Tuesday 7 January 2020
Well, hasn’t this been a voyage of discovery? Last year, I mean 2018, when we tried to leave Shelburne it was pretty obvious that there were things that we needed to do on the boat that we hadn’t. This year there were things that we should have done too but didn’t. As our friend Alan mentioned in one of his comments on this blog, “An hour a day maintenance on the boat is a must” which he had heard from a German cruiser.

First thing this morning I did a first parade and checked the oil in both the engine and transmission - all OK. No dreaded oil milkshake which would have meant that the coolant had gotten into the oil reservoir. I then changed the two Raycor filters after checking to see if I could see any water in the bowl - all OK and easier than I remembered it. The new filters don’t need the spacer washer inside which made the whole install a lot easier. The big thing was the amount of dirt in the filters which was a lesson that I really should change the damn things every year instead of every five years or so. The only difficulty about the job was that I guess I am not as spry as I like to imagine I am. Bending down to kneel in a cramped space now comes with its own list of challenges. Sigh. Lesson learned the hard way. We could be approaching the Exumas now if I have only done the maintenance as I should have.

As for the main engine filter, Barbara wants me supervised when I do it so we are waiting until Nor comes by the boat tomorrow morning. Then we should be ready to test it which I will do here at the dock by running up the rpms and seeing if she behaves.

Today was a busy day in the neighbourhood with multiple boats arriving as today was going to be the last decent crossing day for another week and as well under the water. We saw cuttlefish, sergeant major fish, unidentifiable fish, hundreds if not thousands of tiny fish, jellyfish, a stingray and another bull shark. And I was about to get in the water to check the hull, prop and shaft.

Tomorrow we are going to have a pizza party on the dock. Everyone orders a pizza and brings their own beer or wine. I think that it could be fun. If no one objects I will see if any of the staff would like to come too.