Always Work To Be Done

I probably have said this before, but something that I’ve learned on this trip more than on any other is that there is always work to be done on the boat.  I suppose it might be a little different if you charter a boat, but when you’re the owner, if you’ve got a problem, you’re the one who has to fix it. 

Monday

We got our new alternator in the mail.  TC got to work installing it.  We ordered a rebuild kit, so that we could clean and fix up our old one.  We’ll have a spare!

TC looks like he's up to something

While TC worked on that, I started transferring fuel from our main tank to our day tank.  All I had to do was push a button and watch the clock.  Exhausting, I know.  

Yes, I pushed that button labeled, "Fuel Pump."  It's very technical work, but I can handle it. 

Not wanting to be left out of the boat chores, Paul got to work on filling up our now almost empty main tank with our extra fuel cans.  I helped out as each fuel can got empty.  Since there is sediment at the bottom, we have to filter it out of the fuel, so that doesn’t get into our engine. 

Can't we get full service somewhere around here?  

I thought it was a lot of work just doing it like this, but Paul and TC informed me that it used to be way harder before the nifty new fuel fill was installed on the exterior of the boat.  Yikes!  Paul and I made enough mess that I don’t even want to think of that mess on the inside of the boat. 

Tuesday

On Tuesday, I got back from my run and it started to look like rain.  Perfect!  I’ve learned from TC that when it rains is a perfect time to do laundry.  We shared in the laundry chore.  He washed, I rinsed, and we hung together.  Romantic, huh? 

We received our new single sideband (SSB) radio on Monday.  We were totally psyched.  We ordered the same radio as our old one, so we thought, “We’ll be able to hook it up in no time and try it out.”  Unfortunately, when trying to find a solution to our old SSB, TC had thought one of the connectors was broken (and it probably was), so he had replaced it with different and less chintzy connectors.  That meant before we could hook up our new radio we (and by we, I mean TC) had to either replace one of the connectors or make a jumper connector.  TC opted for the jumper.

It seems to be working.  We received a clear weatherfax.  We were able to listen in and participate in a couple of chats. TC is still working on getting our Sailmail to work.  Sailmail will allow us to send e-mail via the radio.  It’s way slower than dial up, though.  So, we won’t be e-mailing back and forth with people often.  (Sorry.)  We’ll use it for getting weather information, coordinating with friends who are visiting, and I will be able to use it to send an e-mail to this blog, so that way we can keep anyone who wants to follow us up-to-date.  Cross your fingers that we get the Sailmail working!!

We were going to change our cheek blocks.  These are the little things on the main boom that allow us to reef our main sail.   (Note: To reef a sail means make it smaller; don’t want a full sail when it’s excessively windy).  We discovered that the cheek blocks were located too far forward. We don’t know the reason for this since we did get a new sail, but it was from the same sailmaker as last time, who used the same dimensions.  Strange.  Thankfully, during that reefing attempt, we didn’t really need to reef; we were kind of testing it since we were sitting around with NO wind.

Anyway, it’s not as simple as just unscrewing the old ones, making new holes, and installing the cheek block.  Oh no.  When you remove the old screws, you must fill them (with a piece of dowel and some epoxy).  And before you install the cheek block in a new spot, you must first epoxy the holes for the screws.  This helps to make the holes resistant to water, so water doesn't get in and start to rot the wood.  However, it started to pour and it poured all afternoon.

The rain did not prevent Paul from changing the oil and the transmission fluids. 

You may be thinking, “Man, this cruising thing is a lot of work,” (and I’ve thought it too, but in the end the benefits outweigh the costs).  Granted, we are doing a little bit of extra work than normal.  Since we just got the boat in the water right before we left, we’re still in the shakedown part (where you figure out all the things, hopefully small, that need to be fixed).

Plus, we are prepping for taking off again.  This time hopefully will be able to get to a destination where we can find fun and relaxation other than Majuro.  Majuro has been great for that – meeting and spending time with fun people, as well as relaxing a lot.