Monday 4 February, St.Maarten day 8: Pottering on boat stuff: vang is back, canvas repairs ordered and change hydraulic oil filter.
More jobs to do today. First stop FKG where they have my “good as new” vang all wrapped up waiting for pickup. Fingers crossed that with all these new parts it solves the leaking issue. I also hand them the Furlex cover plates that need the rusty seals removing on their lathe.
And I also get the bill. Gulp! The 2 new hoses were $500! The pipe itself is only $20 but the end fittings, crimping and labor costs make up the rest. Oooph. Maybe next time I’ll let them actually rupture before I replace them! And the Selden hydraulic filters and seals were half the price of the shipping costs from Sweden. Hmmm, where can I hide all these costs from Oana?! I’ll just have to come clean, I guess. Well, she already knows Cloudy Bay is a very expensive mistress; it costs to keep her looking sexy!
Next stop North Sails where I order a few canvas things to be made: sun/rain shade for over the fore hatch, dinghy fuel tank cover (current one is falling apart), repair to a hydraulic hose cover and repair to our cockpit cushion covers. That will be another bill. Maybe we should have bought that sewing machine from the Annapolis boat show after all.
Midday sees me back in Lagoonies with coffee and internet making some calls which turn into lunch too. I really like this place Lagoonies. Always full around lunch time with guys from the various yacht services. Interesting to tune into their chats … either bitching or praising various boats they are working on.
Then a visit to Island Water World, another large chandlery, where my shopping list gets even longer. Finally they kick me out at 5pm!, which happily coincides with happy hour in Lagoonies … just $2 for their wonderful rum punch! 1 punch down and the crew from Ineffable turn up and I end up there till 9pm.
Back on Cloudy Bay I fit the vang back on, up to the point of getting the hydraulic hose attached. That task needs 2 people to get the line bled before re-attaching. Rob from Ineffable will help me do that in the morning for the cost of a cup of coffee 🙂
Last job before bedtime: change the hydraulic oil filter on the main Selden hydraulic unit. This is a large unit that is under the floor in the forward cabin. It has the oil reservoir and on top one large hydraulic pump that feeds the 3 sail furling motors (genoa, cutter, mainsail) and a second pump that feeds the massive outhaul piston in the boom. Plus all the various control valves to operate it. It’s quite amazing what actually goes on when we press those simple electric buttons at the wheel pedestal.
I only discovered there is an oil filter in the system just a few weeks ago, and to my knowledge it’s never been changed. At $80 per filter I won’t be changing it very often either! Looking at the old filter, it was certainly time for a change. As usual, I drop the wrench under the unit with a lot of swearing to recover it … get myself covered in hydraulic oil and the cleanup takes more time than the job itself. C’est la vie!
Finally to bed at midnight. I seem to have been at it all day, but not a lot to show for it 🙁
