Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Yesterday I found the source of the leak discovered a few days ago. After a night of heavy rain the evidence below the aft bunk was more pronounced. Furthermore, the places where the evidence of slight water flow were evident were collecting find dirt. This told me a couple of things. The main thing was that the source of the leak must be somewhere that collected dirt/dust. Given that the boat was left cleaned up by CatCo there were not too many places this could be. In fact, the most likely source was the cabin floor drain. Looking there I could see dirt packed into one corner of the join between the floor of the drain well and the pipe leading down. I went below, cleaned the a section of water trails, went back up and chucked five buckets of sea water into the cabin train. 30 mins later I saw new water down below. Result. Now all I need is a couple of dry days then the good old 5200 will be out and a repair performed.

This morning I was woken to the most concerning combination of the bilge alarm and the water pressure pump running. The immediate conclusion was that a pipe under pressure had come undone and they were both working to overcome the result. In the end it turns out there is a very slight leak in the tee join we put into the pressurized cold water line which feeds the fresh water flush circuit of the watermaker. As luck would have it, they both just happened to go on together. Maybe a passing vessel had given the boat a shake and triggered both together. My reaction had been to immediately wake Helen (in case I needed help) and go rushing to the probable source of the problem with much concern. The source of the problem was easy to identify and for now all I had to do was turn off the water pump – something I really should do each night anyway. For now, it is fortuitous I left it on as we may not have discovered the leak so easily.

This morning we tried something new. About 6:30 I dinghied over to the dock and picked up fresh (and I mean French fresh) croissant and bread for breakfast while Helen prepared coffee. Heaven was repeated.

Today will see the first trial of the watermaker. About 2 hours of work remain before we’re ready for this. I’ve completed connecting all the hoses I can. I have a couple of problems I’m leaving until I can discuss with Eddie but neither are too complicated.

In the end I’m glad our gear wasn’t cleared yesterday. I want the get the watermaker sorted before we start chucking stuff into our starboard cabins. Also, it turns out the French canal bridge broke down yesterday. At the same time, the Dutch side is undergoing a weeks maintenance. Everybody in the Lagoon is consequently stuck there until one or the other is made operational. We of course can’t get into the Lagoon which is where we were due to have our gear delivered. Eddie says he has a plan B in case the bridge is still out of action on Monday.

Yesterday we had no luck emailing or telephoning the cargo port so we decided to take our third bus trip to Philipsburg and walk to the terminal. Upon arriving we found the offices locked with a sign saying their phones and internet were down and consequently the office was closed and they would not be processing any cargo releases. There were some staff milling around so we hoped to find the woman who would accept our bill of lading copy. Turned out she had left to visit clients. We did meet the guy we met on our second visit and asked him to try his best to get us an email when things were up.

Work on the boat progresses. The main water maker unit is now physically installed. The rest of the units will be fitted today and I’m going to help by fitting hoses.

For now, here are a few recent pics :

Extra: Had a breakthrough with my wireless router today. Turns out 90% of my problems to date have been to do with Vista and I now have a workaround. I have now been able to setup an internal wireless aboard the boat (both laptops running) bridged to the wireless to land via my more powerful external antenna. I don’t have this down to a repeatable process yet nor have I found a way to simplify it totally but the problem space has been dramatically improved. Of course, my on board amp consumption has gone up which is a problem prior to getting the solar installed. On that front I have just heard we won’t get our gear until Monday at the earliest. Oh well. Time to chill over the weekend.

…. came this morning when we went ashore.  We had separate tasks, Helen to the supermarket and I to obtain the internet subscription.  First we went to the bakery and each had a fresh croissant.  We’re on the French side so they know how to do it.  Heaven.

Then things played out in Caribbean style.  I walked the half mile to the place I could buy a months internet.  Turns out they only take cash and I didn’t have enough.  So it was back to the dinghy, back to the boat, you know the rest.

Once on the net I tried getting more information on our shipping.  No emails from them despite providing them ours.  No responses to the emails I have sent them.  I have tried calling several times both by Skype and using Eddie’s mobile phone.  Never picks up on either of the numbers we have.  So it’s probably another ride on the local bus to the other side of the island this afternoon.

I have discovered a burnt out fuse going to the fans that cool the motors so I now have to troubleshoot that.  Am getting some help from the techs at CatCo which is making this manageable.

Eddie is progressing on fixing in the watermaker.  Once all the components are fixed in, I will connect all the hoses to both save some money and to learn more about the system.  He’s also progressing on cutting the hole for the chartplotter.

We’re both feeling a little overwhelmed with all the setup ahead of us.  Our shipment has yet to arrive and communications are frustrating.  We’ve already decided we need to slow down our plans.  We intend to stay longer in individual locations and move on less than originally planned.  Blogs are likely to become less frequent until we settle in.

Today we pickup our dinghy and outboard.  On the way back we’ll pick up the watermaker.  Once back to the boat we’ll move out of Fort Louis marina and into the local bay where anchoring is free but close to town.

Yesterday we met with a recommended boat worker who we liked a lot.  He will be helping me with a number of the required installations we need to perform.  He is local and has already provided good information about the island.

That’s all for now.  If we don’t blog for a few days, don’t worry.  We’re not giong anywhere just yet.