A few hiccups!
10 January 2019
MS
Before coming home in June we had to get Krabat ready for bed. Not only did she have to come out of the water but the sails and all canvas had to taken down and numerous pieces of equipment had to be taken off/decommissioned and safely stored.
Bill in particular has been putting everything back in its place and systematically checking all equipment is in good working order. We have come to the conclusion that boats don’t really like being left in these hot humid conditions as we’ve come back to several unexpected failures. So far we have a leaky kitchen tap (probably just a O ring that has perished), no gas coming from the gas bottle to the stove (the regulator stopped working but luckily we had a spare), the anchor light wouldn’t come on (I had to hoist Bill up the mast twice, turned out to be a bit of corrosion but now fixed), we have an electric outboard motor but the main battery has stopped working (major problem but we have two, have been talking to the manufacturer who thinks the battery hasn’t come out of it’s deep sleep mode!). When we tried to recommission the water maker it refused to produce any water. That was a major afternoons work as we had to strip the pump down but eventually spotted two seized valves, cleaned them up, reset and sealed and problem solved.
We’ve also had a problem with the battery charger, had to replace a plastic solar panel connector which had perished, couldn’t get a sail out of a zipped bag (zip seized, so had to cut out and then cost us $100EC to get zip fixed), replaced freshwater pump, and SSB radio antennae unit packed in. When equipment fails there is little chance of getting spares here in Grenada They have to be ordered and shipped which can takes weeks. Fortunately we carry a lot of spares and Bill has been Mr Fix It man but thanks to good sailing friends and their visitors we may be able to get essential spares brought out to us once in the Galapagos.
We hired a car on Saturday and had a major provisioning exercise. We were in the supermarket from 10.30am and finished at 3pm. Once we had completely loaded a trolly we took it to the check out, paid and loaded the car. We did this three times with a lunch break in between. Once we drove back to the marina we had two dingy rides to get everything on board. I haven’t dared add up the cost, food is really expensive and choice quite basic. Couldn’t get eggs or butter and meat and fresh fruit and vegetables limited. So I will never complain about our supermarkets at home, they are fabulously stocked in comparison.
At last we feel ready to start sailing. Tomorrow, (Friday) we sail to Bonaire which we’re really looking forward to although it will take us 72 hours. Here we go first of many a long sail!