Blunt's Boatyard, Williamstown

Many of my childhood memories are associated with this place - my father bought his first boat (an 18ft Jubilee) out of this shed. My first (and only) wooden boat was repaired there. On each visit to Melbourne I still spend some time at Blunt's, where the eyes can go misty and the heart often beats a little stronger.

Some years back Greg Blunt, with typically minimal ceremony, handed me a key to the place. He explained that he knew how much I loved it there, and told me I was always welcome. This is my chance to say thanks to Greg, and to the boat building generations that went before him. Enjoy the video.

Eastern Australian Travels

Big Country, Big Sky - Lake Omeo In North East Victoria

Back home in Australia, we've been celebrating with family and catching up with friends, whilst also trying to see some of our home state. Of course we're also dealing with a range of boat issues, buying equipment and parts to carry back to Crystal Blues in Trinidad.

This week we caught up with Mike and Sue Powell on SV Yarrandoo, as they waited in Twofold Bay (Eden) for a weather window to head south to Tasmania. The trip south is an annual pilgrimage for many sailors during the Australian summer, with many heading for southern Tasmania.

Stepping aboard a familiar vessel with old friends was a real warm and fuzzy experience - the comfortable harbor reminding us that Twofold Bay is a great cruising destination.

We then traveled north to my favorite small town of Omeo, driving up through the foot-hills of the Australian Alps. At this point I should say that my mother's family came from the Omeo area, and that Ley and I spent quite a lot of time up in the region before our sailing life began.

Drinking From My Favourite Creek At Staleyville

So we visited our favorite bush campsites and drove the familiar mountain roads with a joyful hearts, gifted with beautiful weather. The impact of recent forest fires was evident everywhere, including through our camp site, where the blackened trees reminded us of the fragile nature of our world.

Refit Tech - Re-Bedding Hatches With Threaded Epoxy Fasteners

Cracking The Hatch Frame Off The Deck

We sailed over 11,000 nautical miles in the past two years, so now we're working through a fairly major work list on Crystal Blues.

As always, just as fast as we tick something off a new item is discovered and added to the list - at last count 35 items were completed,  with only 40 to go (!).

Among our major jobs is the refurbishing and re-bedding of our six Goiot deck hatches.

My Grandfather's Anvil Was Used To Straighten The Frame

These have not been touched since the boat was launched, and still don't leak at all, but the aluminium base rings (attached to the deck) are corroding badly in some areas.

As a trial, we've removed one hatch completely, cleaned up the frame and had some of the larger corrosion holes filled with alloy weld by a skilled local welder. Then, after some inspired sleuthing, Ley located a small anodising plant in the south of the island, run by a group of local motor cycle racing enthusiasts. They've re-anodised the frame and we're now ready to refit it to the deck.

Tapping The Epoxy

The original fastening system was somewhat uninspiring - we wanted a better way to securely screw these hatches down while also maintaining a perfect water seal for the interior of the boat. After considering various options, including adding a welded stainless steel flange to the deck, we've opted for a simpler and less intrusive option, that doesn't involve damage to the paint systems on deck.

With generous help from our friend Peter Laine, a shipwright and boat builder based at Chagauramas in Trinidad, we repaired the epoxy fairing compound that provides the level bed for the hatch on the curved deck.

Recoil Inserted Dry, Pulled Out @ 300kg

We used West System epoxy modified with microfiber for this task. Then we drilled and tapped "blind" holes directly into the modified epoxy and tested the result - it was reasonably strong but did not survive multiple fastener removals or insertions - the thread tended to "crumble" away with multiple use.

Test Recoil Inserted Wet, Could Not Be Removed In Our Test

Now we've improved on the original idea, running tests here in Australia to prove the new process. We're using Recoil thread inserts, made from 316 stainless steel, to create a permanent metal thread inside a tapped hole in the epoxy bed. Note that standard Recoil inserts are made from 304 stainless, but 316 can be obtained on special order.

We found that a 5mm Recoil insert screwed dry into the prepared hole would handle more than 300kg of load, applied with a short pinch bar, before pulling out.  Better still, if we coated the insert with wet epoxy before insertion, we simply couldn't extract it with our simple "pinch bar test" - it was plenty strong. When we return to Crystal Blues we can now continue the refitting task - only five hatches and one hundred holes to go.

