The Plan!

Yeah I know "the best made plans of mouse and men", or was it "life happens while we make other plans." The plan is to lift Wind Raven up, move the blocks, and paint under the keel Friday the 24th. Splash on Saturday the 25th by noon, as they don't work on Saturday afternoons or Sundays.I will spend Saturday  afternoon and Sunday morning at the dock waiting for high tide. Actually I won't be just waiting, as I have to put the roller furling back on, and clean things up. I also will make sure there are no leaks around the repairs.

ALMOST READY TO SPLASH, ALMOST!

I’m almost ready to splash, but not quite. Iwent to a Computer Graphics place and had them make the letters for the name and home port on the stern. I painted the stern, but it was too hot of a day and the brush marks showed. I decided to sand it off and get some brushing thinner, yeah right! I am having a problem with the paint and the weather compatibility. The paint requires low humidity and mild temperatures. The weather here is hot and very humid, as in raining for the past three nights, which makes it extremely sultry during the day. It is the rainy season and I should have expected, and prepared for it! Isn't hindsight great?

ALMOST READY TO PAINT!

The heat problem can be remedied by using a brushing solvent, but I will just have to deal with the weather. Now to locate the brushing solvent, I went into Star Marine in San Carlos yesterday to see if they had something that would work. I couldn’t believe what they had on their shelves. They had both Interlux and Petit paint in quarts, no gallons. They also had brushing thinner, but of course it was not a match for my petit paint. It was Interlux brand, but the kicker was it didn’t even match their Interlux’s required thinner. They also had some Petit spraying thinner, but it didn’t match my paint or their Petit paint. What are these people thinking?

NEW LETTERING!

They offered to order it for me and I just said “right, and laughed.” You see I ordered a 50 amp double pole breaker and several other items from them over six weeks ago, and nothing has come in, nor will it ever come in. Of course this forced me to buy two single pole breakers, at more expense, and wire them together so they work as a single unit. They are for the solar control panel and must be turned on/off in unison, or it will cause irreparible damage to this very expensive unit.

NEW PAINTUNDER STERN!

While I was in San Carlos I had arranged to meet a young lady that had inquired about crewing on Wind Raven. I sent her an e-mail saying that I would meet her at Star Marine at 1:30pm. Right after I sent the e-mail the internet connection crashed. I arrived at 1::20pm and was there until 1:45pm and it was a no show. When I returned to the boat I there was an e-mail from her stating that she got off work early and would meet me at a coffee shop about 100 yards from Star Marine. Of course I hadn’t seen her last e-mail, because of the internet failure, so had no idea of the change, where she was, or how to locate her. She did give me her phone # but I explained to her that I did not have a phone.

VACANT HACIENDA!

My question is; does this show a fault on her part? Since she never received a confirmation from me, shouldn’t she have walked over to Star Marine? It’s a quandary! No matter, she didn’t want to crew until December and I have five other ladies who have expressed a desire to crew around that time. I guess I will have to accept the fact that I will be single handing Wind Raven, at least for the next 300 miles, until I reach La Paz in November, or December.

ACCROSS FROM YARD!

I was just informed that the Immigration will put their new law, where FM-2s will be good for five years (no yearly renewal), into effect on 1/1/2013. My renewal is due in March of 2013. This creates another problem or quandary if you will. You see, I have been considering sailing south to Central America this coming winter. I mean, why stay in one place? The problem is that if I have to stay in Mexico until March to renew my FM-2, it will be too late to head south. That is unless I go way south and stay south, or make the puddle jump instead. I might be able to renew my FM-2 (for the last time) early. If I could renew under the new law in the first week of January, it might not be too late. I would like to keep all options open, if possible.I will have to send an e-mail to Olivia in La Paz and see if she knows anything yet. That is her job, but who knows? This is MEXICO!

MR./MRS. MAJESTIC

REMEMBER THIS BOAT?

ALMOST THERE!

Today the 10th was paint day. Yep, they actually painted today. It's been a long time coming with a lot of BS from the painter. Night before last he failed to tighten the jacks back up before he went home. The wind came up around 2am with lightening, thunder and a shitload of rain. The boat started rocking, something it is not supposed to do on the hard, so I went out in the rain & lightening and had to tighten all of the jacks, as they weren't even up enough to touch the hull. Much less support it. The next morning when I confronted Domingo about him not putting tension back on them after loosening them, and that the boat had been in danger, he just laughed. That night after he left I went out and discovered that he had failed to tighten four of the jacks up again. They were a good three inches away from the hull. The weather was a repeat of the previous night, but this time the jacks were tight, due to my diligence, not Domingo's. When I confronted him in the morning he denied loosening them and said it was the rain that did it. I informed hi that they were loose before the rain and I tightened them back up.

SANDING

EPOXY PRIMER!

68% COPPER HARD BLACK!

PORT SIDE!

Tomorrow the paint under the jacks, the touch up, and a little sanding will be completed, which will just leave three spots on the bottom of the keel to do before I splash! If they fail to tighten all of the jacks up again, I will file a complaint with Gabriel at the Marina and also write an account of the experience for Latitude 38, to warn other cruisers of the non-professional habits of their workers at Marina Guaymas!
Unfortunately, this is about the only marina left where one can do their own work.

GUARDA  JAVIER!

COMING ALONG!

It is now the 6th of August and I only have a few small chores left that must be completed before I splash. It is not that there isn’t much more that I could do, but I just can’t justify spending money on aesthetics when there are more important issues to be addressed in the near future. I did price having the side of the hull sanded and painted from the waterline to, but not including the deck. It was a shock when he said it would cost $1100. I decided to do it myself on the hook later. I will just have to find a nice calm cove to do it in.

REPAIRED RUDDER EDGE

Domingo, the person doing the bottom job hasn’t shown up for the last three days. He should be here today; at least that is what I was told by one of his workers. The bottom is about 1/3rd sanded. The rudder edge had fiberglass showing, so I put some Marine Tex on the edge to cover it.


SANDING GOING VERY SLOWLY

The four ball valves on the cockpit drains are ceased and after soaking in a gallon of WD 40 for four days, they are still ceased. I decided that at $150 each, they can stay ceased. I will just put new hose and double SS clamps on them for now and hope for the best. They should be fine, as long as I keep a close eye on them. They are basically inaccessible anyway. If one should fail, I would have to plug it from the outside anyway. I wanted to remove them and install an above the waterline discharge pipe through the stern, but that will have to wait until I make my second million. I gave up on making my first when I heard the second was much easier to come by.


I THINK I HAVE PROBLEMS?

Dale is supposed to haul out at 1pm today. I haven’t heard from him in a few days as the internet has been down here. In fact it still is, so I have no idea when I will be able to post this. I guess I will just mosey down to the lift dock after lunch and see if he’s around. Then again maybe I should ride into town and see if I can raise him on the portable VHF and ride over with him to help with the lines. Man, there sure is a lot more to think about when you are a single hander. Just having another person aboard to help with lines alleviates much of the stress.


EVEN THE FANCY ONES HAVE EM!

LIKE THIS ROTTED THROUGH HULL!

It is now the 9th of August. Dale hauled out and I spent the 7th and 8th helping him get ready to go back tothe USA to make more fun tickets for his cruising kitty! They are still sanding on the bottom and the sides of the boat. I ended up having to go to Gabriel and complain about the lack of work being done on the boat. About an hour after I spoke with him Domingo showed up with several workers and actually put in a days work. Today they are slower again, but said they would be ready to paint it this afternoon. That is yet to be seen.

GUARD HOUSE RISING!

THE NEW YARD WITH A NEW GUARD HOUSE!