Admiral 40 Oceans Dream - Tropical Wave gives Heavy Thunderstorms
28/10/2009, At Anchor in Chaguaramas Bay

Having been lifted from the water on 16 Feb 2009 after our trans Atlantic voyage from Cape Town to fix the long list of problems we had encountered, the day eventually arrived for Oceans Dream to be put back in the water where she truly belongs. The 28 October was scheduled for a pickup in the travelift at 1130 and a launch at 1300 giving us some time to put some antifoul paint on the small patches of the hull where she had been resting.

The day arrived and we felt confident that we had everything ready - all we needed now was some fine weather so that we could get the antifoul on and not be overly challenged leaving the slip which has seen many a scrape when the wind and tide pick up. For us the tide was slack but we could not predict the wind or the rain. Having been successfully placed in the slings of the travel lift we were moved to the slip and then the heavens opened. Like a monsoon it poured for 45 minutes accompanied by strong gusting winds which saw Oceans Dream rocking in the travel lift. This did not bode well.

The storm ended shortly before the travel lift operators came back from their lunch and we were blessed with a lull in the weather. We said our farewells to the many workers who had helped us get ready for this big day as Oceans Dream was gently lowered back into the water and before too long we were motoring out to pick up a buoy in the anchorage.



It was really great to be back on the water and once we had got ourselves securely moored we celebrated with a cup of tea around our new cockpit table as the conversation turned to our cruising plans to take us through the remainder of the year and on into 2010.

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Admiral 40 Oceans Dream / 34 deg C, and Thunder Storms
24/10/2009, Peakes Yacht Services

Fantastic news ... Oceans Dream will be 'splashing' on Wednesday of this week - just 11 months after her original launch and 9 months after our arrival in Trinidad. We are soooo looking forward to getting back in the water, Wednesday just can't come soon enough! The local friends we've made are surprised to hear that we're soon to be vacating our slot in the yard, many were certain we were going to stay for good!

We've spent the last week servicing the engines, cleaning off 9 months worth of Trini dust, painting her bottom, polishing the hulls for what will hopefully be a much longer stint in the water than last time. Our plans are to spend some time in the local waters checking out all the systems and sails before heading North to Grenada for a long-awaited change of scenery and to catch up with fellow cruisers who have headed off prior to us. We then plan to make our way slowly westwards through the outlying Venezuelan Islands, the Dutch Antilles, and then onto Cartegena in Columbia for Christmas (but we've already learnt not to set anything in stone ... we'll see how things go).

We hired a on Friday car for a trip to the wholesalers to provision for the coming weeks (loo rolls, toothpaste, tea-bags, soap, the list goes on...) as it's easier to load up on land than have to carry shopping out to the boat in the dinghy. The hiring of the car was eventful enough in itself. After travelling for about 35 minutes, the thing cut out on us - we were stranded ... no tools, just three emergency numbers to call in the event should 'anything' happen. Fantastic, no need to worry, we'd be outta here soonish. The calls were made to all three numbers, and all three ansaphones responded in the same way "Exclusive Cars - please leave a message". Hmmmm, our original optimism was pretty much quashed there and then! Try again in another half an hour. This time, we had luck and a mechanic was sent out to sort the car arriving an hour later. "Sticky starter" we were told, all well and good but how was he going to fix it? We needed a car to get us to the shops to load full to the brim. After lots of "umming" and "erring", it just so happened the Boss of Exclusive Cars was passing by on the highway, pulled up on the hard shoulder and told the mechanic to give us his car so as not to hold us up any further. Very sensible, and so off we went on our shopping expedition. Soon we discovered the lack of air-con (a MUST here in Trini, comes as standard usually!) and, following our trip to the wholesalers with the car fully laden "oh no, the boot's jammed, all those perishables...". We have come to the conclusion that any decent scrapyard in the UK would reject the car on the basis of it being worthless! Here endith our lesson on hiring a car in Trini!