Refitting Crystal Blues - Island Style

Painting The Mast

With Crystal Blues out of the water we've launched into our refit list, attacking a range of maintenance and re-finishing tasks.

Areas of corrosion had developed on the painted aluminium mast, particularly where the spinnaker pole track was fastened. So we removed the track, drilling out 130 pop rivets in the process, before grinding, sanding and re-priming the metal surfaces with epoxy paints.

Then we faired and finished the front of the mast with high build epoxies and finally applied two coats of Awlgrip polyurethane topcoat by brush. Using the Awlgrip brushing converter and brushing reducer we can achieve a good film thickness and a great finish.

Most of this work was done from a bosuns chair, swinging in the breeze, so it has taken some considerable time. It takes just over 100 turns of the halyard winch handle for Ley to hoist me up to the top of the work area, and she's done that probably 30 times over the course of this little project. Tough work, but someone had to do it!

Sand Blasting With Basic Protective Clothing

Sand Blasted Area Before Priming With Epoxy

The illegal fishing net that trapped us off the coast of Suriname (read that story here & here) did quite a lot of damage underwater - bare wire twists on the top line of the net dragged down the hull gouging the paint system badly.  In a couple of places we it went back to bare metal, so we needed to properly prepare and re-finish those patches.

We purchased a bucket of "black beauty" blasting grit from a local ship yard and used our small sand blasting gun with a rented air compressor to prepare the damaged areas. After blasting we quickly applied the first coat of Jotun Jotamastic 87 (silver), the highest solids steel primer that Jotun manufacture. The repairs were finished off with four more coats of Jotamastic plus Jotun Penguard HB, a high build epoxy primer.

While the work list is still quite long, we do have time for some R&R here on the island.  Regular cruiser BBQ's are held each Thursday night in the boatyard, and on Friday evenings the resident musicians come out to play - usually between six and ten of us working on a range of songs from blues to rock, some new and some golden oldies of course.

Trinidad Boating Services

Here in Trinidad the locals are proud of their boating support services, though nearby Grenada has stolen a lot of the work in recent years. From our perspective, the services and work force are somewhat jaded - yes there are good skills here, but there are also many contractors with disappointing attitudes and indifferent approaches to the task. A real shame.

The result is that many cruisers are doing their own work, where ever possible, or at minimum are having to very closely manage the local trades people. Part of the problem is that each yard hosts a number of trades people as commercial tenants, and naturally refers visiting boats to those "internal" service providers. This makes it tricky when you really want quality - the best service providers may well be partnered with another yard. We've had to part company with two contractors in our yard (Power Boats) due to poor quality results.  It was all handled nicely enough, but we're still looking for the right people.

Shore Power Conversion & Electrical Ramblings

Lifted out of the water and propped up on the hard stand here in Trinidad, we find ourselves for the first time having to deal with 110 volt / 60 hertz AC power. Yes, we're in a USA influenced part of the world, but Crystal Blues is a 220 volt / 50 hertz vessel. It's been kind of amusing getting things sorted out, without blowing anything (or anybody) up. Most amusing is the fact that right now we have three (yes three, count 'em) separate shore power cords connected to support our quasi-camping life style here on the hard stand.

Three Different Sockets, All 60 Hz, Some 2-Phase 220v.

First, The Shore Power Supply

Our regular shore power lead is now plugged into a 30 amp 110 volt 60 hertz supply. On-board the boat, this is passes through a Mastervolt Ivet-C isolation transformer to raise the voltage to 220 volts, though it is still at 60 hertz frequency. The transformer provides voltage matching and isolates us from the marina electrical ground system.

Most of the time we can operate from this shore power supply, as (surprisingly) much of the equipment on-board is quite happy with a 60 hertz supply.  We can use our battery charger, power tools and vacuum cleaner, home appliances, hot water heater, media and computer equipment, all without problems.

Only the galley microwave, the refrigeration and the boat's central air conditioning will not run on 60 hertz. This is not a big problem right now - when we need to use the microwave we switch over to the inverter and run it off the batteries. The refrigeration and central aircon are both sea water cooled, so they cannot be run while we are out of the water anyway...

Second, Real Time Conversion

Our second connection is direct to the battery charger only.  In the long term, once we are back in the water, most of our needs in this part of the world will be met by the real time conversion process.  Shore power will go only to the Mastervolt Chargemaster 100 amp battery charger. That charger works from almost any shore supply frequency to feed the batteries up to 100 amps of (nominal) 12 volt DC power - this equals happy batteries.

