Tuesday 14 Dec, Anchored at Lake Worth FL, cruising day 17: Welcome heavy rain, let’s wash decks and cockpit. Reseal fitting on generator.
After breakfast we search for CBP on Google, and find they have an office just a short dinghy ride away. We wonder why we had to go all the way inland to the local airport when checking in last May? Covid maybe? But just as we get the dinghy into the water and getting ready to leave, the heavens open up.
We kind of forgotten that flash rain happens in this part of the world. And flash it did! The last few weeks we did not have any serious rain, but today the timing could not have been better, because Cloudy Bay needs a freshwater bath. Yes, it stopped us from going to CBP, but is also allowed us to get all the salt washed off of decks and fittings. Now, normal people would just let the rain do its job, while sitting in the cockpit sipping a coffee and reading a book. But not me. I kind of like to help things along. So, there I am, out on the deck in my swim shorts and sponge in hand. To the delight and giggling entertainment of Oana 😊. Yes, it’s a bit chilly, but not too bad. And there is something about getting salt washed off, in the rain, that I really enjoy. A cleansing experience let’s say.
With everything I can think of wiped down and well rinsed off, the cockpit is the next focus. Not much salt in there, but enough from my walking in off the salty decks for the last few days.
By the end of the storm, a bucket I had left on the aft deck has about 12cm of rainwater in it. And the dinghy is more like a floating paddling pool! It was quite a downpour.
So there is good news and bad news on leaks. The good news: even with this torrential rain we had no leaks inside the boat. All previous maintenance on the hatches appears to have worked at last! Mind you, it does help that I had them closed this time and not left open on vent. 😊
The bad news: Cloudy Bay found another place for water to pour in. The cockpit windscreen opening. We know the seal on this central window needs replacing but lately, to our surprise, we got no more than a few drips, even with the occasional wave flushing up the deck onto the screen, plus a lot of spray. But today, the rain is gushing through. It seems there is some sideways play on the frame and in its current position it simply doesn’t seal. That one will go to the top of the to-do list, next dry day.
By 4pm it’s obvious we are not going to get to CBP today, so the dinghy goes back up on the davits and we head inside.
After my work out on deck and in the cockpit, the only job I can be bothered to do today is fix a minor saltwater leak on the generator. The fitting where the raw-water cooling circuit enters the coil around the electrical end had a very slight leak. Low enough that one drip would evaporate before the next drip came out. But now, after a few runs of the generator, these evaporating drips left a lot of salt crystals on the connection.
As this leaky fitting was simply a barb into a 90deg elbow, I just used Teflon tape to seal it. This time I don’t mess around. It’s now sealed with good ol’ Loctite 275.
Then it’s onto the computer figure out how I can sell our Hookha Airline scuba dive system. So many options: OfferUp, Facebook Market Place, Ebay etc, but most good apps need a US phone number before we can post an ad, which is really annoying.
We purchased this dive system in a bit of a panic as we left USA in late 2019 thinking we were going to the Pacific, never to be back again. I really want to do some scuba diving in the Pacific and ideally, we wanted a mini compressor to refill our tanks. But of course, any available in USA were wrong voltage motors for our European boat hence we bought a gas (petrol) powered Hookha system instead. Anyway, with our forced covid break, we had time to buy and ship a European spec dive compressor from Nardi in Italy. Hence our Hookha airline system is now for sale.
Last thing in the evening, I start to edit the next maintenance video. Inspired by my new friend Paul in UK who recently bought an HR54. Talking to him today, he said he is waiting on our “rudder-seals” video before he tackles his own rudder. So, I’d better get after it!