More of the Same June 17th 2008

Each day I pick Jake up at his dock at the head of Calabash Bight. "So Jake what do you want to do today..... something different, like work on the catamaran? Ok lets do it!!" Of course he thinks I'm nuts, which is debatable.

The weather is becoming very hot now that summer is coming. We have the fans going full blast in the cat, and we drink gallons of water. Every 'room' has work in progress going on. I am making shelving to replace the missing ones in the cabins and heads, and I have my Homemade portable workshop set up in the cockpit where I am making up trim for the shelving. This creates a lot of messy sawdust, and we appreciate the occasional rain squall to wash everything down. Especially now that the hatches and windows don't leak anymore!

Julie is in the cabins sanding down the remaining shelving and getting ready for a final painting. The PVC foam panels are being caulked at the seams and the whole area will be final painted and another coat of varnish will go on.

We are experimenting with how to finish the main salon window areas. Jake scraped off all the old nasty contact cement from the original covering. Then Julie made a cardboard pattern, and cut out insulation, which Jake glued in place. Finally I cut out a piece of PVC foam and put this in place. We will continue this all around the salon windows and see how it looks. The curvy places are more of a problem, and we think we will upholster these in a 'monkey fur' material used in automotive upholstery.

Last time we were down island I bought 4 golf cart batteries. Jake and I wrestled out the old huge dead battery and I hooked up the golf cart batteries. I am getting my head around tackling the electrical systems, and have cleaned up the nav area so that i can get at the electrical panel.

I am on eBay and the internet trying to keep ahead of projects. Here, planning is everything. Since you really can't get marine parts and supplies here, everything has to be brought in. Problem  is, it takes at least a month from the time you order something and the time it finally arrives. So you have to think ahead! Julie is in there too, looking at pages and pages of fabrics, sheets and shower curtains to do the finish decorating.

Jake got the VBerth all cleaned out and it was pretty bad in there. There was tons of old contact cement stuck to the walls and ceiling, and the room was caked in dust and dirt. Julie got in there and made patterns for the PVC for the walls, and Jake cut everything out and stuck it on. Then Julie got out the MoPoxy paint and painted the V-Berth storage areas, and the salon settee - the boat just got whiter and cleaner again!

We decided we have to get Free Radical (monohull) hauled out and the bottom done. There is no paint left, and it's difficult to keep the bottom clean to say the least. Jake spent two days scraping the bottoms of both boats (3 hulls!) and we made plans to go. But all the plans went to mush.

Julie went down island one day with Pam & Graham to get to the bank. No money transfer arrived from Canada so now we have to wait and make the trek down island again maybe next week.

Meanwhile, we hears a rumour that La Ceiba was now charging a harbour fee of $350 entrance AND $350 exit fee! We have to check that out before we go - no way will we be able to pay that kind of money on top of haulout. We checked out our boat papers to make sure all was in order and discovered that we are expired by about a month on our cruising permit. Oops...got to get that updated before we go too.

In spite of all this, we do find time to have some recreation. Usually we get descended upon by the 'pirates of Calabash Bight' - Luven (our painter and mechanic) and his assistant Walter. Ealond who we met from buying his fish and lobster at Mango Creek, and who has a little "Sponge Bob" bar (and I use that term loosely) at his house.

We are regularly visited by the Mango Creek staff with offers of rides here and there and updates on the gossip happening at Port Royal. The family ashore is friendly and the cat comes by every morning for his bowl of milk.

Through Peter (the owner of the resort here) we have met several people, and they drop by from time to time. George drops by to check progress and see if we need a ride down island.

When the seas are flat we can jump in the dinghy and go visiting Pam & Graham in Port Royal, otherwise we can always get into Oakridge to have a cold one at BJ's. But mostly, we just work.......we are happy to see the progress, and we DON'T want to be working on boats for the next 5 years!