While I was gone over the weekend, Dave did more trouble shooting for our water leak. There is a useless “box” in the aft swim platform. Beneteau calls it a “cooler”. It has a drain hole that lets in sea water. It had always been a slimy mess to us and useless. Dave found a couple areas where the gelcoat was thin and had broken through creating a hole for water to enter the boat while we are at sea. He used 5200 silicone sealant also known as “52 million” because it lasts forever. Here’s Dave’s favorite part. One tube is expensive. If you don’t use it all, the cap cracks and the rest of the tube hardens. So he goops on as much as he wants and ends up throwing away the rest of the tube. Whenever he uses it, it seems to smear somewhere somehow. You can wipe it up, but it eventually has to wear off over time. He was really proud of how well he handled everything this time.
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| photos taken after I returned- left section of teak is the well |
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| smelly well that we don't use. Dave is considering sealing it and accessing it from inside the aft cabin for storage |
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| repairs on corner and hear latch |
Dave was wishing he had put police tape around the 5200 to keep out. Just after he finished gooping things up, he saw a boat at anchor dragging out to sea, but through another boat with a family aboard. So he hopped onto the dinghy. In the process of leaping into action, he leaped into the fresh 5200 barefooted. It deflated his super hero moment. No one was on the boat that was dragging. He went to the boat that was in the path of being hit, explained the situation and that boat owner said “that boat is moving really fast right towards me, what should I do?”. That’s when Dave told him to get in his dinghy and help. They both went to the dragging boat. Dave climbed aboard to let out more anchor rode, but realized it wasn’t going to set. So he got back in the dinghy. In the meantime the affected boat owner was trying to use his dingy at the bow of his boat to fender off the dragging boat. He got his anchor rode caught in the prop of his dinghy. So Dave told the wife, with their 7 kids aboard, to call the harbor master for help. Dave then grabbed the anchor of the dragging boat in our dinghy and worked against the wind to move the boat away from the second boat all with our 15 hp outboard. He was able to clear the family’s boat before the harbor master was able to take over. The harbor master tried to reset the anchor with more rode and it still wouldn’t set. He ended up taking the boat to a slip on shore. Wish I had pictures for this adventure.
Dave checked out the raw water pump for the diesel engine again. There still seems to be a small leak coming from this pump. He’s not sure we have a new gasket, so he is going to wait until we are in a place to get parts, if needed, to tackle this.
Today we had to heat water with the Honda generator to be able to take showers onboard. I spent time making flight arrangements to go to South Dakota for a wedding in a couple weeks. That may seem simple for dirt dwellers, but we had to plan where we were going to be for me to pick an airport, let alone which flights. You just have to plan for the best. If for some reason we don't make it to that destination, you have to get a rental car and drive there. We'll have to get a rental car anyway just to get me to the airport and for when I return.
Dave coined a new phrase today to explain why he teases me, and everyone else. He has “created the circle of strife” -here we go again.
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