When we left Manzanillo Marina last year returning there was the farthest thing from our minds. After having stayed in Cartagena for months and traveling after our work was completed we greatly anticipated moving on to Curacao and Bonaire for awhile before continuing to other Caribbean ports. At that point our plan was to continue on to the eastern Caribbean.
While in Curacao we began to view our plans differently. Our Caribbean circumnavigation plan had been developed 10 years ago. Then when our plan met reality we spent 2 years in Guatemala we didn't plan on. 3 more years in Panama and now another year in Colombia more than we planned. So now we're several more years older than we planned to at this point so we discussed our plans and decided that maybe the best thing for us was to head back to Panama, So we loosely planned a return sometime in the Spring via a route undetermined. Then while enjoying Bonaire I noticed that our holding tank was leaking and we cut our trip to that island short and returned to Curacao to contemplate our next move.
We discussed the options. We really didn't need a holding tank in the Caribbean but it would need to be replaced in the future. So we could do it now or where would we do it in the future? We knew we could get the work done in Cartagena for a reasonable amount and having decided to go back to Panama, it was on the way. So if we committed to the holding tank replacement, we decided we should do the water tank as well as the water system seemed to be getting jammed almost daily with tank detritus. We had already planned on getting a new bottom paint in Cartagena anyway so a stop there would be productive.
After looking at the options and scoping out the work we contacted the Maurice the marina manager at Manzanillo who worked closely with us on last year's rehab. In retrospect, we probably should have done the tanks last year but we already had a huge job. I was in touch with our friends in Cartagena before we even left the ABC's. Our slip at Club de Pesca was available for us and Maurice was happy to talk to us.
When we arrived in Cartagena we met another IP 420 who we knew through the internet, Innuendo who was there for the same purpose. They had contacted several marinas and contractors about the work but hadn't reached and conclusions. Just 3 days after we got back to Cartagena Maurice came to our boat with a fiberglass and a carpenter contractor and we met to review and discuss the work. Innuendo then came over to discuss their work.
We had solid proposals with several options just a few days later. So we visited the boatyard for further discussions and less than 3 weeks later Amekaya was on its way to Manzanollo. Since we couldn't live on the boat we had to quickly find an apartment for the duration that was close to Club de Pesca with easy access to Manzanillo so we wanted to remain in the Manga neighborhood of Cartagena where we stayed last year and where CDP Marina is located. In the better areas of Cartagena real estate is not cheap for what you get and at the last minute pickings are slim. Especially because our time we were looking for included some key holidays, many places weren't available as the weekends were booked far in advance. We also didn't have a firm end date.
View of the old water tank with some framing still intact.
During the last several days before we went into the yard we wrapped everything we could in plastic film. Some things we put in garbage bags and many things we put in the aft cabin or the heads and put plastic over the louvers to keep them free of the dust. During the work days everything was closed up and at night I opened the louvered doors to allow air in to prevent mold and mildew. Opening things at night did allow some dust but there was no mold from being closed up. Our settee cushions remained in place with plastic wrappers and came through undamaged. When we arrived at Manzanillo on Monday 13 April. Innuendo was already there. Tuesday morning the carpenters arrived and in a day they had the wood floors up. Wednesday they had the fiberglass subfloors up over both tanks. Thursday they had the old holding tank out and Saturday they had the water tank cut up and out.
The spot on the bottom that leaked.
Removing the floors was easier than I thought. Lifting the teak trim around the edges revealed screws holding down the floors. The trim pieces were held on by small finish nails so they popped right up. The wood floor over the holding tank required two cuts. One of 3 inches and the other of 12 going through a floor access. By doing that the floor damage was minimal and easier to restore. In the main salon, there was a seam that ran from the front of the port settee to the bulkhead that was exploited and would be easy to reseal.
The larger portion of the water tank being removed. The smaller portion can be seen still in place.
Once cut, using wedges and metal strakes that were driven in to loosen the glue, each floor came up in one piece.
The fiberglass subfloor was simply cut by a sawzall around the edges. In the main salon there were support members between the side bulkheads that had to be cut and there was a PVC conduit between the two sides that had to be cut. The conduit was for sending wires across without going through the bilge.
