There are so many things that are required to prepare your boat to launch something Brett & I were to learn from Johan and Marlene. After recovering from Carnival work started.  I started with cleaning the Moroccan tent which had protected the boat while we were away for 7 months from dust, birds and the like. The Moroccan tent kept the boat and us shaded while we worked in the heat of the day! Will be great if we go somewhere for a long period of time and need shelter, something us whities will love!

You name it Marlene and I cleaned it; sheets for the sails, the bimini, the decks, the Brie/ BBQ, outside cushions, the bilges. We scrubbed the teak and reapplied linseed oil, which looked incredible when it was done. It’s amazing the amount of dust that collects sitting in the yard. She was squeaky clean and looking like new when we were done.

 

Brett meanwhile started working on new rollers for the ranch slider, a task he thought was going to take a few hours but ended up taking a whole day. Patience was needed.

Brett and Johan remove both starters from the diesels that had seized from being on the hard for 7 months (bit of a tight squeeze for Brett) , changed the oil on the saildrives, installed a new sat phone, the EPIRB, a Wi-Fi extended, a 110 inverter (because the boat is 220v, 50hz ) and checked everything was in working order. Brett liked everyone lifting him up the mast as he is so light, not!

Most days whoever was going into Port of Spain (1/2 hour away) would do a diesel run in our very old vehicle (cost C$36/ day) as it was very cheap to get diesel on land (C$0.25c per litre).  The shocks were gone and so if it had too many people in the back or too much in the trunk we would bottom out on speed bumps. We needed 840 litres to fill the tanks so quite a few trips were required.

We organized the graphics for the boat, tailoring on the couch covers as the measurements  I had for covering them in Calgary were too big and therefore they needed to be taken in (sorry Carey!), new covers for our leather chairs so we’d all be comfortable.  We cleaned and renamed all of the safety equipment.

We of course did not do this by ourselves. We used a local to polish the external boat and stainless steel, 2 guys that came to service the engines from Yanmar and someone to sand the old anti fouling off ready for us to put the new on. One of us was not gentle enough with her roller so was not invited back the next day for the 2^nd coat. More of the anti fouling was on me than should have been, oops….next time….

Of course you have to keep up to date with family and friends and so I had to set up my computer on the bed as the nav station was full of tools! Thanks Brett. Oh well sometimes you have to just make do.

All work and no play makes it all very boring. In this heat you needed a Margarita or 2 to keep you going or a nice cold Carib beer, or even perhaps a shooter – Yummy!

Finally Tuesday Feb 26 she was ready and so were we. We just wanted to get on the water!

BINGO, we were in the water and so Johan threw out a fishing line and Brett took us to Scotland Bay for the night.

Marlene missed Cleaning or perhaps one of the boys had dirty hands  and she needed to clean up after him….thanks Brett!  I relaxed at the front taking the views in and enjoying being on the water at last.

After arriving in Scotland Bay we had our ceremonies to rename the boat to Seismic Wave and as required offered libations as part of the ritual to the sea. Of course the champagne was also enjoyed by us all. Great day.