A Week Of Work And A Weekend Away

One of the rare sunny days

It’s not easy to achieve a lot of work in the boatyard when it is raining.  And it’s still raining, but thankfully not as much as it was before when Joaquin passed by to the east.  But we (the royal “we”) still managed to keep chipping away at the jobs.  Sim removed the: oil cooler, heat exchanger, cooler pipes, fuel filter, fuel pump and alternator from the engine to overhaul them, or in the case of the engine drive plate and heat exchanger, as it turned out, to replace them.

Sim stripped down the oil cooler, pipes and heat exchanger - we are replacing the heat exchanger and repainting the rest.

We have chipped away at our steel hull as best we can in awkward places with the chipping hammer. Ideally we would use the compressor and needle gun but the compressor is still on the blink and we are still waiting for parts.

The rudder has been dropped, paint removed  and layers of new paint are being built up before we put it back into place with a new modified stuffing box.

Sim grinding the old paint off the skeg so we can start to build up the paint layers that protect the steel.

And here is a photo to prove that my shells do come in useful - especially when we need measuring spoons in a hurry to mix the two part paints.

The top sides have had an acid wash to remove the dirty brown build up deposited by the murky waters of the ICW. Who knew that good old lemon juice is nearly as effective as “the Works” toilet cleaner (with its mild muriatic acid base) to remove the nasty stains, it’s not nearly as harmful and doesn’t remove the wax.

Our friend Jim very kindly came and picked up our chain and anchor to be galvanised. So it’s all systems go.

The kitty has been helping out when she can, or chasing giant spiders! Sim loads up Jims truck with our chain and anchor.

 But all work and no play make Sim and (especially) Rosie very dull. So we took a very short vacation to see Jim, Linda and Jennifer at their home near Apex in North Carolina. Apparently a relatively short 3 hour drive away in local terms (Obviously not UK terms!).  We hired a car (US$9.99/day – over the weekend with Enterprise car rental – what a bargain – they even picked us up and dropped us off for free - a 20 mile drive each time from their office to Bock Marine) and we drove with cat (and all her paraphernalia) over to see our friends.  They live in a very rural and bucolic setting amongst tall pine trees, just a few minutes’ walk from a lake. It was the perfect antidote for a boatyard get-away.

Jennifer and clan introduced us to the delights of biscuits and gravy for breakfast - which in English terms translates to crumbled sausage meat in a white sauce over a greasy scone! - It was good!!

Jim cooked an amazing BBQ and then we had "smores" (a toasted marshmallow sandwiched between a piece of chocolate and a couple of graham crackers) around the fire.

They very kindly let us bring Ali with us - and the kitty and puppy became the best of friends......well almost ;-)

Jennifer teaches us a little archery - Sim pretends he is Robin Hood!

Jennifer shows me how it is done on the trampoline

Opus (we collectively refer to all our boat friends by their boat name) - have a very cool backyard.

This gorgeous walk is literally out their back door and hang a left down to the lake.

They even had a snake in their shed!!! - Yikes

The plate of slow cooked pork at the last supper!