by steve, on November 16th, 2008 (
Lone Star, St Martin)
I can’t believe it was only two days ago that our shipment finally arrived. Helen had an 11am dental appointment to reseat a loose crown. As luck would have it, the shipment arrived 5 mins after I returned from dropping her off. That left Eddie and myself to start loading. Eddie was charged with cutting the necessary holes to fit the washing machine so while he did that, I got a start on loading the ton of gear we had shipped. Once Eddie was ready we loaded and installed the washing machine – an exercise in of itself. The spaces we had to navigate were just big enough (after having removed doors, panels, etc) to maneuver the unit into position.
Helen returned from the dentist with incredible relief to know that the shipment had finally arrived. About midday Tom and Pat showed up to help out. By about 2pm we had everything loaded. Eddie, who had called a favour to get us the dock we were on was keen to keep the time as short as possible so with gear strewn all over the boat and deck we cast off to make the 2:30pm bridge opening. As with the previous day the bridge did not open at this time. It turns out it won’t be opening at 2:30pm for about a week. So Helen and I found an anchorage nearby to work on the boat and await the 5:30 opening. The problem with anchorage we found was that it was quite weedy and scummy so when we finally weighed anchor we got a lot of muck on deck. We made the 5:30 bridge quite comfortably and anchored back in Marigot back almost where we were before.
That was Friday. What’s happened since? Washing machine has been primed and used for two washes which delighted Helen to bits. One pair of solar panels has been installed with help from Tom. Eddie has mounted the charge controller and will connect to the batteries tomorrow. The solar install has stalled as I’ve run short of screws and rivets. Tom and I used more than Eddie planned on so the second pair can’t be fully fixed on.
Stalled on this job I went back to complete the work on the dodger rails. I took all the parts off the bottom rail, applied 5200 marine compound and screwed it all back in. The top rail is unscrewed but I ran into a problem. I need advice so I’ve stopped there.
I’ve also been troubleshooting a discovered problem with one of the drive batteries. It reads a lower voltage than all the rest which implies there is a problem. I have my car battery charger which I applied this morning to the one battery in isolation while we had the genset running for the washing machine. Results are inconclusive as I really need to run my measly 25A battery charger for about 10 hours to do the 200 Ah battery justice. We may have to go to a marina to do this. Some thinking to do. My parents arrive next Wednesday for a three week stay. If we’re going to stop at a marina, that would be the best day. We’ll see. Another chat with (Saint) Eddie as if we find the battery really is hosed we’ll need to get it switched out very soon after – probably the following day before we leave the marina. That will require some planning as the battery change job will be a royal pain.
Helen has done a fantastic job organizing the boat while I’ve been doing my work. It’s beginning to feel like home.
Tonight we’re cooking dinner for Pat & Tom to thank them for all their help. Tom was down in his bilge today. I offered my help but he was ok. If we can’t pay it back we’ll just have to pay it forward. Pat and Tom will be off to the Virgins next week so we’ll be sad to see them go. This is the way of cruising friendships. Chances are we’ll meet again. Tom is keen on being around Antigua for the April Regatta. That may be a good thing for us to go see too. Time will tell.