Removing the holding tank required removing a side bulkhead. With that removed and all the other bracing it was a simple task to pop up the tank. It came up in one piece. To remove the water tank it was cut in half and then each half levered to break the bonds and then lifted out. In the process of cutting the tank in half the underlying holding tank hose was nicked.
Without the floors and tanks the boat looked empty, hollow and dirty. Not the usual beautiful bright wood sheen we were used to, but a series of deep pits and openings revealing parts of the boat that were never meant to be seen.
With the tanks out over 20 years of dirt and water stains appeared where beautiful wood had been. So we made our first project to clean away the dirt from the tank removal. Every time we opened a hose or seacock water drained into the bilge and we began an almost daily ritual of cleaning out the bilge.
With the tanks out we got a great view into parts of the boat we would normally never see and access to all of it. As we scraped away the residue my mind drifted on to what improvements we could make and what repairs did we need to make now that we could do them.
The first obvious repair was we needed a new bilge pump. While we were in Curacao the old one slowly went out of business. Fortunately, we had the manual bilge pump that worked so we could keep the bilge water low.
The new holding tank.
The next thing I looked at was how I could reroute the head hoses to a more practical routing. That also included replacing the hoses. It seemed like every time we moved hoses more water came out. I think for the first 2 weeks we were cleaning up water everyday. Now that I knew the challenges involved in rerouting hoses it took a great deal of thought to evaluate all the options.
I ultimately decided to replace the aft head hose in the same location where it was with the only hose we could find in Cartagena. The very basic white hose. My thinking was thus. We never use the aft head and when we have it went straight overboard. If at some point in the future someone wants to upgrade the hose it's easy (easy being a relative term) to do. The hose runs under the water tank, through a wide tunnel under the mast step and then through open area up to the holding tank. We had replaced this hose is 2015.
The forward head hose took some thought. The original configuration for the forward head hose was: from the head it ran through holes in 2 bulkheads that were not much bigger than the original hose then under the holding tank and up to the selector valve. The big challenge with that was the large rise from the bilge to the diverter valve put lots of back pressure into the head. After doing some measuring I decided that I could run the hose from the floor hole by the head through the cuts in the bulkheads for the shower sump, then over to a hole in the bulkhead on the front side of the holding tank that I could cut, then through holes in the 2 bulkheads behind the holding tank so the line would be nearly level for the duration. Ideally, sewage lines should be on a downward trend but minimizing all the grades was the next best option.
The next major improvement was to replace the bilge pump. Installing it was relatively easy. Getting it in timely was not. Because there were false signals on when the tanks were going in I tried to rush a pump from Defender Marine only to have it sit in Miami for weeks. So, I ended up buying one of Amazon that they would deliver and we got it quickly and I installed it. The manual bulge pump worked great until debris started getting caught up in it and I was cleaning it. Right now it doesn't work but I have parts to try to fix it. The pickup and everything in the bilge is fine.
The finished subfloor.
I also replaced he macerator pump while we had easier access so that our entire sewage system was completely new. I used the new pump to evacuate the holding tank after we filled it to check it.
The big project was cleaning and painting. With so much access we cleaned everything multiple times and painted using Bilgekote everywhere. Even up into the bilge under the cockpit. We scraped off all the loose paint and hosed it all thoroughly before painting. I also sprayed insecticide up into the back bilge since this was the only time we might get access to this.
With the tank out I had easy access to my nemesis through hull that had been installed for the generator when we had it installed when we bought the boat. The through hull was deep in the bilge and working the handle was usually blocked by lots of other impediments.I worked to lubricate the through hull and see what improvements I could make. One day I had an epiphany. Replace it with an elbow and move the handle vertical instead of horizontal. So we did that. It took some luck to find all the pieces. The elbow itself was used, being gifted to me from another boat and required some cleaning but it looked as good as new. Now the handle moves easily and is easy to reach without any interference.
A short while after we had gotten to Curacao we began having generator problems. Not so much mechanical but electrical. The generator failed to produce consistent voltage. A technician there diagnosed it as a problem in the rectifier. Because Curacao didn't have 120V current we could never check if the problem was the generator or the devices so it had to wait until we returned to Colombia.
