Waiting For The Thaw
14 April 2018 | Sisimiut, West Greenland
JANICE
In the last two weeks there has been some thawing of the harbour ice, helped by the local fishermen. One of their prime sources of food, seal, is sitting out on the huge West sea ice, so they want their smaller dorries in the water to get to this. We have watched them working at the ice with tuks (ice picks), chain saws and their propellors. At one point half the harbour was clear but in the last week the temperatures dropped again and now the harbour is frozen back to the entrance. It is not so thick so activity by boats breaks it up during the day but they work through it carefully. At the ship yard end of the harbour, it is still very thick but cracks are appearing with the spring tide. The ship yard have got one fishing boat out, it was sinking, repaired it and put it back in on Friday. They then got another fishing boat out, so there is promise there.
The day time temperature remains between -10 to -15°C. When the sun breaks through it is warm but any shade and the cold bites. Last Monday we had 20 knots of wind from the West which pushed the sea ice closer to the land especially just North of here up to Aasiaat. Otherwise there is very little wind.
We have enjoyed watching the locals working to clear the harbour, even walking across the harbour ice ourselves to cut the corner. We have had a few good nights of Northern Lights, despite it being light until 10pm.
We have been busy fitting the new SSB radio which involved drilling holes through the deck and interior panels, fitting waterproof glands and then cutting panels out of the Nav Comms cupboard for the new radio. I have had to put my electricians hat on again to wire the main unit to the distribution board and lay out the Kiss ground plane in the aft lazarette. All this has involved lifting floors, removing panelling, mousing wires under furniture and through compartments while retaining the waterproof systems and integrity of the existing boat manufacture.
Since launch we have had a problem with the fuel filler deck fittings. We bought them as 2" but once fitted realised that 2" meant the hose not the actual nozzle entrance they tapered down significantly so a 1.5" nozzle does not fit in properly and therefore the air vents do not work properly. Therefore we have to be slower and more careful when filling with fuel to avoid spillages. To fix this meant drilling out the taper, not clever while in situ as difficult to stop swarf going into the tanks. So while we have had time we took them out and used the ship yards lathe to fix this problem. Getting to the port one meant taking the drinks cabinet out; another test of the boat systems and manufacture. All achieved within a couple of hours and a great opportunity to check behind the furniture that the boat is dry and clean.
Being out of the water has meant we could eventually fit the new rudder shaft seal that Andy designed and had machined in Iceland (thanks again Finnur, you are a star 😊). We couldn't do it in the water as we had to drop the rudder out and need a jack to lift its 300 kg back up.
Finally to deter any future thieves, Andy designed a plate to fit over the companionway door so the door can not be jimmied open again. The local fabrication shop VVS Services were very handy for this. For all these jobs we have had to find the local equivalent of B&Q = Stark, the fabrication shop = VVS Services, electrics wholesaler and the garage (Norbert) for the radio wiring deck hose (nautically coloured green for starboard, the port one is red!). Everyone has been friendly and helpful and disappointed we had had trouble. We have marked all these places on the Sisimiut town map, for boaters interest, rather than the normal tourist points of interest!