Hurricane season continues.
No lazing around on my ship. With all hands back aboard, it is full steam ahead on the list of jobs to complete before the next sailing season begins.
My other ‘human/worker’ has returned from England. He had a wonderful time visiting family and friends.
I missed out on all the fun back home, but we had a bit of excitement here in Jacksonville. An anchored vessel was hit by lightning and sunk.
But enough of that……back to work.
We have a long list of jobs we would like to complete before heading back off cruising, especially has parts are so reasonably priced here in the US. Friends joked that our list was longer than before we left England, but we have been sailing about for 2 years and the boat has taken a bit of wear and tear.
First job is to finish some of the Coelan job.
A few more days of ‘hard graft’ and I got my cockpit back. Special thanks to Colin and Nicola, on Emerald (see links to other cruisers) for the cockpit table. ‘We finally got it reconditioned and up!’
Of course you can’t get jobs done on a boat without other stuff going wrong. The most common is the toilet. Our intake valve mysteriously blocked. Tore the toilet apart to find we had an unexpected guest.
While the humans had the toilet apart I got them to re-bed new foundation screws as two had sheared off on passages.
The next job, while we were in a Marina, was to get the anchor and chain off and re-galvanized. There is no place IN the Caribbean to get this done, so we wanted to do it before we left the US. There is a place locally in Jacksonville that re-galvanize metals. The humans joined up with fellow cruisers to remove anchors and chains and transport it to the shop.
As usual, one job reveals another. With the chain removed we found that the sub-floor of the locker had collapsed. With some cleaning, sanding, epoxy and fiberglass matting we were able to ‘re-build it’.
Speaking of ‘re-building floors’, we found that the ‘false floor’ for the fridge ,we had add over insulation before leaving the UK, had failed. So we emptied it and the freezer out and rebuilt them as well.
You would think that I have given the humans enough work to keep them busy, but sourcing out parts ‘for the next job’ is also part of their day.
Our Genoa (forward sail) track has been lifting. Some of the bolts holding it down had sheared off.
The bolts are very long and very difficult to find (do not ask how hard they are to get out). We need to get them ‘in stock’ before we can do any work on the track.
The humans have been able to find lots of the materials they need at a discounted price from Sailors Exchange. They accepted a lot of their old cruising guides and charts in exchange for a credit, they can source out any materials you need and they are very negotiable with their prices.
Once we had them looking for our bolts we could take a tiny break right across the street is a quiet oasis.
You can understand why we all need a ‘break’ from the boat with so much work going on, especially as the place is more like a construction site then our home.
If you think this looks like a cramped place to work, try adding this.
The evil humans told me they were taking me for a ‘check up’. Next thing I know I wake up missing a bit of my ‘masculinity’. They did warn me that ‘it’ was ‘coming up’ when we reached the US. Maybe, if I had not been waking them up early every morning to walk by the neighbors dog ‘in heat’, they would have forgotten.
No time to mourn my missing ‘bits’, it is full steam ahead again on the boat jobs. The anchor and chain is done and needs picking up.
Of course we can not get it put back into the chain locker because we are waiting on parts for the windlass.
It and the support plate need new bedding compound.
BUT WE ARE GETTING THERE!
We do have lots more jobs to do on the boat, but we will finish these off a little further up the river.
We have the windlass, chain and anchor to get back on the boat and, as expected, the ‘incredible deflatable’ to patch, and then we well head over to Green Cove Springs Marina.
Here we hang off one of their anchor balls and prepare the boat to be lifted out of the water. We were going to wait for the end of the season (November), but we heard ‘everyone does that’. To avoid the ‘madness’ locals have recommended we lift out earlier then later. On top of the ‘usual’ jobs we have to raise the water line and re-stuff the rudder box. Green Cove Springs Marina is one of the few places locally that will let you do the work on your own and live on the boat at the same time.
How I am going to get ‘up and down’ on the boat is a question?
For now we have one more week to enjoy the lovely facilities and all the lovely friends we have made here at Ortega Landing.
