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| Toxic Paint Selfie |
So Kirstin and I made it back to the boat on December 31st hauling about 120 lbs. of boat technology. We stowed it and did a bottom job on L'ORIENT..........hauling the boat out of the water, sanding, painting, and servicing various seals and bearings.
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| Yeah, This doesn't look too toxic |
All went well but it took us 2 weeks to clean ourselves of the poisonous paint that it euphemistically called "anti-fouling". It's actually liquid paint/poison designed to kill small sea life that touches it.
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| Leaving Jolly Harbour Boatyard, Antigua |
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| Heading back in |
Then back to the electronics. The combination of the sun and salt air tends to be hard on technology. We also wanted to make some upgrades to our chariot. The problem is that as we are middle-aged (sorry Kirstin), computer networking is not second nature to us. Neither is reading directions in Dutch.
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| Going green! (same setup is on starboard side) |
So, we warily began each project. L'ORIENT, having three power gulping refrigerators, electric toilets, radar, sonar, clothes washer, dish washer, and various other "necessities" uses a lot of power. We have a wind generator, but it just can't keep up. Our 7 kilowatt generator is more than up to the task but we hate running it and using the fuel (not to mention the wear and tear on it). So we bought a pair of 210 watt solar panels and mounted them on the side aft rails. As some general once said, no plan survives first contact with the enemy. He probably was talking about solar panel installation. The aluminum bars I bought in the US and hauled to Antigua weren't quite the right size......(an afternoon of sawing and cleaning up metal shards ensued). Also, Mastervolt (a Dutch company) decided to start celebrating Christmas in October so they apparently suspended production of our controllers until after we had returned to the boat. So, we improvised, finessed, and used bigger hammers (not really, people who live in fiberglass don't carry hammers). Anyway, ta-da...solar power. And now about 60% of our power comes from the sun - we're feeling like we're helping the earth now as we vacation 24/7.
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| Using the sun |
Next up was the tricky one. Getting anti-collision/boat identification info (known as AIS) from a system that doesn't talk to anyone/anything to an iPad. A bit like the electronic version of getting Jews and Arabs to the peace table.
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| Yikes |
After we spent a day snaking antenna wires, cables, and other tight space gymnastics (btw, Kirstin had to also read the manual), we were able to do this........now AIS info is on our ISailor charting software. It's unbelievable...meaning it's there but we're still testing it.
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| AIS on our iPad - High Tech! |
Our new chart plotter was easier to install, although it has a 68 page manual (more reading for Kirstin; being a guy I don't read directions).
We picked up a new sail from our sailmaker, and we're ready to rock and roll. We're now exploring Antigua........all the small bays and inlets..........and testing all our new goodies for the boat. The wine here isn't that great (frustrating that 60 nautical miles away is Marigot, St. Martin and the best $4 Bordeaux on the planet). It's hard to keep our spirits up in the face of this hardship...work on the yacht.........but we try to keep a stiff upper lip.
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| Looking Good |
We have committed to blogging more in 2018 as our followers in Ghana and Chile have requested.
