Marianne has been after me to write a post – its been a long time – so – here goes a little about the maintenance and upgrades we have been doing.
This summer was suppose to have been about inland travel, seeing Mexico’s great sights, and enjoying Mazatlan. Instead it has been an unending series of boat projects, a delivery north, spending way to much money, watching another batch of money disappear in the Great US Meltdown, and MS’ mom getting sick. Nevertheless, a lot of work has been done on the boat, and we are in a lot better shape than when we put into Mazatlan.
Wait! Isn’t Gallant Fox a brand new 2002 boat? This is true, but you truly must use it or lose it with a boat. This marina here in El Cid is full of neglected 20 year old boats that nobody works on. They all do seem to float still, and there is no doubt that the owners will return from their condos, fifth wheels, retirement palaces, RVs, or wherever the hell they have gone this summer, jump on their busted ass boats and head up into the sea.
I don’t seem to be able to do things that way – there is always some stainless to polish, some fiberglass to rub out, or some hardware to lubricate. MS says sometimes I have too much energy – this is when I am doing five projects at once and can’t get any of them 100 percent completed….that’s a problem I have, but its probably better than not doing anything, which seems to be the practice of choice for many folks down here. So here is a brief list…
Installed a Sailomat 760 – this should have been enough work for an entire summer..
Splicing Spectra can take all day – yes that long loop does pull into that short end.
Installed an ICOM 802 SSB Refurbished the windlass by installing a new roller, pulling the motor, painting it and cleaning up the rest, reversing the chain, and painting the SS motor enclosure, and installing a new circuit breaker.
Installing the antenna for the SSB
Repaired all of the sails, installed new chafe patches, stitched any loose thread, patched a small rip at a seam – this does not sound like a lot, but it was a week’s work.
Installed a new temperature gauge for the engine. pulled and cleaned all of the running rigging
Pulled cleaned and lubricated all of the blocks.
Installed a siphon break on the head saltwater intake line.
We now have copper foil throughout the boat – welcome to 1960's technology
Some of these tasks seem like they take forever – this is Mexico – no car, no West Marine, and lots of heat just grinding you down. It just took me two full days to get the sails up! Right now I am cleaning the bottom. Yes, I could hire a diver to do this, which is what I have been doing. But we have spent $250 doing this so far and I also wanted to inspect all of the hull, fittings, zincs – plus make sure that the bottom actually gets clean. Free diving on a six foot keel in a dirty old marina is not a lot of fun but at least I am cool…
I must say that I actually enjoy most of it – we have a lot of new stuff on the boat, and the existing systems have been gone over pretty thoroughly. We are off to the Sea of Cortez on Nov 1 – I an really looking forward to getting out of here. Although El Cid is a great place – five month in one place is about four months too long – we will plan it a bit differently next summer.
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