Category Archives: Boat Technical

Specifics about the boat.

Hoisting the Smoke Stack Back Up

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Eric went right to work as soon as he got up. He took down the rest of the mountings from the mast. The second shot is of one of the broken mountings. You can see it used to be a perfect square with 4 holes.

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Eric had agonized yesterday over how to fix the problem, until he remembered that in his cache of spare parts there is a rubber hose intended for exhaust, so it could stand to get really hot. He dug out the hose and cut it into squares, then made holes for the screws. It was a total pain in the rear to get the shape and holes just right. He is becoming a pro at fabricating spare parts these days.

Eric went outside and mounted the rubber pieces to the mast. Originally, there had been Continue reading →

Welcome to Portsmouth, Dominica

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At midnight we heard a loud crash on the top deck. It was windy and rainy and very dark out from the lack of stars and moon. We turned on the lights and looked out the back windows. Everything looked fine. The kayaks, dinghy and dock boxes were all secure. Eric went outside briefly and glanced at the top deck. All looked fine. We couldn’t figure out for the life of us what caused the crashing sound.

About the same time as the crash, the wind calmed down some and the seas started to improve a little. By 0100, we were in the lee of Guadalupe and the ride became smooth and nice. The wind was blocked by the big mountains on Basse Terre, so it died down to 3 5 knots. There are definitely a lot more lights at night on Guadeloupe than on Antigua, but it is no surprise since Guadeloupe has 450,000 people and Antigua only has 72,000.

We left the shelter of Guadalupe at about 0400 and it was instantly back to not being a fun ride. At sunrise, Dominica was visible, but the big mountains were mostly enshrouded in clouds. As morning progressed Continue reading →

Start of the Passage from English Harbor to Portsmith, Dominica

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Yesterday was chore day. Eric changed the forward racor fuel filter, changed the generator racor fuel filter, changed the main on engine fuel filter, changed the generator on engine fuel filter, changed the transmission oil and filter, ran the wing engine, and replaced the sea strainer for the diaphragm bilge pump. Eric also put the storm plates back on the salon (living room) windows, which we had taken down for the boat waxing. He also put Lanicote corrosion protector on the screws for the storm plates.

Christi did laundry, cleaned, and did the never ending and thankless job of reorganizing storage spaces.

This morning we walked over to Falmouth Harbor to go Continue reading →

Beaches, View Points, Fort Berkley & Blowers

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Yesterday morning we went back to Pigeon Beach for a while, and then headed over to one of the stunningly beautiful beaches we had seen on the drive up to Jolly Harbor yesterday. We believe it is called Darkwood Beach, but we are not positive.

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Unfortunately, the weather was uncooperative. It has rained a lot every day we have been here. The rain tends to be hard, but normally it doesn’t last long before the cloud passes and the skies are blue again. However, yesterday it just wouldn’t let up. Rather than brief showers, we had brief periods without showers. After making a few runs to the car to get out of the pounding rain, we finally gave up and headed back to Kosmos.

On the way back, we stopped at a place that Continue reading →

Exploring Nelson’s Dockyard & Falmouth Harbor

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Yesterday Christi slept in especially late, and when she did get up, she was moving slow. Between swimming all day and dancing all night, she had gotten more exercise than normal and she was feeling it.

We puttered around all morning, and at 1330, she finally got underwater to do the metal. On the port side, the metal had a small amount of growth, nothing major. The bottom has a fine, thin layer of grass starting to grow. She scraped the metal, then moved to the starboard side and almost had a heart attack. The metal on this side was Continue reading →