At the same time, the Mastervolt Mass Sine inverter uses this DC supply to create a clean 220 volts / 50 hertz sine wave power supply (at up to 2000 watts) that will run most of the boat's systems. Once we're out of the boat yard, living afloat again, that process allows us to run even our big water cooled refrigeration compressor - the inverter starts and runs that compressor easily. In fact it will also run the central aircon, but I do feel guilty even contemplating that type of decadence at sea. Also a little embarrassed to admit that I've even tested it (which I have) ... but then again, a Tesla car runs air conditioning from a battery supply - why shouldn't we do the same ? Maybe when our batteries are bigger.

At this point we should really give thanks to Bob Wisniewski who initially opened my eyes to real time conversion and who clearly simplified our life in the 60 hertz world . Back in the year 2000, when we were refitting Crystal Blues for the first time, Bob owned and managed Power Protection Solutions in Queensland, Australia. We wanted to buy a new (single combi unit) Mastervolt Inverter/Charger from him, but Bob asked me some pertinent questions and then recommended against it.

He said that if we were staying in the Australian / Pacific / Asian region then a single unit "Combi" Inverter/Charger would be just fine. However, if we planned to cruise further afield, entering the area of 60 hertz power supply, then installing a stand alone inverter and a separate charger would serve us better - and he's right. Real Time Conversion keeps our systems running at all times, and we don't need to worry about the voltage or frequency of the shore supply. So a big thanks from us to Bob Wisniewski, whose vision is keeping our beer cold in this 60 hertz world! Note : Bob is now working with BLA in Queensland, the current Mastervolt distributor in Australia.

Third, The Air Conditioning

It is damn hot here. Power cord number three is for a rented A/C unit, provided by the boat yard, that operates on that quaint 220 volt dual phase 60 hertz system that pollutes US society.  It has no neutral conductor, so is considered kind of dangerous by us purists. It should be protected by dual pole circuit breakers at all times, but you can guess correctly that it rarely is in practice. In fact the power supply poles here do not have any circuit protection at all - no breakers, no earth leakage devices at all - yoiks. So the boat yard provides the AC unit to sit on the deck, a fiberglass housing to direct the cool air down below and the necessary 220v / 60hz cabling. That's cord number three, keeping us cool while out of the water, but definitely not plugged into the boat thank you very much.

Dirty, Dirty, People - Again - Removing The Antifouling Paint

Photo courtesy Peter Laine

Early This Morning, Speckled Progress Is Measured

Crystal Blues is looking like a speckled hyena, sitting awkwardly on the hard stand in Trinidad. We in turn are looking like wet and bedraggled coal mine workers.

Six years of accumulated paint is coming off, as we sand back to the yellow tie coat layer underneath. The black antifouling paint is quite toxic, also incredibly tough, so we're using an air powered random orbital sander and wet sanding under a water spray to eliminate the dust.

Along the way we're repairing some deep gouges caused by the (very) nasty net we hooked up off the coast of Suriname. That net dragged paint of the boat in about 20 places, initially around the waterline and then lower on the hull when the propeller twisted it up tight. In two places it went back to the steel, so we're repairing the epoxy base coat as well.

Andy Sanding With Ley On Hose Duty

After the first full day of sanding we hired someone with younger shoulders to share the load.  Our local friend Andy works freelance boat jobs in the yard here and is a practiced hand when it comes to this work.  We rotate ourselves on and off the air tool, totally dripping wet at all times, and gradually the black color is removed and the speckled hyena look takes over.  

The hard stand area here (yard web site here) is not really hard - it's a sandy soil that looks like dredging spoil. Each time it rains the entire area is boggy and soft, and in the tropical downpours there is two or three inches of water under the boat. The only positive side of all this is that we are cool, which is a pleasant change in this hot and humid climate. One more day should see the job completed and we'll move on to less onerous tasks. 

Northern Lights - Exhaust Injection Elbow Blues

Looks Good On The Outside, But Completely Rusted Out On The Inside

Our first maintenance job in Trinidad was to investigate why our Northern Lights generator was not coping with larger loads.

Valve or injector problems was the local agent's opinion (and mine), however the freelance mechanic they referred us to knew better. After asking some well focused questions he said he would pull the exhaust injection elbow off first.