That's it for now, the next blog will include an instalment on Oceans Dreams warranty work ... and the 50 or so defects listed on the Surveyors report.
With very best wishes from a Very Happy Crew.

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Admiral 40, Oceans Dream / Hot, Hot, Very Hot!
10/10/2009, Peakes Yacht Services

OK, so we were entertaining ourselves with a game of 'themed' Scrabble whilst having a sundowner on the trampoline last night ... can you guess the theme based on the photo?! Another form of entertainment since returning from the UK is the good old British sitcom. We came back laden down with DVDs galore ... including such classics as Fawlty Towers, The Vicar of Dibley, Cold Feet (32 episodes) etc and for the more serious viewing, we have David Attenborough join us occasionally! At the moment, we've got really hooked on Michael Palin doing his Phileas Fogg bit in Around the World in 80 Days. What is it with his white trainers though? Bit of an 80's fashion faux-pas for sure!

Whilst in Trini, we continue to keep in touch with loved-ones by Skype. On occasions the link can be somewhat intermittent however we've learnt the earlier we call the UK, the better the signal seems to be - a good time seems to be when it's 07:00 with us (5 hours behind GMT). However, based on a few recommendations from fellow cruisers, we have recently invested in a 'Wirie'. This is basically a wifi antenna which should allow us to 'see' and access signals we've not been able to previously. It was ordered about 10 days ago and we know it's arrived in Trinidad. Sometime over the next few days we shall begin the process of tracking it down ... is it at Customs? Chaguaramas Post Office? Carenage Post Office? Who knows!

For those of you who keep an eye on oceansdream.co.uk, we update with photos every now and then but in reality, we've not been that 'snap-happy' of late. We've seen much of what there is to see here in Trinidad but as soon as we set off again, we'll be updating the route and other relevant pages.

Some of you have asked what happens to our mail and despite being on the other side of the Pond, we continue to receive post in the UK (although we did manage to get it down to a minimum) and our 'Personal Assistant' (Adrian's daughter - Harriet) does us the honour of scanning anything that might look important and emails it across for us to deal with as necessary.

A question was also raised about prescription medications and the quantities GPs in the UK will supply when travelling. With an NHS prescription they're not too keen to give more than a three month supply of medication. However, it seems every GP is different as some are known to provide a prescription for twelve months! We topped up our 'supplies' in South Africa, they were cheaper to buy there than privately in the UK.

Prior to leaving Oceans Dream for the summer, we spent a few days polishing the hulls (in fact, ALL fibreglass) with some wax and a damp cloth and leaving it to dry. This created a protective layer so that any dirt/dust/filth heading in the direction of Oceans Dream, would sit on top of the wax. Now back on board what is, a pretty mucky boat, we're keen to polish the wax off but have decided to leave it until the last minute before we 'splash'.

So, what news on the 'to-do' list? Well, a line has gone through each of the following: grind back screws, sort new leak in skylight, fit table centre pull, make frame for Flexiteek (going on floor in heads), measure and cut keel shoes. Those are the jobs the guys completed. We've cracked on with fitting a new cleat, meeting a guy about a dinghy cover (subsequently ordered), fitting non-return valve on water pipes, spray-painting the anchor chain at 5/10m intervals, fitting 'wings' to dinghy outboard motor, meeting guy about sorting engine & exhaust, sizing up emergency steering pipe with silicone, cleaning saildrive boots (in preparation for new ones), investigating cost of anti-foul with local suppliers, cleaning, shopping, and of course ... socialising with other cruisers!


Warranty Work - Chapter 2 ~ KEELS

When we arrived in Trinidad we realised that we would have to lift Oceans Dream to fix the leak in the port hull. We decided that we would commission a survey in order to ensure we didn't miss any other faults that were beyond our 'amateur' eyes.

