Boatyard

Boat Jobs

In the few weeks prior to heading over to the haulout facilities we crossed off some more boat jobs. One unexpected job was that we noticed the screen on the cockpit chartplotter had become heat damaged. Whilst it was still possible to use, it was far from ideal. In the end we struck lucky. Our friend Bartek, who fixed a faulty TriData instrument earlier in the year, had the very same plotter, but the rear connections had all corroded. However, the screen was in great condition. He offered to replace ours for his one and within a few days we had the plotter back. Many thanks Bartek.

Pictures below of the before and after.

Also worth mentioning is that Jose did a great job with the saloon table.

We had another local contractor restitch our sprayhood with Tenara thread, and had them replace the tired windows with high-end Strataglass.

We can't jump into our exploits in the boatyard without firstly saying a huge heartfelt thank you to Shawn Goode and Erika McGee of the beacon department responsible for McMurdo epirb.

For those not familiar with what an epirb is, it is an emergency position indicating radio beacon which is used in emergency situations to send a coded distress signal to satellites and earth stations, thus alerting rescue and co-ordination centres.

The diagram below does a good job of explaining how it works.

Our existing G5 battery was due for replacement as it was 5 years old. However, it is not a battery you can replace yourself. The unit needs to go off to a service centre, not just for a new battery, but also to test it. The nearest one on our travels would have been in Panama, but we drew a blank trying to reach them. In frustration we phoned McMurdo in Maryland. Both Shawn and Erika put our minds at rest and organised a brand new model G8 epirb with built in AIS, and a 10 year battery life, to be shipped to the freight forwarder we use in Miami. They also programmed it to the UK registry and we have since updated our details back in the UK accordingly.

How refreshing to make a phone call and have the person at the other end own the problem and sort it out so graciously.

RAM Marina Boatyard

It had been two years since our last haulout in Trinidad and after talking to many fellow cruisers, we settled on RAM Marina to do the haulout and works.

The haulout went very smoothly. We tied up on the Fuel dock and the haulout team manoeuvred Azzy into the slings, plus they even sent a diver down to check the strap positions before the hoist. Fortunately, we had remembered to take the log out.

A powerful jet wash later and we were all blocked up and ready for the works to start. The intention was to do this ourselves, but frankly the heat and humidity conspired against us.
We got a good quotation from RAM and decided to let them do it.

All of the old antifouling was removed down to the primer, and it was then that we discovered some blisters in the gelcoat. We consulted RAM who had dealt with similar issues many times before. They were ground out and expoxy resin used to fair, before another coat of epoxy primer was put on. 

Much of the previous antifouling came off with the pressure of the jet wash.

We also had been unhappy with a 'furry' seacock. This was the one that both galley sinks drain into and it appeared that 10 years of gunk had eroded the T piece, plus the pipes themselves were almost completely clogged. We had the offending items changed accordingly.

We also had the contractors polish the hull, and this time round we opted for International Micron for the antifouling.

As a precaution, we also changed all of the anodes including the large pear shaped anode close to the fridge keel coolers.

The Propspeed coating on the propeller had all but worn off, but as it runs at at $500 to replace it, we decided to try Lanolin based grease instead. Time will tell how effective this is.

It was great to see the care taken on the relaunch also.

All in all we spent about 10 days in the yard, and with everything totted up it was under $5000.

A big thumbs up to Ram. We highly recommend coming to Ram Marina, be sure to see Karen for excellent service.

Cruising Plans 2018-2019

We mentioned in the previous blog update that we would have more news on our cruising plans, and here they are.

We did give serious consideration to visiting Florida and the Bahamas and spending one more cyclone season in the Caribbean, possibly in the ABC Islands, but after much discussion and soul searching, we have decided to set New Zealand in our sights. 

Our intended route, which may vary, is to once again spend a little time in the Bay Islands of Honduras, before moving on to the San Blas. All being well we will transit the Panama Canal towards the end of March. Once through the canal and before arriving arriving in New Zealand at the end of October, we hope to visit the following places:-

Bay Islands of Honduras
San Blas Islands
Panama

French Polynesia - The Marquesas, Tuamotus and Society Islands

Cook Islands

Bora Bora

Tonga

The longest ocean passage will be 4000nm from Panama to the Marquesas. 

Several years ago we had planned to break the passage up by spending the cyclone season in Fiji, but after a devastating cyclone called Winston, our insurers want us to be in New Zealand before November.

Our voyages will take us to some fairly remote places, so chances are, our progress will be updated more regularly via 'The Voyages of Aztec Dream' Facebook page, rather than this blog.

It is our intention on the longer passages to do updates via the sat phone email. Lynne's brother Phill has kindly offered to add these to the blog and update a voyage progress map.

Last Minute Delay

Just before signing off, we have news of a delay to our intended departure from Guatemala.
Our 4kw diesel genset has stopped generating AC.
It will need fixing before we can think of leaving, but having missed one high tide, we only have two more dates this year, or we will have to stay another season.

More on that in the next blog update.