I'm glad he did - it was found to be almost totally blocked by corrosion and accumulated soot.  The poor little diesel had been working against enormous back pressure for some time - no wonder it was feeling over loaded.

Now I was warned about this - my friend Dana on the sailing yacht Villa G had a similar experience. It seems that these generators are shipped from the factory with a - wait for it - cast iron injection elbow.  These just have to rust out very quickly and I think we were lucky to get over 1700 hours of service.

We did have a spare injection elbow on board, this one made from shiny cast 316L stainless steel - I'm told it will last three times as long as the cast iron version.  They just cost a little more, which is why they are considered "optional" - not standard equipment. With the new elbow fitted the machined returned to full power immediately, and we breathed a sigh of relief. This was the first part failure on our Northern Lights generator since new, we're still very impressed with the reliability.

Wildlife At Chagauramas, Trinidad

While the water at the docks in Chagauramas can be very polluted, we can still see turtles swimming in the lagoon just a few hundred meters away.

Better still, the local pelicans are very friendly and Ley was able to track and photograph this Iguana right next to the local lunch spot - the Roti Hut.

The birdlife is also prolific in this part of the world, and we'll have to work hard to stop them nesting in our boom and under our sun covers whilst we are hauled out of the water.

Mosquito Bites

At the micro end of the scale, mosquito's are evident though not really bad here.  The dreaded Zika virus is here of course and Ley was unlucky enough to catch it. However it is not as common as in nearby Grenada, where it seems that every second cruising sailor has had it. Ley is fully recovered now, after a week of discomfort, tiredness and high temperatures.

Onward To Trinidad - Preparing For Haul Out & Refit

Afternoon Thunder Storms Welcome Us To Trinidad

After two weeks in Grenada we moved onward to Trinidad, just 80 nautical miles away, in theory.  In practice that distance grew as we first sailed east and then south, avoiding an area known for robbery and occasional attacks on cruising boats - it appears that the desperate social conditions in nearby Venezuela have turned Venezuelan fishermen into opportunistic robbers.

Peaceful Conditions At Power Boats A Dock

Not a problem, we can go around it - so we sailed a large dog-leg of almost 120 nautical miles and arrived in Trinidad relaxed and looking forward to our new home.

Up until this arrival we had assumed that booking a marina berth was like booking a safe, comfortable place to berth our vessel. Not so in Trinidad it seems. Yes we had a berth, but it was a pile berth exposed to the ocean from the south. Waves would break right over the dock we were tied to in any decent southerly wind.  Hmmm - all this and it 'aint cheap my friends. No floating docks, no sea wall - but hey, it's the Caribbean, just chill man. Add another few fenders and every spring line we have, then you can sleep at night. Specially if you drink enough rum.

Tropical Storm Matthew Passes North Of Us

Some two weeks after our arrival here hurricane Matthew passed to the north of us, then unfortunately grew to Category 4 status and proceeded to tear up the island chain and threaten the US south east coast.

Local advice was to leave the dock when southerly winds were possible, so we did just that and anchored up in nearby peaceful Scotland Bay, for a relaxed evening as Matthew (thankfully) turned north and accelerated away from us.  Bless his very dark, black and stormy Force Four heart.

Trinidad is below the accepted hurricane zone, which is why we're here - however, big rotating storms passing just 100 miles north of us tend to focus our attention somewhat. Jeez....

In The Slings, Michael Driving Crystal Blues To Ground

Two days ago we hauled out of the water - at predictably great cost to the management, Crystal Blues was lifted by a sixty ton travel lift using double slings at each end. I felt good, specially after I dived in the filthy dock water to check the sling positions myself. "No Sir, we don't have divers" was the boat yard response - so in I went.

I pumped detergent into the water for a minute or so before diving, just to break up the oil slick on top. Not a tropical paradise here at the dock ....

Ah, but now we're really here - propped on the hard stand in a nice position, immediately adjacent to SV Tegan, friends from more than 12 years back.  Only problem is that they (Janet & Joe) are not here ... they're home in Canada ... so we'll watch both boats.

The daily regime is now up at 6:00am, and get into the work before the heat arrives. Breakfast and coffee are handled quickly, as we contemplate a job list that is probably too long to be completed in the time we have available. Such is the cruising life.

Compass Installation Made Easy

Recently I came across a cruising sailboat with a beautiful new compass installation - problem was, it just didn't work. The compass had been installed in a location where the local magnetic interference was very strong, consequently the compass readings were sadly inaccurate.

