Flamingo Bay, St. Thomas, USVI

We arrived off Water Island at around 2:30 pm after an uneventful, somewhat bouncy ride from Culebra, PR. Yes, the hydraulic steering ram leaked making steering by hand a little difficult and the autopilot didn't function properly: yup, it's a boat. Will work on them this afternoon.

This is our $1 million view while we're here!

I'm trying out our Spot, a GPS/wifi tool that sends messages and our position to a list of people I've programmed in. If you got a message, please let me know what you think of it.

We're here in Charlotte Amalie to stock-up on booze at duty-free prices for both us and Southern Comfort who's going on "the hard" at Puerto Del Rey Marina this morning for a good bottom scraping and painting preparatory to our leaving for Curaçao. They are delighted to report that all their systems are finally working including their very old, troublesome engine. Obviously Rob was able to noodle through all it's vagaries.

We are both fine (as is the weather) and looking forward to leaving on The Great Adventure II.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Update: Still in Puerto Rico

Our dearest Aunty Sally (Arnold) Lowrey, 98 3/4 years old, finally reached her 30+year goal of joining her dear husband, Bob, and son, David. She died quietly at Arcadia (her assisted living facility for the past 30+ years) in Honolulu, Hawaii. She and my Dad moved to Hawaii with their parents in 1919.

 

Can you believe this woman is 98 years old I n this picture!!!!!!!!!???????

It is said that "Cruising is making repairs at exotic prices in exotic places." That coupled with B o a t meaning "Bring On Another Thousand" and I think you get the picture. Oh, let's not forget that each job takes three times as long IF you have done it before. Otherwise... By mid day my "Work" T-shirt is completely soaked as my shorts are half way down from my svelt waist. Linda, on the other hand is inboard with a little "glow" on her forehead and her sexy upper lip. She gets the inside duties which are not to be underestimated: cooking (X3), dishes (again X3 or more), coffee at O'dark 30, washing and hanging my sweat dried shirts, sewing cushions for the salon and cockpit, correspondence (email and voice), trying to keep me (and she) happy, etc. My day consists of fixing and/or replacing things that have broken or reached their useful live span: God bless American built in obsolesence and Chinese slave labor technology. You might not believe the mess I can make learning and relearning plumbing (water, raw and fresh; waste; piping, plastic/rigid, and flexible hose for both; breaking Chinese hose clamps that drain away all our fresh water and wipe out the pressure pump); pumps for bilge and water making; electrical both 110 volt and 12 volt including generation (solar, wind, diesel and inversion (12v to 110v), mechanics, mechanical systems, engines (both diesel and gas), etc. And I used to say I could sail. Yup, it's a long, hot day everyday. But, every night we have $1 million views, sunsets, and neighbors. And if we don't, we move. Life is good.

Linda has modified (with my permission, of course: NOT!) our sail (yah, the easy part) plan, to whit we will make single destination goals and decide after we arrive each time if we will continue on. So, after our trip to Florida the week (10 days) of October 14th to see friends, Mother Millie, grand kids, kids, doctor check ups, etc. we will probably head out the second week of November for Curaçao, a 2 1/2 day sail South and a little West of PR. How long we'll stay in the area and when we'll leave will be worked out after we arrive. We hope to cruise in company with Rob and Lauren Dehaan aboard Southern Comfort: there's pirates in them thar waters...AARGGG!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Great Day in the Morning!

It was a hot, bright blue, clear day when we did our sea trial with the Yanmar engineer, Charlie, Bob Lamire of Applied Marine (FJ Propeller) who did the install, and our good cruising friend Gabriel Rivera of Good Timing. It went, pardon the pun, swimmingly. Everything worked to every ones satisfaction and Charlie signed off on the installation. Kuhela did 8.5 knots at 3,100 RPM and cruised along at 7.5 knots at 2,500 RPM, her cruising RPM's. After 8 weeks of twists and turns, wet and dry, ups and downs we have a beautiful renovated home with a new propulsion system that should keep us moving from one $1 million view to another in comfort and style. But, we spent our children's inheritance and a little more to "get 'er done".

Putting everything back that was taken off for the painting has been a hard, hot job here at dock side. We are having an insurance survey in the middle of all this which has driven Linda up a tree trying to clean and put everything away. We have two cabins full of seat foam which will be shortly turned into cushions and mattresses. This hasn't made the "putting away" easy at all. The third is full of projects: new dingy windlass set up; new TV dish; flooring; shelving; new cockpit enclosure; etc. But, she did a yeoman's job and "got 'er done".

Linda and I are well and looking forward to getting back to our haunt, Culebra, and our cruising neighbors. We'll be there making minor repairs and minor improvements thru October when we plan to start our trip with five other boats to Australia via the Panama Canal and the South Pacific some time in late February next year: the next Great Adventure. We will be back to central Florida before we leave to say good by and do our annual doctor and dentist visits.

More later with pictures...

Posted with Blogsy

Splash!!!

