2011 Hola Mexico - Missive 10

January 15, 2011: Bob was doing this usual due diligence checking out the engine in preparation to depart on Monday. I am not sure if it was a blessing or a curse. Sure enough he found that our heat exchanger had been leaking; we lost all our antifreeze and ended up with seawater in our engine block ... not good! So we spent the day disconnecting the heat exchanger and then flushing the system with fresh water. We will have to wait until Monday to have it pressure tested by Total Yacht Works. Grrr...

January 16, 2011: Since we are powerless ... our best option today was watching football and drinking beer with Bill & Sue on Dilligaf. Our gut feeling on the heat exchanger was looking at replacement vs repair; that we knew would take awhile. So it's best to make good use of our time. I started sanding our woodwork especially since the Seahawk game was going in the toilet and I was losing interest in watching. I guess being retired means I have plenty of time to do yucky boat chores. Doing bright work definitely tops the list of yucky!

January 17 - 23, 2011: What exciting thing can I say about sanding and painting the woodwork? Well after 2 days of both Bob & I sanding and 3 days of painting, we have a very beautiful boat. I think I will cry when the first line comes whipping across the deck and scuffs up our finish. We had perfect weather each day which allowed us to wrap us this project in 6 days. This would be impossible back in Seattle.

While we were doing the woodwork, we hired "Pedro" to sew up chaps for the dinghy. This is a sunbrella cover that fits around the tubes to protect it from the UV rays. I had material leftover from making hatch and cushion covers that Pedro could incorporate into the chaps. This way we could identify our dinghy more readily from others with the same gray color. He did a great job and the chaps look great.

Between all the chores Dilligaf and Ponderosa were working on, we managed to enjoy some dinners together and live music featuring an excellent Mexican singer. It was sure nice to have familiar faces on the dock as we traded movies and supplies we each needed and we each could provide.

Bob had to do all the leg work getting our heat exchanger ordered and shipped. It was supposed to arrive Friday by 5 pm but the custom boys got into the mix; so much for express shipping. We are eagerly anticipating Monday. It's gets to be a very expensive part when you start adding up moorage you pay while waiting. We were also informed we may have to pay import duty. So much for having all the paperwork on our temporary import permit for the boat ... seems to be useless for getting parts duty free!

"Slacker", the cat, definitely rules the roost on dock 6. He has everyone well trained to feed him. He sleeps on any boat he wants and no dog gets the better hand. But he is a nice kitty and he keeps the other cats away. One night while walking to dinner we counted about 15 stray/feral cats around the marina. It's a tough life down here for animals.

The cruiser's net is like having a 50 party telephone line. It really is a helpful tool for everyone since it covers topics like: emergency traffic, arrivals/departures, weather, tides, who can carry mail to the states or Canada, announcements (like cruiser activities), local help and swaps/trades. Since we cannot conduct business in Mexico, people trade for "coconuts".

January 24 - 25, 2011: UPS finally came thru and we got our part Monday early afternoon. It took Bob the rest of the day to install the heat exchanger and now we have been flushing the entire engine system to clear out any remaining salt water and rust particles. This process does not make my top 10 items to do on my "bucket list". It's only a necessary evil to make the boat function - living on the boat is like living in a garage - something is always torn apart and being repaired. Yes, I seem to be lacking that spirit of adventure right now, but it too will pass just like getting thru these chores and repairs.