Needless to say, during our last day in Trini the humidity was again 100% and it rained, heavily at times. I had until 9:30 in the morning to drop off the rental car so I used it to pop round the stores a few more times. We needed some more starborg so I went there. They said they would be able to make some up by about 1 and that they would call. They never did.
The day passed by prepping the boat in between showeres and we said our goodbyes to friends. At 3pm we did some final food shopping, cleared out then bought and loaded up our wine and rum. On the way back to the boat we passed by Whiskers to our goodbyes to them. Au revoirs really. They’re on their way to NZ by next November too so we’re likely to catch up at some point.
Shortly after 4pm we were off. There was no wind in Chaguaramas to speak of so we motored to the channel. It seemed Dignity was performing better than before. This could be wish fulfillment but it’s possible the system was working better overall with the new batteries.
Once through the channel the wind still wasn’t up enough to effectively sail so we motored in a north easterly direction to get us up wind while we could.
Around 6pm we had enough wind to sail so we cut the motor. About this time the waters cleared enough to put on the water maker. We were pretty low so we had hours of running to fill up. Sleep eluded us for a but but eventually we settled into a rhythm. Helen slept from 9 to 11 while I slept from 11 to 2. During Helen’s shift the winds really picked up and we flew along making 7 to 8 knots, sometimes more. By the time it was my shift from 2 to 5 the winds gradually died to the point when about 5am I turned on the motor as we were not making good progress and a squall was bearing down on us.
We then motor sailed the remaining distance to Prickly Bay arriving just in time for the morning net. On the net we were reminded that due to Swine Flu restrictions we could only check in at St Georges (which we knew) but that we had to take the boat there too (which we didn’t). I guess this stands to reason as if we had swine flu they didn’t want us on the bus. As this was our third time checking into Grenada with the restrictions we knew the symptoms we were supposed to sign off on and knew we didn’t have them. Nevertheless we felt it improper to take the bus so we soon weighed anchor and we back to motoring around Point Saline to St Georges.
Once there we anchored pretty much in the same place as before. In the thin sand we know to be there the manson anchor set more firmly than our delta ever did. Not knocking the delta as it works most of the time but it seems the manson outperforms it. We then dinghied into the yacht club to clear in. We bumped into Jim from Bees Knees who is still doing his summer projects there and said a brief hello. We then popped over to Island Water World to see if they would cut cables and put on lugs if we bought lugs there. They said they would. That meant we were on for the house battery conversion. I’m keen to get this done before carnival. That way we can leave the boat for extended periods without worrying about the batteries.
Back on the boat I turned off the power and reconfigured the existing bank down to two 12V batteries liberating some cable which should yield enough pieces to make the set of connectors need for the first set of new batteries.
Back in Island Water World I discovered they did not have the right sized lugs. The ones for the cables I had had holes too big. I therefore took the bus to Southern Electric in the Prickly Bay area. Here I met Ricardo – the guy I set up the possible battery swap for tools. Together we looked for lugs in their store but they didn’t have the right kind either. He pointed out that he had the right tools to drill bigger holes into lugs, if I could find them, that fit the cables but had holes too small.
Next stop was ACE hardware. I was let out the back entrance of Southern Electric to save me a walk of nearly a mile. This involved climbing down a wall and jumping a ditch. All those hash walks had prepared me for this. ACE didn’t have the right lugs either so my final hope was Budget Marine. They turned out to have lugs that fit the cables with holes that were too small. Rip off prices of course but what could I do. I collected what I thought I needed (I now think I may be short) and trudged back to Southern Electric. Ricardo was glad to help. He drill out the holes while I filed off the rough edges of twenty lugs. I was then also able to borrow the hydraulic crimping tool and fancy cable cutter I needed. Out the back door again to get to the highway it was back on the bus and back to the boat.
On the boat I started by making the cables I needed for the first set of five batteries to go in the first box. With the day now coming to an end I figured despite the fatigue setting in from the crossing I had just enough time to get the first set of batteries in. I had to move the inverter to get access and remove the remaining batteries. Now without power I had to get the new box in, the five new batteries in and get them cabled up before we lost daylight. I just managed it in time. Juice was flowing. I reconfigured the charging system for the adjusted capacity and fired up the charger for 10 minutes to test. All was ok. Off with the charger and on with the cross charger to top up the batteries for overnight and that was that.
Dinner, wine and rest finished off the day.
We have a lot more to do today. The remaining seven batteries need to be installed. I need to remove the first set of five to install battery straps I forgot to put on last night. While I have the tools I need to change three more cable ends from the drive banks so I have lugs with the correct sized holes in them. These were cables attached to the boat so we couldn’t do them down in Trini. I don’t have the lugs for these cables so this will involve another run to the stores. I also want to use the crimper to put on the lugs for the doubling up of the cable runs from the batteries to the control board. A lot to do. Then, and only then, can we relax for carnival.