Moorea Maintenance

Tomorrow is Bastille Day, one of the biggest French holidays of the year. According to Lonely Planet, when a holiday falls on a Saturday, everything is closed the Friday before. Since (we assumed, at least) everything was closed, the plan for today was to do some boat chores, then go snorkeling.

Conditions were ideal for several chores. It is much easier to change fuel filters when the tanks are full and when you are in a calm anchorage, so Eric changed all the fuel filters aboard. Christi assisted.

Where we were anchored the water crystal clear, making it an ideal spot to get in the water to clean the waterline and bottom. Christi expected the project to take her an hour and a half. She almost had a heart attack when she actually got in the water and saw just how much growth there was under there. This was a much bigger project than anticipated. The grass had come back with a vengeance. The thick lawn had spread around the entirety of the boat, going from the waterline down about 2 feet under the water. The lawn was still thicker on the starboard side, especially near the back. We suspect the warm water and carbon dioxide from the generator exhaust are fueling the growth. The bottom was much worse than last time. The entire bottom had a nice layer of green, some small patches of grass.

It took Christi an hour and a half to scrub the waterline. The whole time she was scrubbing, she was pondering the irony of how she wished for grass like this in our back yard at home. She got her wish, just somehow in the yard of the wrong house. After finishing the waterline, she took a break. Using the SCUBA tank connected to a 75 foot yellow hose, Eric got in and scrubbed the propeller and the keel coolers (cooling system for the main engine and stabilizers). He decided to change the sacrificial zinc (item used for rust prevention) in back. It wasn’t quite ready to be changed, but he hadn’t ever done it before and this was an excellent place to learn. It is always hardest and most clumsy the first time. The water was shallow and clear, making it easy to go after dropped tools or bolts. Changing the zincs was easy once he figured out the right tools for the job.

Two different groups of people from near by boats stopped by to chat, so darn, we had to take a couple breaks from work to socialize. Once Eric was done, Christi got back in to do the bottom using the SCUBA hose. After an hour and a half she had the bottom of the keel and the starboard side done, and was too tired to do the port side. It was much less intimidating for her to get under the boat this time than last time. Here’s Christi taking a quick water break.

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Snorkeling didn’t happen because Christi was too tired. In fact, she was so tired that she didn’t want to go to shore to go out to dinner, something she usually always has enough energy to do. We made easy to prepare food and watched a movie.

One thought on “Moorea Maintenance

  1. Eric Why is Chris always scrubbing the “grass” ??? Ummm Eric I think it’s your turn next time!!!! Turn down not cooking??? Chris we need to talk!!!!

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