We spent 6 hard days working on Cat Tales inside the Spice
Island Boatyard in Grenada, and were launched last Tuesday, six days ago.
While Dawn washed off the old wax and installed new, cleaned
and sorted inside the boat, I reassembled the engine pumps, hoses, filters, and
anodes, reinstalled the propellers, and fixed some major faults at the bottom
of the port swimming steps with fibreglass and gelcoat. Together we put up the bimini shade, removed
the sails from inside the boat and bent them on, and put new KiwiGrip antiskid
on the swim steps, both sterns.
 |
| Repairs being made to the bottom step before tackling the anti skid paint |
 |
| Laurie showing the "plan" used to get the rolling bearings to stay put. We brought the paraffin wax down from Canada because we had this already thought out! |
 |
| Taping and painting. The set up time was so fast, you had to remove the tape before the bottom step was started! Very happy with the finish, and long overdue! |
As always, the heat, noise, and dust of the yard were
relentless, and we retired to the air conditioned little apartment across the
street tired each night. Actually, that
apartment was more inviting than ever, this year, as Lorna and Brian met us
inside on the Monday night we first arrived from the airport, with the
refrigerator stocked with cold beer, bread, eggs and cheese, and a container of
wine. They also met us for supper many
of our nights there. The landlord and staff
allow this, as not only did Lorna and Brian rent there weeks earlier, but the
staff have trouble telling the sisters apart.
On one of the nights in the boatyard/apartment, we were able
to get together with 5 other couples for a “Friends of Denis” supper. Although the service at the chosen venue was
more than terrible, all enjoyed the evening.
As well, it may have been notable as Denis and Arlene: long-term
sailors, close friends, and dependable weather source: have just sold their
boat and may not meet with any of us down here again.
 |
| Saying goodbye to Denis and Arlene (at the end of the table and to the left) was difficult. They'll be greatly missed down here. They are the 'glue' that holds this great group of friends together!! |
We left the boatyard without any trouble, unlike past years
when either an engine does not start or does not spit water in the
exhaust. We moved out into the bay a
bit, and dropped anchor. Although we had
dozens of things that had to be done, we stopped everything, had a beer, and
read books for an hour or so before gently attacking the do-list. Since then, we have the list down to only 8
or 9 items, depending on who’s asking.
We have one pic of Cat Tales in the lift, attempting to demonstrate how
small she is compared to what the lift capacity, and compared to the other cats
in the yard.
More than that, we have attended a wonderful cooking course
at a nearby resort and attended a Hash House Harriers trail race last night,
complete with beers and an “oil down” local meal. And....we both have finished two books each. Last night’s Hash was loads of fun; as we
were able to join Al and Michele of Tarantella and Charlie and Anina of Prism
on the bus, trail, and at the party.
Another picture shows what happens to the first-timers or “virgins”:
they go home smelling of beer, mud and sweat.
You also get a view of the diversity of hashers: young and old, cruisers, locals, foreign
students, etc.
 |
| Cat Tales is being picked up and delivered to the ocean for another 5 months of living the dream! |
 |
| Al and Michele from s/v Tarentela on the left. Charlie and Anina from s/v Prism in the middle and Laurie on the right. I, of course am taking the picture! What a muddy mess we were, but the icy cold beers fixed us right up!! |
 |
| The ceremony for new Hashers (virgins) is always fun to watch. It's such a well kept secret, they don't even see it coming! |
Our plans are to stay at least 2 more days while we sort out
a little welding job, a credit card issue, and some fuel; then just go around
to St. George’s Harbour for a victualizing of fresh vegetables and fruit. I hope to get some callaloo for soup. From there, we’ll take a big jump days later
to Carriacou for more relaxing, minor chore management, and to pick up some
conch, often called lambi.
TECHNICAL
Two big jobs that caused us concern should be discussed:
1.
Replacing
the bearings in the traveler car: We had
real trouble last year with the traveler refusing to move and spitting plastic
– what was left of the ball bearings. We
sourced the new bearings, then worked hard last spring to loosen and remove the
end fitting to the traveler. I finally
borrowed an impact hammer, and liked it so much I went out and bought one. We then had to remove the push-pit (stern
frame that terminates the lifelines – opposite of the pulpit at the bow) to
allow the car to slide of the rail. Now,
the hard part. The bearings ran between
the car and the rail, with a return slot to deliver them from one side to the
other of the car. Without the rail, the
balls fall out! As you can see from the
picture, the solution was to whittle a rail out of paraffin wax, install the
balls, place the car endcaps on, then slide the car off the paraffin and onto
the rail. It worked, but not
immediately. (no balls lost,
however) Cleaning up the pushpit and
rebedding it was not technically difficult, but a fair job.
2.
Repairing the port stern stair and installing
KiwiGrip: We had a failure at the step after
an aluminum dinghy banged against it, and were surprised to find, after
grinding out for a repair, that there were three previous “bruises” on the step
that had been ground out and filled with poor filler. I had to grind all three out and properly layer
up repairs, cover it all with gelcoat, and sand down to a reasonable
finish. Cleaning up the old non-skid
material was an awful job, and I almost suffered sunstroke from working on it. Finally, Dawn assisted while we taped,
slathered, and stippled the new material.
We’re both very happy with it.
