Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Monday Relaunch

New shaft made and replaced. New cutlass bearing installed. Through-hull repaired. Boat waxed. New chain on board and old chain gone. Ready for launching...and we did get put back in the water on Monday afternoon.

It is always a scary moment when your boat is taken off the stands and put on a truck and moved. Then it is taken off the truck and put in the harness to lift into the water. But all went well and no water came in where it shouldn't. The shaft seemed to make an immediate difference with less vibration.

We are now in a slip at Shelter Bay and were hoping to get the local mechanic (actually a Canadian who lives on a boat here) to make sure the engine is aligned but last night we found out he is too busy. Bummer. Michael (who's managed to do everything else) will have to pull out the feeler gauges and Nigel Calders' "Boatowners's Mechanical and Electrical Manual" and get it done himself.

Today, we hope to get "ad measured" for our Panama Canal passage. That is where a Canal authority comes down with a tape measure and actually measures the length of your boat and charges you according to how many "containers" it can hold. Or something like that. Then we have to pick the date to go through.

It has been unbelievably rainy the last several days – monsoon rains. Its hard to keep the boat dry with wet clothes hanging everywhere. We have enjoyed the $1 Happy Hour beers at the bar (who's bartender is a 14-year old Canadian named Dylan). Connected with our old friends from "Voyager" Lynn and Byron who will be going through the canal this week. Re-met some folks we met in Roatan Desmond and Carol from South Africa and have enjoyed their company over a few drinks and dinners. Carol made us all a "Milk Tart" the other night – a traditional South African dessert – mighty tasty. So though we were exhausted each night with many hours of hard work, we have enjoyed some social time here as well.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

No comments:

Post a Comment