Here we go being lowered into the Rio Dulce.
Since first moving aboard our Island Packet 380 in May of 2014 and then transferring the flag to our IP 420 in November of 2014 we have never been off the boat more than 2 weeks even when working on it. This time it was over 3 months that we have not lived in our home. Being the old soldier that I am I know that home is where you take off your flip-flops but I have to say it is nice to be in the comfort of our own home. Private, secure and feeling good.
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Final comments about our work
I have spoken in the past about the work we had done but will recap. One of the hardest parts of having the work done was watching others do work that I have usually done myself and knowing how I've done it. Not knowing how they would do it it was gratifying to watch them on numerous occasions do things pretty much like I have done it although maybe not in the time or sequence that I would have. It was also difficult to not want to jump in and help get it done. The workers all did a great job doing it the way they know how to do it. The comments I have heard from other people that have had work done here is certainly borne out by our experience and comments from people that have actually seen the work agree. The pictures don't do it justice.
So in final recap of the work let me describe what was accomplished.
Our home in the paint shed.
The major project was refinishing the teak. This was a project I did 3 years ago when we first bought the boat having stripped and refinished it but weather was an issue and on one of the final coats the finish was swarmed by nats. Having worked through all of that we were also under time pressure to get the boat launched because winter was coming. So here in RAM Marina the crew removed all the stainless from the toerails and dutifully noted it's location for reinstallation. The old finish was scraped off and 3 coats of Cetol light was applied with 2 coats of Cetol Gloss on top. The Cetol application was done in the paint shed out of the rain and sun giving it a chance to cure correctly. After completing the Cetol the hardware was all reinstalled and rebedded.
The coamings look great and I serviced all the winches.
As part of the reinstallation the stainless was all cleaned and rebedded. The hull was cleaned and waxed. The topsides are scheduled to be done as part of the work now that we're back in the water.
The bottom work which we thought would be really easy turned out to be a bit more since some of the old paint was cracking and wasn't solid enough to be painted over. As a result all of the old bottom paint was removed. During the removal a fair amount of the barrier coat that I applied 3 years
With all the bottom paint removed and some of the barrier coat before being recoated.
was also removed. As a result the yard applied a coating of Interprotect 2000 over the bare areas and a full coating over the entire bottom. That was in addition to the coat of barrier coat to be applied as a primer for the new bottom paint. At the last bottom service I applied Hydrocoat since Micron Extra was no longer available in the US. The paint seemed to have held up well but it was not ablative and required constant cleaning by hand. We were able to get Micron Extra here and so we had that applied as a new anti-fouling. Hopefully we'll travel enough to keep it clean. The propellers and zincs were also serviced. The props were painted with Petit Zinc Barnacle Barrier paint which has worked well.
The finished bottom.
While the bow thruster props were off I changed the oil in the drive unit. Something that probably hadn't been done in years.
When we bought the boat the only part of the ground tackle that was really serviceable was a 45# CQR anchor that we've used as our second anchor. However, I'm not sure what happened before we bought the boat but it rusted and lost it's galvanic coating. So we had the yard send it out to be regalvanized at a plant in Guatemala City and it now looks like a new anchor. Maybe I should have sent all my chain for recoating.
Our regalvanized CQR anchor next to our 33kg Rocna.
I think I talked about this before but a nagging issue that we've had since we bought the boat was the inability to use the aft head pumping straight overboard. From our experience it seemed like when the thru-hull was opened and the handle was directed to the holding tank, water ran straight in and to the holding tank filling it. I had the yard remove the selector Y-valve and discovered that it had been installed incorrectly and indeed the water would flow directly into the holding tank filling it. So after 14 years we corrected it. The correction will work but is not really efficient. The valve is really a "T" and the middle connection is always open so that is where the drain line from the head needs to be attached. The valve is vertical so the selector ends are designed for discharge. The lower one goes to the thru-hull for overboard discharge and the top one now goes to the holding tank. The issue is that now the line from the head will hold sewage up to the point until it is above the elbow going to the holding tank. As we will mostly be using it for overboard discharge it should not be an issue. After watching the guys remove and reinstall it I'm glad I had them do it. $50 well spent!!
The "Y" valve before reinstallation. The handle says overboard discharge but as you can see with the the head coming in from the top it was blocked. With the thru-hull open the water came into the middle of the "T" and straight into the holding tank.
We also used the opportunity to have our portlights rebedded. We suspect they were the source of leaks into our lower lockers because when I quick caulked some of them a few years ago it seemed to have stopped the leaks so having the yard remove and rebed them should help keep everything inside the cabin remain dry. With all the rain we've been having we haven't detected any leaks so that is a good sign!
Among the things we shipped back from the States was a roll of Reflectix to replace the insulation liners in the ports and hatches that we had installed when we first got the boat. After 3 years the old ones had gotten thin allowing in light and heat so we replaced them with fresh material. The inside of the boat is now much darker again that helps to keep the heat out.
Right after we returned we worked on our dinghy and were able to fix some slow leaks that were evident. We also had a local canvas maker build a set of chaps, seat, fuel can and engine covers for it all designed to lessen the effects of the sun. The intense direct sun really deteriorates the hypalon. Additionally, it causes the fuel tank to go through a daily cycle of expansion and contraction that will eventually weaken it. We installed a new metal dinghy seat that we had shipped back to replace the old plastic one that cracked and the seat cover keeps it cool on a hot day plus adds shock absorption from the chop.
Our dinghy all dressed up.
I worked several hours on cleaning the packing nuts and inserting new packing material to reduce the amount of water coming into the bilge while maintaining the effective cooling of the drive shaft. When the boat was lowered into the water by the travel lift there was no water coming in. I ran the engine in gear and loosened the nut until water was coming through enough to keep the shaft appropriately cool. When we get a chance to run at speed I will check it again to ensure enough water is coming through. Under way I check the packing frequently to monitor water flow and temperature of the shaft.
