Tuesday 27 Oct, HHN, boat winterizing day 27:
In consultation with Admiral Oana, I am granted an extension of the “away from her” visa. The result being that I changed my return flight last evening, adding another 2 weeks here. I now leave Nov 18th. I’ve really been on a roll these last days, achieving a lot, but starting to wonder if I can fit everything in before I depart. 2 more weeks give me both breathing space, and chance to get more done. But of course, as I approach the 18th, I will very likely still have too much to do! 😊
With pressure off a bit, today becomes an easy day. First, I remove all the fittings from the mast head so I can get the sheaves out to service. In doing so, I make a rough plan on some changes I want to make. Currently, the top of the mast is completely open to the weather so I will add a plastic cover that will both stop rain going into the sail section, and it will also act as an isolator between differing metals when I put the fittings back together. With all the fittings off and cleaned, it looks rather good. But I’m wondering how to tackle areas of corrosion in the anodized surface. I need to paint them, but I cannot paint the anodizing ….. so what to do? Someone must know. I’ll have to research.
Next job is to apply rust stabilizer to the outhaul piston. I really want to get this finished and painted before the weather turns too cold to paint. Then get it back into the boom and ready to go when we re-rig. The stabilizer acts on the rust and seals it, ready for painting. Without this step, the rust is likely to break out again under the paint which would mean repainting again in just a few years. Quite frankly, once this cylinder is back in the boom, I really don’t want to see the beast again for the rest of our ownership!
While I’m doing this, I hear the familiar sound of Ray approaching with the forklift. He has brought the sails up to the boat. And for the next hour, with the swim platform closed, we take them up to the boat one by one, where they are now all stacked on the aft deck. I’ll put them safely inside the boat just before I leave, then I can nurse my ensuing back pains during the flight back home.
During the evening, I have what is becoming a nightly fight with GoPro. I’ve owned GoPro cameras for 12 years now, starting with the Hero3 and working up as new ones come out. When they work, they are brilliant. But sadly, the last 3 we have purchased all had to be returned. It seems the robust reliability GoPro was renowned for, no longer exists. And certainly, their customer service has gone rapidly downhill.
Our latest camera, a Hero8, just 5 months old, has decided to freeze its date and time. Whatever I set it to, that is the date/time that stays. It’s also the timestamp used on video files which makes editing them (effectively without a time stamp) annoyingly difficult.
So, I get onto GoPro “chat’ (because you can no longer call or email them) and give the agent all the information …. then the chat cuts off unexpectedly. So next night I start a new chat, and all over again I have to explain to the new agent. And what they ask for is like a stupid ritual.
First, they make me manually update the camera’s software, which is a real pain. Then I get back to them (yes, another agent!) and tell them that didn’t solve the problem. This new agent doesn’t seem to believe I did it correctly, and proceeds to interrogate me how I did it. Finally, he accepts. Now he asks for photo of the serial number to be uploaded. The serial number is in the battery compartment that I need a magnifying glass to see – hence impossible to photograph. And then finally, cherry on the annoying cake is they ask me to upload a video to YouTube to show them what the problem is. How stupid is that? How can I take a video with the camera and show that the date/time is frozen?! Oh … and one more thing, they want proof of purchase, despite the fact that I purchased it directly from GoPro website under my account name.
I get very annoyed, and the agent tells me he will sort it out and get back to me with an email. Well, today I receive the email …. But it just repeats, yet again, that I must upload a video, send copy of purchase receipt and take the impossible photo of the serial number! And if I don’t do these things, they will consider the case closed. FUKC!!!!! It’s one of those moments when you wish you could put your hands down the internet and strangle the person at the other end.
