March 23, 2022 New rode for dinghy anchor

We went back into town after breakfast to get fuel.  Dave put on short today and these were his words “this is the first time I’ve worn shorts since the gnats started biting in 2019”.
We decided to stay here for a couple day while we waited for better weather to cross to Eleuthera.  We are hoping to meet friends from South Dakota that are renting a cottage there for a week.  

Dave at fuel dock

I have been wanting to clean our fans for a LONG time.  It’s amazing the amount of dust that collects on them and decreases their function.  I have figured out over the years that it is best to take them apart to clean what you can.  But there are also parts that aren’t removable that have to be cleaned.  We work as a team, Dave takes them apart, I clean, and he reassembles.  We now have 6 mounted fans that work off of our boat batteries and are thinking of adding a 7th one.  We don’t run our air conditioning when we are at anchor.  Takes too much power.  
We also work as a team doing laundry.  Dave’s the best at wringing out the clothes by hand!

I attached the clothespins to my clothes to keep a hand free

we use the life lines after wiping off the dried salt from saltwater splashing over them

Dave’s project today was to make a rode for our dinghy anchor.  There are many combinations but we go from anchor to a shackle, then chain, then rope, then shackle, then boat.

this is the completed work, but helps explain what he was working on

 In the Bahamas, it’s handy to have a bow and a stern anchor in your dinghy.  There are so many dinghies at the dock that they want you to use a stern anchor to hold your dinghy off the dock and away from the ladders.  That way people can get to the ladders, climb up and then move their boat away from the ladders.  It also keeps your dinghy from going under the dock with wind or current.  You especially don’t want it under the dock as the tide is rising.  It can get trapped under the wood.  And the bow anchor is for anchoring without a dock to tie to.

We haven’t had to use our dinghy anchor in 3 years.  Dave brought a new anchor for the dinghy, but didn’t have it set up to use.   We left the chain and rope on the old anchor in storage in GA.  So he needed chain and rope for this anchor.  The piece of chain will protect the rope from chafing on rock or coral on the sea bottom near the anchor.
He had a spare piece of chain about 6 feet long, but only needed about 3 feet.  So he used a cut off disk in a battery drill to cut through a link.  He did this on the back deck.

he so wishes he had room for a "shop"

Next step was to find the new anchor that was stored in a cockpit lazerette.  It was a Guardian light aluminum anchor, Danforth style.  Like anything else on the boat, you have to move a lot of stuff to get to what you need.  Similar to a Rubik's Cube.

For rope, Dave took a section of the decorative rope we had wrapping the mast in our salon.  He had to improvise since the old rope was with the old anchor in storage.  

 

He made a rope to chain splice to connect them together.  He took the end of the rope, ran it through a chain link, then spliced the rope back into itself.  This creates a closed loop.  It takes some practice and skill to be able to make a splice.  
At the opposite end of the rope, he made another splice/loop and used a shackle to attach it to an eye on the bow of the dinghy.  

chain to shackle to anchor

Next he decided to replace the painter.  This is the rope that ties the dinghy to the stern of our boat or to the dock.  The old one was worn and dirty.  It needed to be long enough to be able to move the dinghy away from the dock or to reach a high dock.  And it’s great if it is a floating rope so it doesn’t get in the dinghy prop or boat prop. 

comparing the old and new

It floats!!

 Dave had extra rope for this purpose.  His working surface was a small piece of starboard on his leg to cut the rope.  He wrapped blue tape around the rope to keep it from raveling.  He had to run a power cord outside to use a heat gun to melt the ends that will also keep it from raveling.  While he had it out, he cleaned up the ends of spare pieces of rope to tidy things up.

One more dinghy prep included attaching a bridle for towing the dinghy behind our boat.  We only do that for short distances because it causes too much drag.  That was just a matter of finding the bridle in the lazerette and adjusting the correct length for towing to a cleat on the port and starboard toe rail.  

the bridle is the 2 black lines attached to the boat, the float, and 2 orange lines attached to the dinghy

the white rope is the anchor rode attached to the eye at the bow of the dingy, the yellow rope is the painter, the 2 orange ropes are the bridle, the black vertical line is a strap we hold when getting on and off the dinghy (should have moved it out of the way, sorry)

After Dave was finished on the aft swim platform, I cleaned the “boot” that sits in the water on the stern.  I Moss growths there continually.  It didn’t hurt that I was able to dangle my feet in the water and drink a beer.  It seems a little chilly to be swimming.  So this is the next best thing.
We made a dinner in foil on the grill and ate in the cock pit for the first time in about 3 years.  Love this life!