We arranged to be lifted at Peake Yacht Service in Chaguaramas and engaged the services of Billy Wray an American surveyor based in Trinidad. Billy joined us on our trip from the anchorage to the travel lift dock to assess Oceans Dream's handling. You may recall that we had had issues with her wanting to turn to port all the time. We made our way into the travel lift dock with only a few inches to spare either side of the concrete walls. The diver went down to locate the slings and soon Oceans Dream was being lifted and moved to a place on the hard.

The recognised way to support a catamaran on the hard is to rest her on wooden planks underneath the keels, with anti-tipping stands fore and aft. Admiral had not given us any instructions to the contrary. In a few minutes Oceans Dream was sitting on her keels and the slings were being removed. Fortunately one of the travel lift operators noticed that there was some deforming of the hull just behind the keel and he quickly called for her to be put back in the slings.

This picture illustrates the extent of the 'dishing' of the hull.


... And with the resulting cracks internally. The webs had been glued in not tabbed and glassed as is the norm.


We sort guidance from Admiral Yachts on how to support her out of the water and enquired why she could not sit on her keels like all the other cats in the yard. After many reminders and some weeks later we received the chocking information we had requested.

We have written before on this subject but suffice it to say that the catamaran's designer stated that his design ensured that she was strong enough to rest on her keels. Admiral Yachts considered that this was not a desirable feature and as it wasn't referred to in the spec they were going to do nothing about it! Admiral Yachts did tell us that they were waiting a response from the designer but when we asked the designer about this he told us that he had had no requests for information.

Despite numerous attempts to get Admiral Yachts to accept that this characteristic was part of the design, according to the designer, and so there was a significant shortfall in the capability of the catamaran as built by Admiral Yachts - but we failed! In the end we have had to fund the strengthening work ourselves and are greatly appreciative of the support given to us by the designer in achieving this.

This picture illustrates the keelson and strengthened ribs that were inserted to transfer the forces from the end of the keel to the rear bulkhead.


Our final words on this issue are these:

If you want to be able to beach your catamaran or hold her on a drying mooring then we could not recommend you buy an Admiral 40.

Having gotten over this setback our surveyor went about his work and gave us his report some 10 days later - there were more that 50 defects, many described as being serious and requiring attention before going back to sea and a host of examples of poor quality workmanship.

Enough said - next time we will outline these faults.

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Admiral 40 Oceans Dream /34 deg C, and Heavy Rain.
04/10/2009, Peakes Yacht Services

Saturday afternoon saw us down at the Roti Hut in the PowerBoats boat yard as guests of Gary and Grace who have run the hut for the last 11 years. They had agreed to give a few of us cruisers a cookery lesson in the art of roti cuisine. We prepared and cooked, a chicken curry, potato and channa curry, green mango curry, pumpkin, bodi and dhal pouri as well as making roti dough to make two types of bread- one filled with dhal pouri and the other to make 'buss-up shut' (vernacular for "burst-up-shirt," because they resemble torn-up cloth)!

Having prepared our dough and set it aside to rest we began to prepare the curry sauce. To one side was a huge dish of freshly blended garlic - we like garlic but this was looking extreme! Nevertheless the first ingredient into the hot oil was a really good dollop of garlic, followed by curry powder and finally a little water. The mixture was rapidly heated until it took on a different texture, colour and above all aroma. Then it was time to add the ingredients. Grace led us carefully through each of the recipes with Gary fetching and carrying. Soon the open air kitchen was awash with fantastic aromas and colours as the various dishes were cooking away. It was Gary who then took over as he prepared the curry paste for the chicken - his speciality. With four pots all bubbling away we were handed back to Grace to show us the art of making the two types of roti.



After a couple of attempts at gathering the dhal and the roti dough together, we were soon rolling it out in preparation for the quick blast it required on the 'tawa' (flat pan made of cast iron used specifically for cooking roti) before sitting down to enjoy our feast! It was delicious, VERY filling and actually, quite complex - with all the different dishes necessary to make just one true roti. We shall have a go at making some on board in the coming weeks but have a feeling we'll still pop by the Roti Hut on the odd occasion!

