A couple of years ago we had an indirect lightning strike which caused the slow deterioration of our electrical system and the failing of many systems on board. It became so bad that we could not use our wind generator anymore and had to use the watermaker in manual mode which made in very difficult to flush the membrane after use. I had to make a direct connection to the house battery for our freezer/refrigerator and navigation system. It was also clear that cruising this year was going to be very complicated and expensive due to all the regulations governments put in place based on the Covid-19 pandemic. It was in the beginning of the year so bad that the cost to enter Belize and/or the Bay Islands of Honduras was over $1,000.00. This amount is lower now but it is still over $500.00. With all this in mind we decided to do a major upgrade of the electrical system and replace some of the devices. We made a long list of all the needed items and started shopping during our stay in the USA last year from July until November 11.

The only good and basically the only store for offshore boats in Texas is West Marine in Kemah. We also needed parts and repairs on our watermaker and the only service provider in Texas is also in Kemah. It took us two trips to Kemah which is about 250 miles from New Braunfels to get it done with basically very bad and disappointing results. I will not go into details, but we are so happy that there is Amazon.com. We created over hundred orders and it was amazing how fast we got our stuff delivered. Some even the next day and some on Sundays. On the other side we waited over 2 months for the repairs and ordered items from the watermaker dealer and it was done wrong or incomplete. It was so nice for these failed organizations to blame the Covid-19 pandemic. This was our lesson for future purchases: order on-line which is faster, in a lot of cases cheaper and no complications. We went even that far that we ordered clothing items and footwear. Dorothy's special sandals came all the way from England in less than 2 weeks.

After we received most of the items on our list we started making shipments to RAM Marina's shipping agent in Doral, Florida. Typically, the shipping agent sends all the packages in one shipment to Guatemala where RAM Marina takes care of the import, customs clearing and shipment to the marina. We took one of the most expensive items, the Main Electric Distribution Panel, with us in our luggage. To protect the item, we ordered again with Amazon a large hard-shell suitcase and packed the panel with quite some foam, etc.

RAM Marina has two cabanas which each as 3 guest bedrooms, the largest one has a private bathroom and the two other rooms share a bathroom. The main living room and the kitchen with the appliances are common areas. We had the room with the private bathroom and a smaller room for storage while the other room was used by other guests. I really was not very happy with this and did not want to share the cabana on a long-term basis until we can move back into the boat. The marina manager Karen, who happens to be our adopted daughter allowed us to rent the entire cabana and we have a very comfortable house across from our Island Girl.

In my previous blog I described how I started the upgrade process for which I planned to take 3 months. We are now 4 months in Guatemala and although the electric upgrade is done we are still working on the boat. I am very happy with the electric upgrade and professional experts that came to our boat were surprised that an amateur like me could do such a job. We tested the system as much as we could but of course, the real test will come after the boat is back in the water.

The biggest problem was the replacement of the electric system of our anchor windlass. The manufacturer did not give us proper documentation but fortunately we found on the internet another expert who gave us proper instructions. When the boat is on the hard we take all our 2 times 250-foot anchor chain out of the locker so it was a good test when we put all the chain back into the locker.

After I installed the watermaker we did not get any information on the control and display unit. It turned out that although we were told that the old unit would work it was not the case so we had to order a new one and we are waiting for the arrival of a good friend who offered to bring this item for us to Guatemala.

We know that the teak top and side rails were in a bad condition and this was proven during all the heavy rain when we discovered a lot of water intrusion. To fix and install new teakwood was impossible for me without proper tools so a few very skilled workers of RAM Marina did this work. The work was a little delayed by days of heavy rain, but the new wood is installed and the rest is restored with epoxy, covered with 3 coats of epoxy and will now get several coats of 2 component varnish. Also, this work will be done by the very skilled and friendly RAM Marina staff. We enjoy so much to work with these people they are so friendly and fun to be with and we admire their skills and work ethic. The results of their work are always amazing.

I replaced and/or upgraded several thru-hulls and a few of them are intakes and below the waterline. One of my most favorite workers told me how to do it and I decided to let him do the work since mistakes during the installation can have very bad consequences. A new owner of a boat purchased here in the Rio Dulce found it out this week when during the maiden voyage one of the thru-hulls failed and the bilge pump could not pump out all the incoming water so the crew had to call a "Mayday", abandoned the boat and were saved by tanker who came to the rescue.

This blog is only about what most people may consider "Work", but I do not work. I stopped doing that the day after I retired. I have a hobby and my hobby is fixing things and making things and most of the time I have a lot of fun doing it. I am very happy to wake up in the morning around 4:30 and walk to the boat between 5:00 and 5:30 to start my day. My only interruptions are breakfast, coffee break, lunch, tea-time and I stop at about 4:30 in the afternoon so I am ready for my 5:00 rum drink in anticipation of a small dinner. That may sound very boring to many people, but not for me because I like it and I am having fun.

Not because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but I do not need a lot of social contact; however, a couple of days in the week I like to go to the RAM Marina office to talk to my wonderful daughter Karen or I have a phone chat with my children Dominque and Robert in the USA. Social contact now-a-days is in my opinion very boring with endless stories about the virus, lockdowns, wearing masks yes or no and other issues. People are so depressing most of the time and have completely forgotten how to live an enjoyable life. But we retired people are so lucky, we have our fixed income and nobody to tell us what to do if you do not listen to the so-called experts, scientists and bureaucrats. Be safe, be careful and responsible and everything is fine.

It is already a long time ago, but for me it is like yesterday when we celebrated my birthday with a great lunch in the jungle with "Dreamcatcher" together our new granddaughter "Melissa". Oh, what a delicious Christmas dinner she cooked on the typical Guatemalan Christmas Eve. It was a wonderful new experience to celebrate Christmas with my great Guatemalan family. When daughter Karen and her husband celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary we had a "Steak Lunch" with the largest steak I have ever seen (see my pictures).

RAM Marina is often used by people traveling Central America with relatively small RV's or modified vans. Over the past weeks we had neighbors from Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Japan, Hongkong and the USA. Our Austrian neighbors have a large RV with a garage in which they transport a nice ATV. We had a very pleasant evening with our 'next door neighbors' - two couples: both women from Japan, one man from Hongkong and one from the USA. What an interesting visit.

We hope that our boat is ready to be splashed in a couple of weeks and that all the tests we have to carry out will be successful so we can have a small sea trial before we leave for Belize or the Honduran Bay Islands and still get some sailing in before the start of this hurricane season.