few more things we need for the boat which took a few hours of research. The day has been a little gray so perhaps it hasn’t been too bad staying in. Tomorrow afternoon there is a presentation planned on good anchorages in the area so we’ll hang around for that. We’d still like to do a hike so that now looks like Friday. Maybe tomorrow morning if we can get our act together.
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