Monday 4 Oct, re-launch 2021, HHN day 5: A day of phone calls and finally having the boats electrics fully up and running again. Triumphant is Captain, with a little help from his (Swedish) friends.
After our social evening, we woke at 7am today. Almost back to normal with regards to jet lag. But we are also both feeling rather down and “moochy”, as Oana calls it when noses are running and a cold seems to be a-comin’. And of course, our minds jump to Covid. Before leaving Bucharest, we had managed to be the first in line for a 3rd dose vaccine, to ensure we are covered for the next several months of cruising (we’d had our dose 1 and 2 back in January). We had also brought with us several Covid quick-test home kits. So this morning we performed a test, with gladly negative results. Just side effects from the booster, or a common cold it seems.
With the start of the working week we have several calls to make to follow up on this and that. First, and most important, to the Empirbus guys in Sweden. I speak to Christian, who is always very helpful, knowledgeable, and pleasant mannered. Exactly the sort of person you need on a technical support line. After telling him the symptoms, he immediately surmised the boat had almost certainly been subject to a near-proximity lightening strike. It certainly explains why all 7 modules seem to be damaged so suddenly and with no one on the boat. The good news, he continues, is that these units are easily repairable. We just need to get them to Sweden. We are so thankful to have had full back up of spares on board, otherwise we would have been in an AirBnB, or more likely on a plane back home!
As for the last unit, which seems to be fine but refuses to talk to any of the other units, he soon manages to guide me how to trick it into being programed to Cloudy Bay’s configuration. And once that is done and the system rebooted, the remaining circuits jump back into life. And all systems are a-go! Normal service is resumed on Cloudy Bay. I hope she is satisfied with the attention I gave her.
It has been quite a learning exercise for me. The Empirbus system is probably the last unconquered holy grail on the boat. And like all systems failures, this is when you learn the most about the system – because you are forced to. Development by adversity, as my career-long company used to tell me, every time it forced me to do something that I personally thought I was not up to. Which it did all too often!
At the end of the phone call with Christian a weigh lifted from my shoulders. We then spent time cataloging all the 86 printed circuit boards that we have on board, both installed in the system and as spares now to be send off to Sweden for repair. 86 … quite an array, eh? The full working system needs a tally of 41 PCBs. With 86 we have 100% back up, plus a bit more. Then it was a couple of hours screwing cupboard doors back on and making sure all 7 units and wire connectors were firmly screwed back in place and wiring bundles re-secured again with ty-wraps. Job done, finally.
Following this we also chased up on our life raft which went for service 6 months ago. Vann Brothers Marine Safety Services finished the service 4 months ago. But do you think we can get an invoice out of them? Emails, calls, texts, you name it. No effect. And of course, we cannot go collect it until we have paid. A catch-22! Just how do companies survive I wonder, with cash-collection habits like this?
Next frustration is Annapolis Rigging, who have our hydraulic backstay piston in for seals change, been there for months now. I took it to them back in March and it is still not done ☹ Every time I call, they say: “it’s on the bench in pieces, just needing to be put back together” and “OK, we will get it finished this week”. 2 weeks later, another call, same story. Plus a bundle of other excuses like “they are actually doing me a favor because they don’t normally service this type of piston” and “they are basically working for free on this because it takes more time than the piston is actually worth”. Of course, none of this was mentioned when we took it to them all those months ago. If I end up having to collect it still in pieces, there will be hell-to-play, I can tell you. Everyone in the yachting world will hear my case, I’ll make sure of it. Not that they will care. They have more work than they can handle … poor them.
Lastly, calls to Defender. Their damned online ordering will not accept my credit card. It still boggles my mind how many US businesses don’t recognize that there are people in this world whose credit cards are not based in USA! Hence I end up having to read out item numbers from my shopping baskets, 1 by 1, over the phone. And of course, over the phone my card works perfectly. Pffff!
Last thing in the day is to pick up Oana’s deliveries which arrived today. She had spent considerable time on the internet before we left, researching, selecting, and purchasing various UPF items (UV protecting clothing). So our evening was like a UV clothing fashion show with Oana popping in and out of the saloon, each time dressed in something different, while I wrote the blogs. One thing is for sure, she was a very happy bunny with her purchases. Nice to see her in new clothes. She so rarely buys things for herself these days. Happy wife, happy life!