10/09/2007, Grenada Marine
Blue Star went back in the water and all was well.
| Grenada |
|
Comments [0]
10/08/2007, Grenada Marine
This is a nice shot of the fishing line we found spooled around the drive shaft of one of the sail drives when we changed the anode.
| Grenada |
|
10/07/2007, Grenada Marine
Grenada Marine did a great job hauling Blue Star on time and getting the bottom painted quickly. We also got some critical sage advice from Craig, the gentleman who runs the mechanical area.
When we unbolted the motor we discovered that the starboard motor mount bolt on the engine side was sheered off. The following is speculation but our best guess at the issue.
This likely happened a year and a half ago when the engine was originally damaged by a mismatched folding prop installed at the factory. The dealers replaced the motor and then had to pull it and reinstall it due to another problem. We are guessing that this is the window within which the mount was broken. Regardless you can tell that the motor mount was broken a while ago due to the high gloss polish on the bolt.
Enter tropical storm Felix. So Blue Star is docked beam to the wind and swell and with one motor mount missing. This allows the motor to rock port to starboard, which doesn't happen much... unless you're beam to a tropical storm. The gasket around the sail drive was probably weakened by the loose motor over the prior months but the violence of Felix caused the crack to sheer through the gasket. Voila, hole in boat.
| Grenada |
|
10/06/2007, Grenada Marine
When we went to reinstall the saildrive Jay really wanted to do so by lifting the drive leg up from the bottom. The problem was the hull manufacturer cut a rectangular hole for a round drive plate. Almost, but not quite big enough. The laminate in the area that needed to be trimmed out was thin almost as if it was supposed to be cut out.
Jay is not shy. He grabbed a saw and started hacking on the hull. A moment later the hole was large enough to reinstall the drive leg from below (not to mention remove it from below next time!). This made reassembling the drive much easier.
Jay faired the newly exposed glass and gave it a good epoxy coating.
| Grenada |
|
10/05/2007, Saint David's Bay
We sailed over to Saint David's Bay and anchored just off shore from Grenada Marine today. Saint David's is on the eastern most end of the south side of Grenada. Jay brought Blue Star over yesterday to haul out and we wanted to be close by so that we could help with the work.
| Grenada |
|
10/04/2007, Saint David's Bay
Jay on Blue Star fired up his Yanmar engines a couple of weeks ago right after Felix and was alarmed by an alarm. The "water in saildrive diaphragm" light was flashing with the buzzer howling.
When he checked he found that his port gasket around his SD50 saildrive had failed and needed to be replaced. A small pool of water was sitting on a level with the top of the gasket. No damage to the gasket was visible and no one wanted to mess with it until the boat could be hauled.
The only place that can do a beamy cat in this area is Grenada Marine and they were packed when Jay first inquired. Today, two weeks later, was the day they could get him out.
I wanted to give him a hand and learn as much as possible along the way. So I joined him in Saint David's by car. The haul out went fine and the GM folks did a nice job. Once blocked up we set about getting things set for the yard guys to do a coat of paint while we pulled the gasket.
Hah. Not so easy. Jay did most of the work with me spotting and helping out here and there. First we had to remove the prop. Next we had to unbolt the bell housing, then unbolt the engine to slide it forward. Next we had to lift the drive leg/bell housing assembly up and out of the boat to work on it.
It was about a million degrees out and the sun just baked straight down into the engine room. Working under the boat was better but the lovely smell of Micron 66 made me feel fairly polluted all day long.
| Grenada |
|
10/02/2007, Martin's Marina
We have parted ways with our friends Fred and Cindy on Kelp Fiction II several times now. They left Lauderdale Marine Center before we did and it took us months to catch up with them in the British Virgin Islands. We spent lots of time together in the BVI and traveled from the BVI to Martinique together. Then we had to press ahead to meet some other friends in Saint Lucia. We caught back up with KFII at Rodney Bay in Saint Lucia and traveled to Grenada together but split up three times due to different routes and friends visiting. Now they are heading to California for a month and we are going on to Tobago. It is fairly likely we will not see them for a very long time.
A going away dinner seemed in order, especially since they didn't have any food left after cleaning their boat out for its month of storage. We invited Tami and Jay from Blue Star, which just about includes everyone living on the dock here in Martin's Marina. Hideko and I did a mega shopping trip to the Grand Anse Mall where the IGA is. We returned to Swingin' on a Star loaded down then spent the rest of the day giving the boat a good cleaning.
I love to cook and I'm decent at it. Hideko is a great cook and cooks for us almost every day. I tend to cook the large meals when we have company. Hideko and I would really love to go to a Cordon Blue school, or something similar, and get some real polish though. In the mean time I try to come up with interesting things for the menu when we have guest over.
We had a nice meal with the crew and spent a great last few hours together. Here's the menu we printed for the table:
Swingin' on a Star
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Dinner
Guest List
Cindy
Frederick "Ricky-Baby"
Tami
Jay
Hideko
Randy
Appetizer
Sweet and Savory Chicken Tostadas with a Cinnamon Whisky Cream Sauce
2002 Babcock Pinot Noir, Tall and Sassy Californian
Salad
Green Salad in a Watermelon Vinaigrette
2004 Mendoza Malena, Argentina Red
Main Course
Texas Firehouse Chili, garnished with shredded cheese, fresh red onion, sour cream and vine ripened tomatoes
Tart Apples in a Lime Cr่me Fresh
Garlic Toast
2005 Barton & Guestier Cuv้e Sp้ciale, French Table Wine
Desert
Three layer Blueberry Cooler (Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, Blue Berries, and Sweet Vanilla Cream with shaved chocolate on top served in a wine glass)
2003 Kendall-Jackson Pinot Noir
| Grenada |
|
