Thursday 31 Oct, HHN day 20: Last thru-hulls installed and functional galley sink at long last.
Same as yesterday, we set a slightly earlier waking up alarm so that we make the most of the morning. Glen jumps out of bed straight to check if any emails from Hallberg-Rassy Parts. Sure enough, they did reply and offered to immediately send us a replacement faucet. Wonderful. But at 5am he had also woken with some sort of epiphany about the faucet, so over breakfast he played with it some more and discovered that the bottom section was actually cross-threaded, making the faucet look like it was bent. Once re-threaded correctly is was perfect (as it should have been from new!). Now why couldn’t we have spotted that yesterday in the heat of the moment? So another quick email to HR to cancel the emergency replacement and apologize for yesterday’s email. Hmmm we could almost make a soap opera out of this faucet drama!
Today’s biggest task is to finish installing the last 4 skin-fittings. So in between the rain showers we jump in and out the boat, uniting the thru-hull with the sea-cocks. Perfect, all good, and definitely getting expert at this! We can now judge accurately just the right amount of 5200 to do the job without too much mess.
In celebration, we treat ourselves with another coffee and some Walkers shortbreads. That is a job we are happy to have finished at long last. And they’d better not be leaking next week when we get launched. Now just need to connect all the damned hoses to them inside the boat.
As it pours with rain, we again head off to Fawcett Marine in Annapolis. It seems we only ever go there when it’s raining! Lots of bits a pieces on our list: Volvo exhaust hose, new mainsheet, hinges for the toilet seats, scoop strainer, boat anode… The list is quite long. Not to mention the other things we grab as we go down the aisles. This is the danger when you know it’s likely your last good shopping place this side of New Zealand! Akin to raiding the food shops before a hurricane is due… cost doesn’t seem to matter, it’s “get it while you can”.
When dusk sets in, Glen is busy under the boat installing the 3 scoop-strainers for the sea water intakes: Volvo, generator and watermaker. We have gone for separate strainers this time, which can be replaced and also serviced. Previously the strainers were integral to the thru-hull fittings. Then cleaning threads for the manifold ready to re-install and scrubbing the new engine exhaust hose, which despite being new, was awfully dirty. Not coming into our engine room unless you are clean!
After dark it’s back to the galley faucet. Hopefully for the last iteration. Out again comes the old one (with new inserts that still leak) and in with the new one from Hallberg-Rassy Parts. Much less swearing than yesterday. I think Glen could remove and reinstall these faucets with his eyes closed by now! Finally it’s in and working. Wonderful. And what a shiny new faucet it is. Now that the sink also drains too, through the new skin fittings, I finally get my galley back. No more washing up in the aft shower. The old faucet is ceremoniously broken up, robbed of potentially useful parts then committed to the trash. There, take that as a lesson you nasty faucet! As he cheerfully packs away his tools, Glen comments “I guess I can advertise myself as Hallberg-Rassy galley sink slave from now on” 😊 I vouch for him!
While doing this, we get interrupted a couple of times by the strong wind which wiggles the boat in the stands. And when we check the weather forecast we see a tornado warning for the area. Oops, better go outside and double-check everything is secured on and under the boat. Its pouring with rain and very gusty, a cold big front is coming our way.
A bit of tidying up and storing away today’s spare parts shopping takes Glen to the bow, where despite the late hour of the night he starts on with another job (he’s very good at getting distracted like that). The floorboards have been up for a few days now and he is determined to have them back down so that we can walk safely to the “bow cabin fridge” (where I keep the fruits in the cool). Meaning he needs to connect 3 hoses back to the newly installed valves in the bow section (toilet intake, discharge and sink drain). All straight forward except for the toilet discharge. It turns out he needs another inch of that hose in order to reach the new (shorter) fitting properly, so he takes apart the mid cabin wardrobe to get behind the panels and re-arrange the hoses to gain the extra length. It’s after midnight when all finished. How is it that even the simplest of jobs on boats takes double the time of your worst estimate?
Meanwhile, the wind continues to howl and after we hear some cracking noises Glen ventures back out in the very cold rain to have another round checking the stands. They are firmly in place, and we can go to bed at long last. But not before he moves the car to the edge of the yard. If Cloudy Bay falls over at least the hire car won’t be flattened! Despite our bed shaking in the violent squalls outside we sleep very quickly. With Glen’s last words before falling asleep “when that faucet breaks, we buy a new boat. I am not changing that again!”