Living The Dream...aka Doing Boat Chores In Exotic Locations

Tom installs the wind instruments while Cinnabar is side-tied to a rusted old car ferry.

Some people think our lifestyle is Being On Vacation. Honestly, nothing could be further from the truth. We've just traded the 8-5 jobs and commutes for another work set. (Albeit with a better view.) The common cruiser description for our lifestyle is "Doing Boat Chores in Exotic Locations". 

We removed all the thru-holes and I lubricated and serviced them.

May 17: After a grueling 3-week schedule of working on Cinnabar in the boatyard, dropping her in the water (always very tense), and being tied up next to a rusted hulk of an old car ferry for a week next to the boatyard, we were finally ready to cast off and travel a few hundred yards out to a neighboring mooring field. Being on the water away from land was much more pleasant - it was breezier, cooler, and there were fewer insects (the biting kind).

It's been very challenging this year getting Cinnabar cruise-ready. The south pacific is much wetter than Mexico, and even though I did a vinegar wipe-down of all surfaces (I thought) inside the boat, there were some areas that ended up looking and smelling a bit mildewed and musty. So in addition to all the usual recomissioning tasks we had the pleasure of cleaning and airing out some of the cushions and interior decor from the aft cabin which didn't get as much air flow. On the positive side, the boat stayed relatively dry, no critters got inside (rats, ants and cockroaches are the problem here), and as far as we could tell nobody broke into the boat. We wisely rented an airbnb bungalow (three actually, plus one hotel in town) so that we could escape the boatyard each night. Then we spent the final three nights aboard Cinnabar wrapping things up in anticipation of going back into the water. 

High atop Mount Cinnabar, we get on and off using a tall ladder.

We did a major deck repair using all these tools and a lot of epoxy.

The following is a list of some of the things we did while at the Raiatea Carenage to get Cinnabar ready:

The Usual Tasks
-Remove stoppers and steel wool from all openings and thru hulls (critter prevention)
-Service the thru-hulls (remove, check gaskets and o-rings, lubricate)
-Check rudder post and bearing, we had a squeak at the end of the season and found a problem (see Unusual Tasks below)
-Clean and polish propeller and prop shaft
-Replace zincs
-Go up mast to install wind instruments, lubricate tracks and inspect rig, install lazy jacks.
-Bend on sails - jib and massive mainsail (aka the divorce sail, because putting it on and taking it off almost always leads to divorce)
-Clean all mildewed items with vinegar. Turns out vinyl/vinyl mesh of all things is the material that mildews the worst. Who knew? At least it's easy to wipe off.
-Wash linens and pillows that were mildewed.
-Clean and polish hull.
-Clean topsides
-Remove boat cover
-Install boat canvas
-Install solar panels
-Install auto-pilot replacment and new fluxgate compass.
-Troubleshoot autopilot and fix problem (wires were originally installed backwards)
-Remove messenger lines and re-run all halyards.
-Inflate dinghy (see Dinghy Improvement Project below) and install chaps (cover)
-Install outboard and try to start
-Remove outboard carburetor and clean
-Reinstall carburetor
-Start outboard - yay!
-Install new impeller in genset.
-Start Genset - it works, yay!
-Add refrigerant to refer system. Start refrigerator - it works, yay!
-Start watermaker. Test water. Troubleshoot watermaker. Strangely, different sets of CLEAN pre-filter elements affected the water quality readings (TDS).
-Inspect and burp PSS dripless shaft seal.
-Mount surfboard rack.
-Vacuum water from bilge.(due to stern low storage incline and melted bag ice water drained from freezer). 


The Not-So-Usual Tasks:
-Sand bottom and paint with epoxy primer and anti-fouling (hired the yard for this) - last haulout was 4 years prior in Ensenada.
-Epoxy damaged deck area. (Last year we discovered water leaks and spongy balsa core in the deck below the mainsail halyard, jib halyard, and spinnaker halyard blocks. Yep, all super-important blocks that get used a lot. We did a quick patch with some G10 but ended up crushing the balsa deck core when we had to remove the forestay to haul the boat in Nov. We brought back some epoxy with us and performed a major deck repair. It took a long time but was successful, yay!!)
-Rudder post and bearing: remove rusted hose clamp, clean bearings, run water through post area to clean out rust, re-install clamps in proper location (i.e outside the gaiter; initial installation by Bay Marine was improper) so as to prevent rust in the future. Remove G-10 cover plates hull bottom to facilitate bearing cleaning from below.
-Replace original steering cables. Broken fibers were starting to appear and we had a new spare set (from Edson).
-Replace boat lettering - Subcontracted to local French specialist. He was excellent and claims an 8-10 year decal life, unlike only the 4 years life of the replace Mexican decal.
-Internal mast jack - needed to find a manual hydraulic pump and adapter so we could jack down the mast to loosen the rigging.
-Hired rigger to help with mast jack, removal of forestay (to fit in Travelift), and rig adjustment.
-Replaced Genset BPE switch that I knocked off with my shoulder.
-Noticed some delamination "bubbles in the rudder blade. Drilled it out to check for water in rudder. No water and dry, epoxied hole, made note to keep checking and repair in the future.
-After re-launch, noticed leaking around rudder post, i.e. the boat was sinking. Tom found the culprit, a small tear in the rudder post gaiter, so he adjusted the hose clamps until leaking stopped. Made a note to replace gaiter at first opportunity.
-Dinghy improvement project: 1) cut, align, and glue hydro-turf onto all five panels of dinghy floor, 2) glue on 3 new lift-ring patches, 3) glue on 4 oar-holders, 4) screw webbing into floor panel to secure gas can. Sounds simple but it took several days while at anchor to do all these tasks.