Looks like we'll go back in the water this Thursday. A final glitch turned out to be the propeller mounting assembly which one would thing came with the sail drive. Not! It had to be ordered from Florida on Friday and FedEx'd to be here Monday. One did come with the wrongly geared drives that we were able to sell to a cat in the BVI. Unfortunately Yanmar said they don't do this and as a result it was wrong for our replacement (2.49 : 1.00 geared) drives. Florida is splitting the cost with us 'cause of the Yanmar HQ intervention several weeks ago. Now we'll wait and see if this kit actually fits/works. More after we are "in".

Posted with Blogsy

On the Hard

The hulls have been AwlGripped to the level of the deck: water level up outside and under. Unfortunately another weather wave is forecast for tomorrow and Monday; then the 4th and another $65 without work/progress: boo-hoo! Anyway we are progressing and it still looks like 6 weeks total.

Let me relate the story of the engines and sail drives. We ordered two Yanmar 4JH5E Angie's with sail drives from a distributor in Florida recommended by our good friend Rob Dehaan on Southern Comfort. This was May 10. The purchase was shipped in error to St. Thomas, USVI by the retailer in Miami designated by the distributor. He says the it was because the warehouse people were morons, and then ducked for cover and out of sight. The distributor was no help, either, and Linda had to find a shipper in St. Thomas and have the "package" re-shipped to San Juan, of course at out expense. Linda and I drove our contractors panel truck to old San Juan, loaded the engines and sail drives up, and brought them back to Puerto Del Rey Marina where Kuhela sits high and dry getting her new paint job. There the contractor, Bob Lamire, discovered the gear ratio in the proves was wrong as to the size and weighted the boat. Seems the distributor forgot to look at the information I sent on his form and that this year there were to gear ratios for the sail drives. He'd sent what he had in stock. When so informed, he said there was nothing he could do: neither take them back and exchange them for the proper ones, or find new gears to put in, or anything else. He basically ran for cover. I then begged him for safety reasons to help us out, and because we are paying $65/day to be out of the water, and he relented. At the same time we went to the local PR dealer to buy spare parts and I asked if there were and gear parts to be had there. As the SD60 sail drives are so new, there is nothing in the computers as yet. So, in comes the Yanmar engineer to see what he can do. When he hears our story of woe, he lets Yanmar Atlanta know what is happening. And, low and behold, our distributor is falling all over himself trying to straighten this out. Suddenly two correct sail drives are located in NJ, and a buyer for our wrong ones is located in the BVI. This all happened Friday last during a sales trip to the Keys while fielding on the road hundreds of calls and emails. So, as is stands today, I must wire transfer $8,000+ to the FL distributor to get him to authorize the shipment to PR and sell the wrong drives. If all goes perfectly, the drives will leave NJ Thursday, arrive San Juan Monday or Tuesday next (weather permitting), and be installed by a week from this Friday. While all of this is going on, I'll be negotiating with a guy in Texas to buy my "wrong" ones. I'll let you know.

 

Posted with Blogsy

More adventures!

I am working on my next update! The adventures continue...stay tuned!

 

We're BAAAAACK!!!!!

Sue Klumb (s/v Orion) came over today and figured out what I did wrong (see previous Blog entry below). So, hopefully that's behind me. By using a new iPad program, Blogsy, I hope to resurrect "The Adventures..." Plus, my mentor and nemesis, Rob Dehaan, sold s/v Arita, hasn't made a blog entry since December, and has been consumed and distracted by his new purchase and renovation of s/v Southern Comfort. Really his blog (to my knowledge he has not created a new one (Cruising on Southern Comfort ?) as yet: stay tuned as it will be a smashing one when he does.

A lot has transpired since last I wrote. We are still in Culebra, Puerto Rico and are still in the throws of olde, abused Volvo engines. A year ago we tried to head for the Classic Boat Race again in Antigua, but only made it to St. Thomas, USVI, 17 miles E as our port engine over-heated and cr..ped out. $2,000 Later we came back to Culebra, went to Fajardo on the mainland, returned half way and lost the port engine again. So, brilliant me decides to have it rebuilt; best place according to the worldwide web is in Maine, so off she goes. Turns out the head was warped again as were the cylinders: $12,000 to rebuild. Back to square two and find a used one on eBay for $4,500. Won the bid (I was the only bidder; should have told me something) and began the wait for the engine to start in CA. After 6 weeks we decided we'd been more than patient, cancelled the order, and decided to buy new Yanmar diesels with new sail drives. Ouch!!! Anyway given we plan to sail via Panama and Galapagos to Australia, having new, dependable, worry free engines makes the most sense: duh! Now we wait for the Miami dealer to deliver the engines to Puerta del Rey so we can haul-out and have them installed. While there, what the heck, let's paint the bottom, paint the top side, lengthen the sugar scoops on the stern, and do other various and sundry goodies.

Here we sit in paradise waiting, waiting... More next time.

at old ferry dock with engine on stern

Port engine out and on stern