Dawn on Friday, May 1

Today was the 17th anniversary of the completion of circumnavigation. But it was a busy day, so we didn’t have much of a chance to reflect. Kosmos was supposed to be put back in the water today, so the first thing we did upon waking up was to pack up our stuff and check out of the hotel. We went to the boat and dropped off our stuff. We saw that the painting work was completed, but they hadn’t removed the plastic yet (more on the painting below).

Then we went to Trader Joes and bought passage food. Since we had to haul the groceries through the boat yard and up the ladder, we were cognizant about only buying what we’d need for the next few days.

We headed back to the boat and put away the groceries. We worked on getting Kosmos ready for sea until 0945, then headed to Paneterie in downtown West Palm Beach to meet our friends on Viaje. Viaje had spent the season in the eastern Caribbean and were en route to the Chesapeake. We excited to see them again! We had a lovely breakfast with them, but sadly, we couldn’t visit for nearly as long as we wanted to because we all had other places that we needed to get to.

Next on the to-do list was returning the car. We caught a ride share back to the boat yard. When we returned, they were in the process of peeling off all the blue tape and plastic that had been put up to protect the areas not being sanded and painted. Eric went through the check list of all the work that was supposed to done and made sure the work had been properly completed. We’ll start with the work mentioned in the April 8 post:

Changed the group 31 battery in lazarette that started generator and wing engine. This was actually completed in Old Port Cove Marina prior to the haul out.

They refurbished the freshwater sight gauges. The water gauges had been put back on and looked to be secure. However, we had not filled the tanks back up yet and tested them to ensure they were watertight.

The raw water pump was replaced on the generator. Eric plans to fix the seals on old pump to use as a spare. We already have one spare onboard, but it doesn’t hurt to have more.

The biggest project of all was repainting most of the window frames and exteriors of the doors. The ones being repainted had developed corrosion, so the window frames and doors had to be prepared and sanded prior to painting.

In the April 9 post, we mentioned that Yacht Tech had changed the oil and salinity sensor on the water maker. That had also already been completed in Old Port Cove Marina prior to hauling out.

In the April 12 post, we mentioned that the propellor was removed because Eric suspected one of the blades was slightly bent. It sent to a machine shop where it was computer balanced. It was indeed bent – they gave Eric a stat sheet showing how far off it was and how much it had to be adjusted. As part of the computer balancing, they had to scrape off the existing Prop Speed coating. A new Prop Speed coating was applied after the propellor was put back on.

In the April 12 post, we also mentioned that they took apart the steering ram so they could put new seals on it. That work was completed. We did some steering checks to make sure the steering wheel was lining up with the rudder and all looked fine.

To be continued…