I’ve felt strangely cut off from the world this week due to the loss of the internet connection when the apartments changed hands on Tuesday. Nobody seems to know why it doesn’t work but meanwhile my only way of getting online is to sit right by the canal where I can pick up a stray signal from somebody else’s open wireless network. Mind you, I take my life in my hands every time I do this as when the virtually constant thunderstorms and torrential downpours take a breather so I can nip outside to connect, all the mosquitos and other sundry biting insects in South Florida come swarming around me with a terrifying bloodlust.
So, dear reader, bear in mind that each of these words has cost me another millilitre of my blood, and every sentence results in an itchy bite which will remind me of you for days!
Moving swiftly to business while I still have enough blood in my veins, this week has been productive and frustrating at the same time. After Odyssey’s near-sinking on Tuesday the yard managed to plug the leak and got her afloat on Wednesday, so she’s now bobbing gently at the dock by the big crane which will be putting the masts back on.
Unfortunately we still don’t have a date for this, and it wasn’t helped by the fact that when they tried to fit my snazzy new self-levelling radar bracket to the main mast they found that it was far too small for my radar. Oh no, another delay! Luckily the manufacturers sent out the right one the next day and this time it fits perfectly.
The saga of the wind generator bracket has also reached a happy ending as the yard boys knocked me up a splendid custom-made one out of shiny anodised aluminum. And no, I haven’t dropped an ‘i’, that’s how we spell it over here. The new bracket looks big enough for a Dutch windmill rather than my piddly little 4-foot blades so I’ve no doubt it’ll stand up just fine to the Atlantic gales.
My main task for the week has been to sort out the anchor windlass. For those of you who aren’t very technically minded, this is a powerful electric winch which sits on the front of the boat and is used to haul up that big metal hook we chuck over the side when we park up for a picnic by the beach. Needless to say, Odyssey’s windlass didn’t work but the previous owner breezily fobbed it off, saying it just needed connecting up. Hah! I’ve heard that before so took it with a rather large pinch of the finest crushed sea salt, and discovered smugly that I was correct when I had a look on Tuesday.
Windlasses draw an enormous amount of power so they need big chunky wires connected to them, like the ones on your car battery. Big wires are expensive though, and so some people think you can save money by putting another battery up in the bow near the windlass and running thinner wire back to the main battery bank for charging. The result is often that the little wires can’t carry enough current to keep the battery charged properly, so it gets buggered by the windlass constantly discharging it.
This is exactly what had happened on Odyssey, and the windlass battery was in a hopeless state with warped plates, no electrolyte to speak of, and a mere 8.6 volts. Hardly surprising given the tiny wires, so I set to work by ripping out the whole lot and starting again. The first thing was to buy some proper high-quality wire, in this case marine-grade tinned 4AWG battery cable. 100 feet at $1.79 per foot + tax comes to quite a lot for a bit of wire! I also decided to add a second foot switch to lower the anchor as there was only one to raise it, meaning one would have to bend down and manually release the clutch to lower it. How tiresome!
Running 100 feet of wires from one end of the boat to the other inevitably involves dismantling half the interior (again), but at least I’m becoming very familiar with all of Odyssey’s intimate little cracks and crevices. I also managed to inadvertantly dismantle the windlass by testing it with the cover removed. I’ve definitely learned not to do that again as the result was that the main driveshaft unscrewed itself and popped out into my lap, followed briskly by a deluge of filthy old oil which chased me down the foredeck as I scampered off to get some rags. Luckily I managed to put it all back together again but it took quite a while as there were all cogs and gears and things and the first time I had some bits left over so had to start all over again. Oh well, at least I know how to do it now and you never know when that might come in handy!
This afternoon I finally had it all wired up properly (directly to the main engine battery via a big circuit breaker) and spent a good twenty minutes standing on the foredeck in the rain first lowering the anchor into the murky river water by pressing the down button, then raising it again. Then lowering it, and raising it. And again. Several times. With a very pleased-with-myself look on my somewhat grimy face.
So, that’s another essential job ticked off my list, and now hopefully I can anchor safely and efficiently wherever I please.
Plenty more to do next week, starting with a new gas control system with integrated leak detector and automatic shut-off. Fire is a major hazard on yachts, particularly since most use gas for cooking and leaks can be lethal, so I want to get it right.
Meanwhile it’s a big holiday weekend here being Independence Day on Monday, so I’m staying in for a change tonight (Friday) to recover from my efforts and will conserve my energy for the dancefloor tomorrow night, and Sunday. And Monday too, probably.
And for those of you who have pointed out that I might actually be on my way by now if I didn’t spend so much time partying, I’M ON HOLIDAY so I’m allowed to!!!!