A boat's compass uses the earth's magnetic flux to drive the floating card - any local magnetic forces can distort or even dominate at the compass, ruining the compass accuracy. Loudspeakers, engine blocks, electric motors, electric cables and the like can all distort the reading and in the case of steel boats the hull also has an effect.

We faced similar challenges when positioning our Raymarine EV-1 Sensor Core. This unit contains a fluxgate electronic compass, a multi axis solid state gyro and a GPS receiver.

The Sensor Core is the real intelligence that drives our autopilot system - it was important that we found a satisfactory location for the unit - the same goes for any magnetic compass. Raymarine's installation guides said it should work fine where our previous electronic compass was mounted, but we wanted to check alternate sites. In the end we measured the lowest magnetic flux field right where the old compass was mounted - out on the stainless davits mounted on the stern. Unfortunately this meant running the STng network cables another 10 meters through the boat and out onto the davits, but that's another story...

Multi Measures App

To test possible compass installation locations we used two software tools that run on the iPhone / iPad operating system. Multi Measures, by Skypaw, is an app that includes a basic Tesla meter - it graphs the field strength and gives x/y/z orientation for the magnetic flux field.

Incidentally, Tesla is the name for a measured unit of magnetic flux density, named after Nikola Tesla, a Serbian - American physicist and engineer.

What makes a good Sensor Core or electronic compass location ?  It should ideally close to the vessel center line, with access for the required network cabling and with a decent view of the sky so the internal GPS can operate. However the real driver here is lack of magnetic interference - that's the fundamental requirement.

Using the Multi Measures app we were able to wander around the boat, watching the display in real time and testing all the possible installation locations. When testing each location its a good idea to operate all the boats electrical systems, to make sure that no interference is generated when say the genset is started or when the water heater is switched on. The Multi Measures app also includes a tilt measuring function, truly useful for mounting things horizontally or vertically on boats that often have no useful reference lines.

Gemeco Marine Installers App

We also used the very capable Tesla meter included in the iNstall marine installers app by Gemeco. The Gemeco company distributes a wide range of marine electronics and NMEA network products in the USA, so this app is clearly aimed at marine electronics technicians.

iNstall includes a generous number of tools, references and calculators to make marine electronics installation a little easier - transducer details, cable sizing tools, tilt measurement and a "mix'n'match" guide for sorting out product compatibility.

The Tesla meter within the app allows you to zero the meter scale once a background level is established, then see the differences as electrical systems or machinery are activated.

Sadly for us, these handy Tesla meters proved that our inspired "alternate location" choices were not so good after all, and the Sensor Core ended up installed back out on the davits, where it works just fine.

A Record Flying Fish Haul

Carnage On Deck

Our night passage from Tobago to Grenada was memorable for setting a new record - that is, a record number of Flying Fish on deck in one evening. Ley counted 34 of the little devils initially, then we continued to find more over the next few days, secreted under lines, behind cleats and hidden by turning blocks.  What a mess they made.

To add insult to injury, one flew right into the cockpit and hit Ley on the back - lucky fish, she threw it overboard right away for another chance at life. 

As dawn broke our viewing of the beautiful Grenada coastline was interrupted by the discovery of slimy carcasses all around the boat - and in these numbers they quickly became very smelly in the sun.

Boat Shopping In Grenada

Loading The Important Things In Grenada - Italian Wine By The Box Load

Two weeks ago we sailed overnight from Tobago to Grenada, an overnight down-wind romp for 80 nautical miles that had us approaching the south coast of Grenada just after dawn. By 07:30am we were anchored in Prickly Bay and by 10:00am we had completed the friendly Immigration and Customs formalities - which then let us get down to the nitty gritty of this voyage - the shopping ! We had pre-ordered a range of spares and equipment from Budget Marine in Grenada, as they were around 25% cheaper than here than in Trinidad.

New Walbro Fuel Pump Installation

It took some days to gather all the parts, and we were able to farewell our good friends on Ceilydh, who are heading for the Panama canal and the west coast of Mexico As our parts trickled in to the dealer we started work, installing what had been delivered.

So, a new Walbro FRB-13 electric diesel fuel lift pump was fitted, the old unit had done 3500 hours and was starting to fail. With associated plumbing changes, this took a couple of days to complete. The pump is used for priming the fuel system on the Cummins main engine, and for transferring fuel to an aft tank that serves  the Northern Lights AC generator.