Work in progress on the packing nuts.
With the work the yard did we've received many compliments on our boat's appearance. While it's nice to have the compliments and have an attractive boat, it's more important that it reflects the attention to servicing detail. Most boaters have issues because something isn't maintained. There are many things that I do not maintain as well as should be but I try. Many people just let things go until they fail. One of the first things I learned in my military career was the importance of maintaining equipment. I will admit that I have not kept up everything I should but I try and the thing that will fail is the thing that wasn't checked.
The last winch torn apart soaking the the bucket of solvent.
There are some outstanding maintenance items that we will complete before we leave in addition to the topside cleaning and waxing. I intend to pull the mixing elbow on the engine and check it before leaving and putting a new thermal blanket around it to ensure the excessive heat from the turbocharger doesn't cause a fire. We also are looking at cleaning out our air-conditioning coils and reworking some of the ducts to improve cooling efficiency. We are also adding an ammeter to the windgen so we can monitor the output from the D400 wind generator. When we installed the generator I didn't see the need but would like to have visibility over the output.
Living on the hard
The hardest part of living on the hard was wanting to be home while it seemed to become an illusive objective that kept getting farther away with each step forward and 2 steps back. Without going through each frustrating step it's important that it all worked out. I constantly remind myself and others that there are 3 ways to have work done: good, fast or cheap. You can have 2 of 3 but not all 3. I'm always willing to sacrifice to have the job done right. There are times you can cheap out on things but critical systems on your boat isn't one of those times.
Bow thruster props before and after hand sanding off the sea growth.
Among the challenges of having the yard do work that I had always done myself was this is the first time I had someone else doing it. It is the same stigma that makes doctors the worst patients. It was complicated by the fact that I could not really communicate with the guys doing the work because in most cases they spoke very little English and I have not improved my Spanish to the point where I could discuss with them the details of what needed to be completed. At the same time we wanted it completed so we could go home. But, again more importantly we wanted it done right. Fortunately, the yard manager speaks English well and she could communicate to them. I felt bad for the guys being called into the manager's office just to ask a simple question.
Repainting the worn off paint measuring marks. Red is 25' and 75', yellow is 50' and 100'.
As the work progressed I was extremely pleased with the diligence and attention to detail by the workers in the yard. I wish when I did the work I had the time and patience to attend to each detail as they did. When we did this work on this boat back in 2014 I was doing the work while directing all the other major work involved in outfitting and getting ready to launch so we could head south before the snow arrived.
A friendly gecko that frequently walked around our casa.
As I may have mentioned our casa had 2 other rooms that shared a bath while our room had a private bath and we shared the common areas including the kitchen. Fortunately we only had one other couple sharing our casa, friends Dov and Rebecca from Blue Compass who are having an extensive amount of work done on their boat. They were good house-sharers and we had many things in common so we got along well. Hopefully we'll keep in touch and see them in our further Caribbean cruising. It is always tough living in close proximity to people you don't really know but we were able to work it well and hopefully remained friends.
Our major effort going forward was planning our future travels. With our changes in time frame we had to scale back our plans for next year. We made a reservation in Porto Lindo, Panama for the time we would need to head back to the States for Linda's back surgery and other social obligations we want to attend. It's almost like we are falling into the schedule of the snowbirds that park their boats in May and return in November or December but we hope to get back in September and continue enjoying Panama before most of the snowbirds have seen their first snowfall.
We're finally home!!!!!!
We left our boat on 29 June before departing to the States and returned 20 October after completion of the work almost 4 months later. Much longer than we expected and by far the longest time away from home since we moved aboard. Hopefully we will not need to be gone again so long. Life away from our boat becomes so tentative. Some people wonder about the rocking, but it seems strange without it.
On our boat we have everything we need to live. Food, clothes, toiletries and the things that make a house a home. When traveling we have what is provided and what we can carry. We adapt to each new environment and what is available but at home we have everything we need. To folks that haven't done this you may not understand it. But if you do it, you will understand. Using a boat on a weekend or even a week or two is not the same. Even spending months on your boat and then going home is not the same. Above the waterline in this torpedo shaped vessel is what we have and what we need.
Work in progress after the stands were moved.
Finally getting home is both a relief and a challenge with all the work that needs to be completed. So far we have cleaned the boat after being gone for almost 4 months; run the engine for the first time in over 4 months; pumped the bilge, cleaned and got the water system working; got the refrigerator running; got the onboard AC running for the first time in months; worked the heads (they were completely dry after all these weeks and the low humidity in the boat); got the refrigerator working well (we added some weather-stripping to decrease the loss of cold air); got the dinghy on board and secured. The only remaining tests are for the bow-thruster and the generator. With that all systems are go. After we get back from Thanksgiving we have some final work to do including pulling back up the halyards and bending on the sails. At that point we will be ready to go!
I believe Linda and I are in complete agreement that it is wonderful to be back in our home after being ashore for months. As much as we have enjoyed visiting and spending time with our family and friends our boat is very welcoming and it just feels like home. Many folks won't understand that but we are happy to be in our home.
Next adventures
Withe the work mostly completed we are looking forward to our next adventures. In the time we have remaining here we will not get to do all the traveling we wanted but we will get to see some key sites. We have a trip to the Copan Ruins in Honduras coming up right away and a trip to Antigua to follow. We are planning a trip to the ruins at Tikal shortly after that before we travel back to the States for Thanksgiving. Those will be featured in our next blog posts.
Waiting for the bus to Copan.
But for now, we're happy to be home.
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