Before we got back to Cartagena I contacted the mechanic that had worked on our generator before. The week we got back he came over and removed the entire electrical part of the generator. Several days later he gave me a parts list to order from the States. While we were in the Boatyard I tried to top off our fuel tank one day and didn't realize that in removing the parts of the generator he had to disconnect the fuel lines. As I was filling the tank it was taking way more fuel than I thought it should. When I went back into the boat I saw a large amount of fuel in the bilge. I tracked it down to the generator. He had closed the incoming fuel line but the return line was hanging and fuel was running out of it. Cleaning up that mess took several hours. The bulk fuel we could recover I filtered and have in a tank to be filtered again and put back into the main tank.
With the work being done on the boat we were living in an apartment in Cartagena. Every day I took an Uber to and from the yard. I left around 8 in the morning and get back 5,6, or 7 at night. Everyday I was the lone gringo across the street in Milady's tienda having the typico lunch with local workers from neighborhood.businesses. They daily typico lunch consisted of a bowl of soup, a plate with usually a meat, some type of salad, rice often a type of beans and some form of plantains all for about $ 3.75. The new lady's working there got to know me and were very friendly. I ate lunch there everyday last year when we were in the yard. Lunch was often the highlight of my day at the yard.
Like our previous 2 years in Cartagena I had a helper. The helper I had last year was helping on another boat so he told me his son could help me. His son was in his first year of college and needed money so we started working around his class schedule. He really didn't have any experience so managing him was difficult. I could only give him menial tasks and it was difficult to instruct him in Spanish because he spoke no English. But, still we managed. Much of his work involved washing and polishing which is a never ending job on a boat. Especially once we got the tanks out there was lots to do. Unfortunately, when the journeymen were working inside there wasn't much for him to do. Some days I loaned him to others to help so that he would be productive. His doing menial chores was helpful allowing me time to catch up on other tasks.
Maurice presented several options for the tanks. The basic was fiberglass and then there were several grades of stainless steel. We opted to have both fiberglass tanks. There were many factors to consider in the choice of tank, but we opted for both tanks in fiberglass. Fiberglass is much lighter than stainless and stainless will corrode at some point. The holding tank could be put in as one unit. It was removed as a unit and was replaced as a unit. On the other hand, the water tank would have to be installed as 2 pieces. Innuendo chose 316 stainless and reduced the size of their tank to have it installed in one piece. It was heavy to install. We wanted to keep the original water tank size as well because we believe that is a key cruising feature of our boat.
Installing two tanks for water required some sort of bond in the middle. With stainless tanks they would have to be welded which has many issues being done inside the boat. Fiberglass on the other hand can simply be glassed together forming a secure bond. The two-part tanks wouldn't be symmetrical so getting the compound shape correct was essential for the boat balance.
For whatever reason there seemed to be unduly delays in getting our tanks completed. The holding tank was not as big of an issue as the water tank because the water tank had to be coated with a food-grade gelcoat to be used with potable water. Getting the right gelcoat and the warranty from the manufacturer took some time, Then applying the gelcoat cleanly without dust residue in the final coatings took more time than originally anticipated. During this downtime we worked on various projects around the boat but soon our outside projects were limited.
The tanks had to be installed the same way the original ones were. They were cemented to the hull with a fiberglass cement. The holding tank was framed into the box of bulkheads it came out of and the bulkhead that had been destroyed was rebuilt. Once the frame was in the subfloor was laid over it and glassed in all the way around. Then the fiberglass was gelcoated. The water tank was similarly installed. The wooden cross members over the tank were replaced with fiberglass and then the subfloor was glassed in and gelcoated.
Once the fiberglass work was done the wood floors were laid down with massive amounts of 5200 adhesive and screwed down. Heavy weights were set on the floor to force it to a clean bond. Then the seams were finished, the wood trim applies and then the wood floors refinished. In the end, the floors don't look like they were moved at all.
We took advantage of the opportunity to have some areas of teak refinished and we had two new access panels installed in the floor of the forward cabin.
We are now sitting back in Club de Pesca working to get the boat ready us to leave it for our annual trip back to the States. All the projects and repairs we identified during our trip to Curacao have been completed. The generator is working, our tanks are in, the electronics have been repaired, new pumps and new tanks. Before we replaced the water tank I had to deal with a cantankerous water pump. So far it has been working fine.
We continue to enjoy everything about our boat but now I'm working on a new list.
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