Sunday 23 Jan, Mexico, day 3, Isla Mujeres: Remain on board, set FinDelta sail, finish aft locker.
From the forecast we knew today would be a boat day. We offered Steve and Helena to come over for coffee, afternoon tea or whatever, but the weather kept them on their boat all day too.
Our morning saw Oana doing laundry using the boat’s machine, which she has now made friends with. And me catching up on the last few days of blog writing.
Mid-morning the wind is blowing up to 25 kts and we are yawing around on the anchor. So, I put up the stabilizing FinDelta sail and it really is noticeable how it dampens the movement. Especially when you are in an anchorage close to other boats. Cloudy does continue to swing, maybe 15 degrees either side the wind, but she no longer sails from side to side. It’s particularly noticeable when we have a similar yacht directly in front of you, watching their movement compared to ours. And this time there is no problem with it blocking the solar panels. There is no sun today.
In the afternoon I get on with the aft locker activity, which had become a project yesterday. With it raining all morning I manage to get into the locker and identify exactly where the leak is coming from. The locker floor is covered in water. It’s astounding just how much water can get in through one leaky bolt. And that bolt is the one I guessed it would be yesterday. We had all the deck and gunwale fittings removed in 2017 for the decks could be sanded and we reinstalled them using Sikaflex, not the butyl that Hallberg Rassy has used. It seems that Sikaflex is starting to fail on several fittings, causing leaks. For now, I re-bed this particular fitting back down using Butyl, but it looks like it will be a project to re-bed them all next time we are out of the water.
And, due the rain, I find another leak too, coming through the lock mechanism. The latches for these aft deck locker hatches are those type where a winch handle is needed to open and close them. Inside that device is an O-ring to stop water just passing through. Well, it seems it is time to replace all those too.
I wonder if I will ever get on top of all the leaks in Cloudy Bay! It seems to be a never-ending process this season.
