We continue to prepare for a last minute weather window opening to Roatan. If on a morning this week ChrisP says today / tomorrow looks reasonable, we want to be ready to check-out & go. Jerry replaced the impeller on the starboard engine yesterday and did his usual maintenance checks on both of them. Today Jerry empties the 20 gallons of diesel from the jerry jugs into the gas tanks; port side is 100% full, starboard side is close. When pulling the jerry jugs out from the forward lazaret, he notices the middle water tank brace is broken. The hook & crossbar shown in the picture secures the tank to the boat structure. It’s broken in the middle, in a place protected from the elements, yet it looks corroded and stress fatigued. How & why it broke is a mystery. It has been windy and squally and a bit rough yet not like the motion we get on passage. In any case, this isn’t good…- well good it’s discovered while not on passage.. - nonetheless we can’t have 80 gallon water tank(s) moving around in the front of the boat. Another critical item to fix before we can depart. (Jerry visually inspects the other two and they look fine.)

While I go to the grocery stores & produce markets, Jerry goes to the hardware store where he locates a straight length of threaded stainless steel rod. A machine shop could easily bend one end into a hook but there’s no machine shops in the Placencia area. The following morning we get a few names & numbers of machine shops from other cruisers however all are quite a distance away by taxi. Jerry thinks he can rig up an alternative with a stainless steel u-bolt (in our supplies), part of a stainless steel plate (in our supplies), and this rod to get us to Roatan. There we’ll have 3 new ones made (one for each tank).