Hydraulic Steering Works and No Internet
25 March 2012 | Coral Harbour, New Providence, Bahamas
Heather / sunny and 87 F / 0-10 kts ESE
This morning (well, Saturday morning, I guess that's yesterday by now, it being 4 a.m.) we lost the reasonable-speed internet connection we were using to update the blog and we couldn't even send email. I am on a very slow link right now that is only accessible late at night -- went to bed about 9 pm and got up again to use it.
Derek is much happier today since we spent the two previous days with a rental car, tracking down small plumbing parts needed to attach the new hydraulic cylinder to the previously-existing 1/4" tubing. The new standard for this kind of hydraulic installation is 5/16", so creating "adapters" for both ends of the cylinder was necessary. We visited Caribbean Hydraulics on Thursday, and the guy there built the main parts of the two adapters, crimping the new lovely 5/16" hose at both ends to the plumbing parts that would go 1) at one end to the cylinder, and 2) at the other to the 1/4" hose, but he only had one of the two very-end pieces that made the final transition to the existing hose possible, so we needed to find another one. That's why we kept the car a second day, and Friday we went to Albury's Supplies on Mackey St. They have a lot of cool stuff for the mechanically-inclined for cars and boats and trucks, and fortunately they have a guy working there who was able to find two pieces that, put together, would get the job done. Again, he only had one of these; fortunately since Caribbean Hydraulics had had only one as well, the two together took care of the two ends of the cylinder!
After spending this morning getting the stainless steel fabrication guys in Nassau to help us remove a mounting bolt that had corroded into place (in less than 6 weeks) in the bottom of the SSB tunable antenna, we returned the rental car (in the nick of time), and then Derek installed the hydraulic cylinder. I could tell he was really worrying about it because he insisted on doing it during the hottest part of the day; he said the tools were getting so hot he had to work quickly to keep from burning his hands. I tried to get him to come in (and made him drink cool drinks), but I think the hydraulic steering has really been bugging him for the last three weeks, and he really couldn't wait until it was installed and tested successfully. He definitely seemed more relaxed today after everything went together and works!
Walt and Meryl on Flying Cloud are heading out Sunday morning for the Exumas, having gotten everything fixed (for now... in cruising boats, no matter the age, fixedness is at best a temporary state of grace). Perhaps we will see them in future; they have been good company since their return from Hong Kong, and we hope the next phase of their cruise proves enchanting. We kind of expect that for all of our friends heading down the Exumas, it will, and it has. They are amazing islands, which is one of the reasons we wanted to share them with Grant!
BTW, the stainless steel guys who managed the "get the teensy bolt out of the antenna" trick were Mike's Stainless Steel Manufacturing of Nassau. They are about a block from the Poop Deck, just up the street by the Esso station (yeah, still Esso rather than Exxon on the sign), very close to the Nassau marinas (Yacht Haven and Harbour Club). They spot-welded a crossbar onto the bolt head to get a good purchase on it to remove it -- took them about 5 minutes to do what hours of soaking in penetrant and drilling had not been able to do. It's important to have the right tools for the job. Thanks, Mike!
Derek will try to install the transmission in the morning, and if that works, we will probably leave here soon after (within a day or so, depending on weather) and start south again, hoping to catch up with Jeff (S/V Boundless) to present astronomy stuff to his next sailing group, and hoping to catch up to Chris and Marisa on Charisma (we have your blocks and we want to return them :-) somewhere at/south of Staniel Cay/Black Point. If it does NOT work, then we will be here a while longer, but I am hoping it will work. I have no idea whether I will be able to update the blog in the next 24-48 hours, however. If I can get a good connection, I can go back to including pictures.