Dinghy failure
11 November 2020 | 12 00’N:61 46’W, Prickly Bay, Grenada
NC
10th November
12 00 N
61 46 W
Weather; sunny, wind much calmer, waves and swell decreasing
After a somewhat restless night we were up and raring to go at first light, well Gerry was, I played possum for a while and laid in bed with my eyes closed but not asleep. Having gotten up early he set the ice maker running to make ice to put into the insulated bag in an effort to try and keep the stuff in it cold - luckily there isn't too much but we really didn't need to loose the little bit we have. Whilst it sounds like a great idea to top up the bag with ice it is quite a frustrating job as the ice maker makes just 12 cubes each cycle, the cycle takes about 9 mins to complete so to get enough ice to keep the bag cold we have to run the ice maker for most of the day and the ice cubes melt faster than we can make them so it's a vicious cycle but we have to keep trying and I'm really not complaining about the ice maker - I'm very glad we have one! I struggled out of bed eventually and we had a cooked breakfast to further reduce the stuff in the insulated bag - well any excuse really! Gerry had been further investigating the fridge options and had contacted the local expert who wants to come out to the boat to have a look at our system and then to advise what is our best option in his opinion. Knowing Gerry, as I do, I already know that installing our "spare" compressor isn't his first, second or third choice - if it was our only option he would go with it but I don't think he is confident that the "spare", although it is brand new, will last any longer than the original one has. So basically we are looking at a whole new fridge /freezer system and need it ASAP. Although the fridge expert wasn't coming out today (he was going to be in the area tomorrow to install a new air conditioner on Dale's boat and would come to us afterwards) Gerry decided to get our dinghy down off the davits into the water, mount the outboard and generally prepare it for a run in to the marina yard to pick up the expert when he was ready. Thank goodness he didn't leave it until the last minute as disaster struck. We lowered the dinghy - no problem, Gerry climbed in and tied it off in the normal spot and I lowered the fuel container and hose to him, the swell was making the dinghy jump around all over the place so it was no mean feat to pass heavy stuff down to him and he tried to hurry me along as he was getting water coming into the dinghy. The next thing was getting the outboard off the mount and down onto the dinghy transom which we managed with a bit of shouting and arguing (nothing unusual there!). With the outboard in place Gerry let out a yell that the water was pouring into the dinghy from underneath the brand new dinghy chaps, he found the exact spot and then noticed that it was also coming in on the other side in the same spot. A quick decision to get the outboard back off of the dinghy followed with me hauling it back into its spot on the mount, it really wasn't the easiest but I got there. The fuel container and hoses got passed back to me and then Gerry bailed out as much of the water as he could before jumping back on the boat himself and then we hauled the dinghy up out of the water and watched a steady stream of water run out of the bung. Having found the problem it was now a case of trying to find a solution. Gerry called someone who apparently does dinghy repairs - they would be able to look at it either today or tomorrow, the catch here was that we needed to get the dinghy into the marina which meant that it would have to be rowed in as putting the outboard on it was not an option as it lowers the profile and would make the dinghy fill with water on the trip into the yard, someone was going to have to row it in - yep, that's a boy job! They said they would call when they were almost at the dock but it might be tomorrow rather than today. Having sorted that out Gerry sat and thought it over for a while then he decided that he would row into the yard now, just in case they appeared suddenly and he would go and look at the new dinghies in budget marine in case ours couldn't be fixed. Once again knowing Gerry as I do, it was a foregone conclusion what would happen. He took off for the yard rowing like a professional oarsman, with extra padding around the 2 places that he had seen leaking and the bailer close at hand luckily the swell and wind were in the direction going to the yard so he had some assistance and made it without sinking - in fact on his return he told me that there wasn't much leaking, mostly due to the weight distribution being central rather than towards the stern as it was with the outboard in place. He was gone for a couple of hours, checking in on Dale's progress with sand blasting his keel; whilst he was away I got busy with a bucket of warm soapy water and began a systematic cleaning of the cockpit which was covered with a fine coating of blue dust from the sanding. It was amazing how much dust there was, especially as Gerry had hosed it down briefly before we left the yard. I cleaned in places that must have been shocked to see soapy water and I still didn't get it all done by the time Gerry returned - the rest is going to have to wait until tomorrow. As expected Gerry returned in a different dinghy, still rowing. Now, if one was stupid, one might think that someone had lent him a dinghy to use whilst ours was being repaired, not being stupid I immediately knew that we have a new dinghy! This one is a Caribe with a higher flare at the bow, this means I shouldn't get soaked every time we go out in it!. The dimensions are somewhat different to our old dinghy of course, this one is narrower and slightly shorter but not by much. There is no bow locker in the new dinghy for storing stuff like life jackets and the dinghy anchor but luckily our old seat bag fits the new seat so we do have some place to store a few bits. It also doesn't have the bow roller and new dinghy chaps that we had just had made and of course the brand new, never been used ones, aren't the right dimensions to fit the new dinghy - what a waste of money that was! At first glance it doesn't seem to be as sturdy as the old dinghy but I'm sure that's just imagination working overtime, we just need to get use to the new one. So Gerry pulls up and I tie off the flimsy painter expecting him to come onboard but he moves the new dinghy towards the outboard and asks me to pass the fuel container, hoses and then the outboard down to him in the new dinghy. It went as well as could be expected, not quite the same smooth operation as we had perfected with the old dinghy - this one moved differently and we had to adjust where things went and the timing to get things into place, we got there without too much yelling at each other. Gerry then took off, under outboard power this time, to go and bring the old dinghy back as the "fixing guys" hadn't turned up yet or phoned to let him know when they would be arriving. A quick trip both ways saw Gerry arriving back with the old dinghy being towed behind the new one. We tied both up and then Gerry transferred all the gear from our old dinghy over to the new one. Again no leak on the return trip but the dinghy was very light at that point. Gerry had arranged with Dale and Lorie to meet up for dinner at 5.30 and it was getting close to that by the time we finished fussing around with the dinghy, then the phone rang, the fixer guys would be at the dock in the morning and Gerry agreed to be there. We both had a shower and change of clothes before heading in to the dock and then on to the container park for an early dinner. The swell dropped a bit and made the return trip a bit easier, we again watched a bit of TV and I was in bed and asleep before any self -respecting teenager would even consider going out for the night. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.