Moving on, the weather is extremely hot at the moment - up to 35 deg C and the humidity rises to more than 90% most days with the odd thunderstorm thrown in - still as long as there is lots of ice for the rum punch that's fine.

For those of you who have requested further information, we have decided to add a few lines on the warranty work carried out on Oceans Dream at the end of each blog over the coming weeks. We shall include links to video footage along with pictures we have taken. See below for today's installment.

WIshing all our readers, friends and family our very best wishes.
Adrian and Jackie

WARRANTY WORK ~ cont'd....

Having made our way across the South Atlantic we had already identified a number of issues, which could best be summed up as leaks!

Leak 1. Water coming into the port engine bed. This had been identified on the sea trial but 'corrected' by Admiral Yachts. We were going to have to lift her to identify this fault although Admiral Yachts professed that it really wasn't that serious!

Leak 2. From the skylight in the main saloon. This large expanse of acrylic was seated and held in place with Sikaflex but whenever it rained we were able to catch a few buckets full of water - clearly this too needed to be addressed.

Leak 3. The most perplexing. Water started flooding in from the air-conditioning duct in the forward port cabin. Removing the duct revealed a substantial volume of water was held in a void which was formed between the hull and the bridgedeck. Whenever it rained or when the sea was breaking over the deck the water overfilled into the cabin. After a lot of head scratching we realised that there may have been problem experienced with the starboard locker when the diesel tank split. When the tanks were fitted into each locker the side was not sealed and allowed water into the areas behind and below each locker.

Leak 1 was eventually identified as a pilot hole drilled through the hull that had not been filled when the starboard engine was fitted. A simple mistake maybe but Admiral Yachts would not accept that filling the hole was not the only repair required.


Location of the 'forgotten pilot hole'

The engine mounting brackets and bolts had been sat in saltwater for nearly 3 months and there was very evident corrosion. Despite the recommendations of our surveyor, Admiral Yachts initially refused to address this issue until we sent them a video illustrating the point - click here to view the video

Leak 2 was sorted by cutting back the sealant and replacing it - subsequently we have had to do this in other areas of the skylight.

Leak 3 caused us the greatest anxiety. Admiral Yachts' approach which countered that of our surveyor was to insert another scupper in the floor of the locker. This was surely not going to solve the hole in the locker wall as we suspected. Admiral Yachts knew there had been a similar failure in the starboard locker when the fuel tank leaked and to address this in the port locker would require cutting out the existing water tank. This was going to cost and Admiral Yachts were not prepared to pay. Despite the project manager working on behalf of Admiral Yachts endorsing our view that this needed to be properly repaired by removing the water tank, Admiral refused to budge. After many frustrating debates we in the end decided to fund the repair ourselves. Accordingly we had the tank removed, the unfinished wall of the locker sealed and some very wet formwork replaced. Without this there is no doubt that we would have continued to suffer from the ingress of water and had we fitted the scupper as suggested by Admiral Yachts it would have achieved nothing as there was a false floor upon which the water tank sat! The most distressing aspect of this was that Admiral Yachts just wanted to 'bodge the fix' and despite numerous requests for a drawing of how the locker and tank were constructed and fitted none were forthcoming - we don't know for certain, but strongly suspect that they do not exist. Still we are now happy that we have made good what was a potentially ongoing problem.

... and finally. Most of the locker doors have over the first few months warped to the point that they no longer fit the frame. Admiral Yachts agreed to replace the doors which we had to measure as it appears everything is 'freehand' and not built to a plan - is this what you call bespoke? Anyway, having sent off the measurements the replacement doors eventually arrived. The picture below says it all and we won't be fitting the new ones!!


Warped? You can say that again!

In our next blog we will describe the challenge of getting Oceans Dream onto the hard.

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