More progress

We made good progress yesterday. The skies were clear all morning allowing us to do all the work we had planned. This time we took pictures as we went. These first two pictures show the original 6 8D batteries in the starboard locker:

The first task was to remove the 6 8D batteries, each weighing approximately 160lbs (about 72kg). Again, some were covered in acid which meant we had to clean them while lifting them. Now that we’re ‘getting used’ to removing batteries our technique was getting quite good. We were able to use existing battery boxes more creatively to help break down the task of lifting the batteries into smaller steps. Once the batteries were all removed Helen tested each one to see how good they were while I removed all the batons and straps, cleaned up the locker and put wood glue into the ‘holes’ left in the floor before she was delivered.

Helen then washed all the boxes and created and affixed the starborg supports into the bases while I screwed in the batons and straps.

The last task was to place the boxes and 12 6V batteries. The second of the following two pictures is actually from the port hull. I don’t have a picture of the batteries all cabled up but I should get one today.

Note how we now only need 4 boxes rather than six and that I am able to space the boxes to create considerably improved access.

As a complete aside, it appears one of the gas rigs (or another just like one of them) appeared off the coast a couple of days ago. Helen was quite surprised wondering why she hadn’t seen it there before. It seems it has moved. If you click on the image you’ll get a close up view.

Left for this morning is the wrap up on the starboard battery bank. We’ll take our old cables in to be cut up and have new ends put on as we did for the port bank. Once they’re ready we can install them and test. I then want to fully charge both banks and reset the system so we’re good to go. This may mean running the genset for a few hours. We can do our washing and maybe run the air cons to drive out some of the moisture we’ve collected in the last week.

We’re tentatively expecting to head back to Grenada Wednesday night to arrive Thursday morning. This gives us two days to be tourists here in Trinidad. We’re likely to hire a car tomorrow to do some touring as well as pick up food. Most food items are about 20% cheaper here so we want to stock up. Diet coke is a fraction of the price so we’ll load up on that and other similar items.