Cinnabar gets new lettering. Jean-Luc did an absolutely perfect job.

Our rigger Fred was invaluable in helping us to jack our mast and adjust rig tension.

All the while we made a long To-Do List and we are working on some of those things right now, along with all the other Hey-I-Just-Broke-Fix-Me-First jobs that seem to pop up daily.

Our bilge alarm went off, water in the bilge! We traced it to the galley foot pump which had developed a tear in the diaphragm. Tom got to drop what he was working on so he could rebuild the pump.

While getting Cinnabar cruise-ready we (well maybe just "I") definitely had moments of "WTF are we doing? This is too much work!" But then we would be relaxing back at our air-conditioned Cozy Bungalow (airbnb), or in the cockpit with a cool drink, watching the sunset, and it felt like maybe it wasn't so bad after all. 

The lovely office staff gives Tom his boatyard bill.

ALBUM: RECOMMISSIONING CINNABAR

Back in the water at last.

Coming up: we visit the islands of Taha'a and Huahine

An Unexpected Guest...Almost

 As if our boat isn't full enough, we brough a pallet's worth of stuff with us aboard SHINDIG and shipped it from Nuku Hiva to Raiatea. Where are we going to put all this stuff?

One day, in the midst of our numerous boat projects and our first day out of the boat yard, I received an email from my friend Kristen. She was about to fly out of LAX bound for Tahiti to catch a connecting flight to Nuku Hiva to visit her friend Rob on the sailboat Tiger Beetle. (Rob, who is also a friend of ours, had recently completed the Puddle Jump.) In addition to visiting for fun she was also his courier, bringing with her Rob's new auto-pilot, an essential piece of cruising gear.

In her email, Kristen was in a panic because she'd learned that due to a fireman's strike in Nuku Hiva all flights to and from Tahiti had been cancelled. Apparently, by law there must be several firemen standing by for every airplane arrival and departure. Too late to cancel her flight to Tahiti, she wondered if she could visit us in Raiatea as a Plan B. We responded of course, we'd love to have her, then had an "Oh S**t" moment as we realized the boat was still what we termed "a war zone", loaded with items that still had to be re-installed for cruising and new things that still needed to packed away. Heck, we didn't even have our dinghy inflated to pick her up from shore! We figured we'd stand by and work something out if necessary.

We heard from Kristen when she arrived in Tahiti. Exhausted from her red-eye flight she was quite upset as the airline still could not reassure that she'd be able to fly to Nuku Hiva. "Maybe the strike will end soon" was all they could tell her. She was due to fly out in two days. There was no way we could get Cinnabar guest-ready in two days, but we figured Kristen was a game girl and we'd all be able to work around the clutter.

We talked to Kristen the next day and she said that the airline was going to allow one early-morning flight and she would be allowed on it. Hopefully her excess luggage would go as well; the flights to Nuku Hiva are notoriously stingy with their weight allowances. But she wasn't going to believe it until she actually got on the plane. If not, she would fly to Raiatea. 

We were still in wait-and-see mode, but since we didn't hear from Kristen early that next morning we figured she'd made the flight. Sure enough, she called later that day and was aboard Tiger Beetle with all the transported gear. Whew!

Kristen, we're sorry you couldn't make it to Raiatea and here's what you missed...

Welcome aboard!! This is the main salon (aka saloon) and dining area. I'm sure we'll find a place to put our plates.

This is our cabin so you don't have to worry about the kiting sails and clutter.

The galley. Lots of room for cooking and preparing meals. We'll work around the mainsail and boat canvas.

And finally, here is your cabin! Roomy, yes? And note the booze bin lives there as well. We'll find some way to squeeze you in.

UPDATE: Most of this stuff had now been stowed, installed, hidden and Cinnabar is approaching livability. We are now at the island of Huahine. It's fabulous. More later...