Another two days disappeared installing a new Raymarine digital radar cable in the mast, not an easy job, but essential since the old cable had become intermittent. Note to Raymarine - your original analog cable lasted over 13 years, the new digital cable served for only 20 months. Not good enough !

We also continued another project that had started back in Tobago, which was refinishing and painting the front of the mast where the spinnaker pole track is fastened. Corrosion had set in around the pop-rivet fastenings, so we had removed the track and sanded back where necessary to bright metal, then epoxy primed the surfaces.

In Grenada I started on the high build and finishing priming, a tricky task as most of it had to be done sitting in a bosuns chair, hanging on a halyard from the top of the mast. Of course the anchorage was quite rolly, so bruises and strained muscles were the order of the day, every day.

Ley is getting plenty of shoulder exercise winching me up and down the mast.

We found Grenada to be quite sophisticated, certainly compared to Tobago, yet it remains friendly and quite laid back. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of cruising boats anchored around the island, and probably several thousand more stored for the season in the many boat yards around the coast, packed in like sardines with only inches between them. I honestly have never seen so many boats in one place in all my life.

Remora Attack - More Information ...

My experience being hassled by 12 desperate Remora fish in the ocean off the coast of Suriname is apparently not so rare . Our friends on the catamaran Ceilydh came up with some research that shows it is common when a large shark kill has happened in the area - basically the lack of shark hosts means the Remora fish outnumber the hosts, and the results are not pretty.

The BIG One- Fast & Hungry

We commented on the problem after I was hassled between Suriname and Tobago - then our friends on Ceilydh were prevented from swimming off their boat in Tobago - one even bit Evan on the toe.  By this stage we were both still "hosting" just a few Remora. Just google "remora attack" to learn more about this.

Unfortunately for us we still had with us the BIG One, lurking under the boat and definitely not afraid of us. I did think about starving the critters out (surely they'd leave?) but the thought of not pumping the heads for a few days was not a good one (yes, they eat everything that comes out of the host).

Fortunately, by the time we had sailed from Tobago to Grenada we had lost the aggressive creatures and were left with just one smaller, shy creature that disappeared whenever we swam off the boat.  About time - at last we could swim and enjoy the water.

Diverging Wakes

Ceilydh anchored in Prickly Bay, Grenada

Crystal Blues and Ceilydh sailed away from Malaysia bound for Sri Lanka within a few days of each other, back in February 2015. Since then our wakes have crossed many times, across both the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Onward we sailed, sometimes diverging, other times sharing anchorages, marinas, cultures and each others lives. Last week we sailed overnight from Charlotteville in Tobago to Prickly Bay in Grenada - our last passage together. What great friends and companions the crew of Ceilydh have been.

Crystal Blues anchored out the back in Prickly Bay, Grenada

Diane's work as a writer opened up many interesting opportunities in the countries we visited together. Evan is a naval architect, so there was always a lot of boat talk. Maia blossomed in the time we knew her - changing irreversibly into the beautiful and confident young woman she is today.

It did help that we are all passionate about live music, fine wine and good food. We shared the same simple pleasures when discovering a market where there were more than a few choices for foods we craved. Here in Grenada the five of us roamed around the two world class chandleries, like children in a toy shop, ogling over boat stuff that we had been looking for several countries back. We also shared the same culture shock when anchoring in Prickly Bay, Grenada - looking at the forest of masts in the bay, with even more spilling onto the crowded hardstand.

Most of all we just spent time together. Laughing, cooking, exploring, shopping, swimming, celebrating birthdays, helping each other out along the way. A fine and lasting friendship blossomed across two oceans.

Ceilydh sailed away yesterday to Curacao. Diane, Evan, Maia and the feline bosun Charlie are excited to be slowly heading home to Canada. Crystal Blues remains anchored in Prickly Bay, Grenada, waiting for a few boat parts, before we sail on to Trinidad and haul out. Next year we plan to explore the USA via the inland lakes and waterways.

We remind ourselves how lucky we are to have shared this special time together, for it was a bitter sweet parting. Our wakes may have diverged, but not our hearts - we'll meet these special people again.

Diane, Evan, Maia and Charlie preparing to depart Prickly Bay, Grenada. Maia, we are going to miss your Key Lime Pies!

