Sailing with Nine of Cups

Let's do a recap of repairs on Cups during the past week. David has not been a slouch. He's busy all the time. He's been load testing/equalizing batteries ALL week. It takes several hours for the process which is performed on each individual battery...one at a time. The good news is the starboard battery bank has recovered to 85%+...this is great. The bad news (which is no surprise) is that the port battery bank is trash...referred to by David as “ballast”. A topic of discussion between the adults aboard at a later time.

As you'll remember, we spent a day last week looking for hydraulic hose fittings for the steering system. After much goose-chasing, David found what he needed. Well, not actually. The parts he got weren't quite right ... as is many times the case. This is not a David-issue. This is a boat issue and a different country issue. Parts aren't always quite the same here and the boat is older and many times jury-rigging is required. This takes patience to figure out (and we already know how I rate in that department). Long and short of this...we need to return to the hydraulic hose fitting place for another round of fittings.

Midst a rain shower the other night, I noticed the settee cushion next to me was damp. There was a small drip, drip, drip from the portlight above me. This was duly noted and added to the ever-present to-do list. David took a look at the portlight the next day. The easy solution? Remove the bezel from the outside of the portlight and re-caulk. That's it. But!! Nine of Cups Rule #1 applies here: Nothing (absolutely NOTHING) is ever easy on a boat. So...when he removed the bezel, he found the reason for the leak was that a screw hole was stripped allowing water to seep in. This required drilling out the hole, filling it with epoxy to bond new fasteners in place, waiting for the epoxy to cure and then re-caulking again. But while the portlight was removed, he noted the acrylic plastic was crazed and probably should be replaced. And heck, while he was at it, the other three portlights could use replacing, too. He located a place in Hobart that can supply the material and cut it to size. It's in that same picturesque, industrial area that the hydraulic hose shop is located and since we have to go there anyway ...

Now we have four more chores on the to-do list in addition to the hydraulic hose replacement plus the trip to Hobart to find the necessary parts. This will also require a trip to Bunnings (e.g. Home Depot/Lowes) to purchase silicone adhesive (and look at cool tools because you can never have too many).

He's changed the engine oil and has done all the regular maintenance. He's repaired numerous pieces of equipment with various ailments including the VHF radio (wiring issue), windlass chain counter (reed switch replacement) and the daytank fuel level sensor. My galley stove needed leveling...all my cakes had a definite list to starboard. He's replaced the third reef line and wired in a new speed/depth tranducer for replacement when we haul out. And yet...the to-do list continues to grow.

We will indeed sail again someday...just not sure when. Oh, by the way, I will be accompanying David into Hobart, but this time I'll take my iPad and play Words with Friends while he's sussing out parts.