Believe it or not, we need to get some more work done to the boat already. We had made arrangements to take it to the well reputed Manoel Island boat yard. So, yesterday morning we pulled out of Grand Harbor, went out to the ocean for a minute, and then pulled into the bay on the other side of Valletta’s peninsula. Manoel Island is a small island that sits in the middle of the harbor, connected to the mainland by a bridge. We pulled up to their dock and tied up.
The boat yard has a beautiful view of a part of town we believe is called Sliema. This harbor is night and day different from Grand Harbor. Most all of the buildings are new and modern, with mostly high rises all along the waterfront. The harbor is loaded with mooring balls, and every one of them taken, mostly with sedan cruisers. There are quite a few colorful little fishing boats, as well.
The crew got to work right away. The first things were standard maintenance. The windlass and toilets were ready for some maintenance. Both are jobs that are probably better to let a professional do. They have the right tools and knowledge and can get it done properly and quickly. If Eric tried to do it himself, it would take a long time and there would be the risk of making things worse instead of better. The windlass was working fine, but it would be a tragedy if it died, so we needed to be good on the maintenance. The toilets were showing signs that they needed new joker valves (some water coming back into the toilet). The windlass and master toilet were done in literally minutes. The forward toilet is more difficult to access, and that one took quite a while, with almost all the time spent getting the toilet off and on the mounting.
It was unbearably hot and humid outside, definitely the hottest days of the summer yet. The heat zapped all our energy and we just sat around all day, feeling guilty about not getting to our very long list of chores. Remember, we have been living in very hot weather for almost a year and a half now (most of the time in the tropics), so we have a high tolerance for heat. We are serious when we say it is really hot.
Actually, Christi did do something. Our generator continues to be a concern. It has been inconsistent, sometimes running hotter than normal, other times running at the normal temperature. Once it got too hot and shut itself down. There seems to always be smoke, sometime just a little, sometimes more. So, Christi jumped in the water to look at the through hull intake for the generator, to make sure it didn’t have a plastic bag or something clogging it up. Normally, a refreshing swim on a hot day would be wonderful, but we were in a boat yard. Christi wasn’t excited about swimming with all the chemicals that were probably being dumped in the water by the other boats. Eric told her it was the through hull directly underneath the generator on the starboard, rear area of the boat. She jumped in, looked at the one through hull, saw it was clear, and got back out as quickly as possible.
In the evening we walked around the waterfront in search of a restaurant. We walked quite a way, admiring the scenery. Except for the night of the celebration, Vittoriosa was pretty quiet. Sliema is bustling and happening. There are actually a few older buildings here and there tucked away between the newer ones. We picked a small café solely because it was indoors and air conditioned. Then we went back to Kosmos and sequestered ourselves in the air conditioning.
Today, the guys came by early in the morning to install our flagpole. We have been dragging this flagpole around with us since we left home and have never had it installed because it turned out to be a much more complicated job than you would expect. They actually mounted a piece of teak on the hull, then mounted the pole to the teak. It took quite a while, but it is up and looks great.
The guys also told us that the most likely reason for the LPG (propane gas) alarm going off from time to time was that the LPG sensor is probably dirty. They explained to Eric how to clean it and how to check the tank for leaks. Of course, being as it was just as hot today as it was yesterday, we were wilting in the heat. We were grumpy and sleepy and unable to do anything. We added cleaning the LPG sensor and testing the tanks to our ever growing “to do” list.
The guys who work on Northern Lights/Lugger engines didn’t come until around 1600. They adjusted the valves on the main engine, which is another regular maintenance item. Turns out it was good we called them, because the valves were a little bit off on the main engine. After watching the two guys work, Eric is so glad he called professionals for the valve adjustment. If he tried, he it probably would have taken him hours instead of minutes. And he was lacking a couple of the special tools to do it. After they finished the valves, they looked at generator. They proclaimed that the engine was working great and left. They had no real guidance to offer as to how to get rid of the white smoke that our generator has been putting out lately.
After the engine guys left, we moved back to Grand Harbor Marina. It was so hot outside that we couldn’t bear to go to dinner at any of the waterfront restaurants because they are all outdoor cafes. We couldn’t bear to walk up the hill to Vittoriosa, even though it is a relatively short walk. So, once again, we sequestered ourselves in the boat and ran the air conditioning. The windows completely fogged up, to the point where you couldn’t see out of them at all. See, we were serious when we said it was hot outside!
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