Limin' in Charlotteville

Our last sunset swim at Pirates Beach Tobago, with Diane and Evan from Ceilydh                                   

Cruisers are well practiced in the Tobago/Trinidad tradition of "limin" - getting together, relaxing and having fun, mon. Don't come to Charlotteville if you want cool cocktail bars, fine dining, retail therapy and an air conditioned supermarket.  Charlotteville has none of these, but has so much more to offer - friendship with the locals and serenity being high on the list. Provisioning is adequate, with excellent fruit and vegetables available in the town, and fresh fish at the market every day.

We spent over 5 weeks in the anchorage with Ceilydh as our neighbour.  Other cruising boats came and went, and an average of 10 to 15 boats stayed in the safe, uncrowded anchorage inside Man of War Bay.

In this early part of the wet season the weather was very mild and dry. Cool breezes blew down over the mountains and through the open hatches all day and night.  We saw no mosquitoes during our stay in Charlotteville, and only 6 cases of Zika have been reported on the entire island of Tobago. The sandy beach provided a fantastic spot for sundowner swims late each afternoon.  We saw so many beautiful sunsets, even a few with "green flashes."

On the beach we enjoyed weekly beach barbeques.  Wood was collected, dinghies beached, cruisers gathered and many fish were cooked on our grill.  We also refined cooking breadfruit in the coals - cook till done (3/4 hour on hot coals), peel off the burnt skin, cut into small bits and serve with hot garlic butter. So delicious. Joe the fisherman and Mohamed from Customs regularly joined us, sharing in the history and local island gossip. How privileged we are as cruisers to welcomed into this community.

Attack remoras and friends under our hull

But all was not perfect in this relatively cyclone-free piece of paradise.  We still had attack remoras living under our boat.

Before departure Neil dived on the hull to clean the propeller and found two of them, the big one circling him, the other suctioned onto the starboard side of our keel.

There was minimum  growth on our 22 month-old antifoul paint, however the first 10 meters of anchor chain were covered in very fuzzy seaweed. Ley spent a hot hour on the foredeck pulling up a meter at a time, scrubbing and rinsing off most of the growth.

We departed Charlotteville on August 29 for an overnight sail to Grenada.  Mark came by in his boat Expect The Unexpected, and waved us off.  Joe the fisherman, his uncle, was working as a carpenter in town and Irwin, the fruit and vegie man, was at his stall.

Sad to be leaving, but happy to know that we will be back in late January.

 Mark and friends seeing us depart.  Image by Diane Selkirk

Stainless Hose Clamp Failures

Hose clamps seem to be such simple things - yet choosing the wrong types can sure mess up an otherwise perfect sailing day.

As we departed from Suriname three weeks ago we found that our salt water pump was sucking some air - water was still flowing, but each time the pump started it took a few seconds to prime.  That pump feeds the deck wash system and the toilet, so it wasn't a major inconvenience.  However we then found that the water maker was also sucking air - more of a problem, because it then produced fresh water with a lot of air, and the tanks were not filling as fast (it's also not good for the RO water maker system).

We eventually found the culprits - two failed hose clamps on the salt water manifold - they had cracked right through but still looked just fine. 

Back in 2001 we had replaced all of the perforated hose clamps on board with stronger and more reliable non-perforated types. It was a real chore at the time but it proved worth while as the systems became more reliable. I remember running all over Surfers Paradise, Sydney, Darwin and even Singapore chasing up my favourite Norma brand "Torro" type hose clamps. However after more than a decade in service some of our clamps are now starting to fail, where they have been exposed to saltwater drips or spray.

Of course they are all made from 316 stainless steel, with 316 stainless screws, so what is going wrong ?

It seems that our failures are not the Norma clamps - they are other brands including ABA, that have a fairly large perforation hidden inside the clamping screw mechanism.

The Norma "Torro" clamps have a more robust screw attachment and a smaller perforation in the band. To see non-perforated hose clamps failing is unusual, specially when they made of 316 grade stainless steel, however when you look at the failure  it's predictable - they failed at the perforation hidden inside the clamp mechanism.

So, we'll keep using the Norma Torro clamps whenever possible, in the "W5" 316 stainless steel grade. They are now available with Philips "cross" drive, as an option - how many gouged and bleeding fingers would that avoid ? If you want to see basic hose clamps done properly, check this link, specially the options on the last pages. I'm quite sure that other good quality brands exist - I just haven't found them yet.