Cruising is... Nov 14, '09-Feb 14,'10, Part I

Hi, y'all,

We left you with the warning that it would likely be some time before our
next log. Lydia's guest posting on the Wild Horses of Abaco aside, that
proved an accurate forecast. (As accustomed as we are to weather forecasts
here not being very reliable for more than a day or two, with high
likelihood of change after that, as you'll see shortly [well, maybe; I do
tend to rattle on!], the accuracy has me wishing it hadn't been so!) It's
been exactly 3 months since my last to you.

Once again, we're proving that Cruising is Boat Repair in Exotic Locations.
Except that it's not all repairs, most of it's new or upgrades. However, I
get ahead of myself...

We thoroughly enjoyed just kicking back and relaxing after a very busy
couple of months with visitors and passage making. Along the way, it
appeared that an investment I'd made a few years ago would, not by my
choice, be converted to cash. Because we couldn't possibly know that it
would take nearly 3 months for that to sort itself out, we set about coping
with, and planning our uses of, the sudden influx of cash.

As our ability to continue to cruise is based on recurring monthly income,
from a variety of loans extended in many places, the cessation of this
particular cash stream was worrisome. Accordingly, a lot of time was spent
on deciding how to best turn cash into a regular income, without depleting
the capital. However, the first order of business was to replenish our boat
fund, totally depleted as a result of the costs of our refit in St. Simons
Island and emergency loans made from funds available at the time.

As the deal dragged on, despite not yet having seen that investment turn
into cash, we thought about upgrades and, in some cases, repairs we could do
to the boat. I'll tell you more about those shortly (or not :{)) - we'll see
as we go along!), but, with the nature of the internet system here, we
weren't comfortable in doing all of the ordering while we were still on the
hook.

That's because all (aside from megayachts which have their own
satellite-based systems) the internet bandwidth in the Abacos - and most of
the Bahamas - comes through the same pipe, provided by Batelco, the
government monopoly on telecommunications here. In the middle of the night,
it's like being at home. By the middle, I mean it - like, between midnight
and 4AM - but for the rest of the time, frequently, bandwidth arrives in
very short, very slow bursts. Not the thing for reliable web-browsing or
internet telephoning (we use Vonage, a Voice over Internet Protocol system
which allows us regular wireless handsets communicating to our base which is
connected to the internet, but which base requires a fair amount of reliable
bandwidth).

So, I got all our ducks in a row in preparation for our surprise trip to the
states, prompted by the expectation of a sudden influx of cash, to surprise
Lydia's grandson for Christmas. Those of you on her log list already know
about that, and since it's not really cruising related at all, I'll be
ultra-brief about it.

I took advantage of our month ashore - nearly exactly in the middle of our
time since my last log - to go see each of my children (4) and grandchildren
(6). I also took a side trip, on yet another airplane, to see my father,
likely for the last time, as he's in dementia-induced decline. My largest
project, though, was to source, and then order, then track, and then pack,
the 125 pounds of new or upgraded gear we brought back with us. I took
advantage of the full-broadband connection I had both at Lydia's
daughter/son-in-law/grandson's and my children and my father's retirement
community's locations to make that happen.

We located, through the morning Cruiser's Net (a daily VHF radio gathering
of cruisers in most places where there is a concentration of cruisers), a
dock, in a canal community, behind someone's home, where we could safely
leave our boat while we flew back. And, aside from the overweight charges in
both directions (a lot of what we brought back with us was either factory
repair, upgrade- or new gear-replacing stuff we took back with us for
service or eBay sale, so we were heavy going out, too, but 75 pounds less
than our return!), all was well in the entire enterprise.

That our investment conversion didn't happen until we were actually back on
the boat meant that there were some nervous moments as our credit card
balances grew alarmingly, but in the end, it all worked out. Only one
purchase went awry, and I'll save that story for a separate log posting,
once it's finally settled (it's still not settled, over a month later,
something which is very unflattering for the vendor, very well known in the
marine world).

During our time in Marsh Harbour, we discovered that our navigation station
VHF (used for local radio communications) radio seemed not to be doing well.
A very long discussion train on several forums and lists eventually led me
to replace the antenna cable from the top of the mast to the radio. In
between, we first proved out the antenna itself, and isolated a problem in
the radio. That radio still awaits logging in by the manufacturer who will
identify the problem and repair it but, over 6 weeks after receipt, even
that step hasn't yet happened. As a result, we had to buy a new one, a
duplicate of what came out, because there was already a hole in our
electronics panel, and all the plug-and-play connections, matching that
radio. Back to the story, the first one of our projects was for me to
identify the very best cable for the purpose, and get it ordered.

In all of the items we had to order, many of which were already identified
before we left for the States, we had to time delivery to our surprise
location so as to have them arrive after we did, maintaining the surprise.
Therefore, imagine my alarm when the first of them, the new antenna cable,
arrived the day before we did! A hurried email asking our hosts to
accumulate stuff for pickup by a mutual friend, one who'd be visiting us in
the Bahamas some time soon, did the misdirection trick; the look on the
faces when we knocked on the door with our Santa hats on, having gotten a
ride from the airport from that same friend, Saint Michael of prior logs,
who had a home nearby, was priceless.

So, after all the excitement of our surprise arrival had settled down, I
settled into serious, last-minute/stage research and ordering and, in some
cases, sourcing locally. A frantic week later, it had all been put in
motion, and I headed out to visit with my various family members, landing
back at Lydia's daughter's home base in between those visits.

Fast forward to all of the stuff arriving, being packed carefully, weighed
hopefully, and, at the last minute, finding ourselves overweight by 25
pounds. Yikes. I'd been so focused on making sure we didn't exceed the
maximum dimensions allowed by the airline, and the last of what arrived
necessitating an all-day excursion to find missing parts (same story to come
later), that the last-minute packing so consumed me that I completely missed
the thought that including the overweight in another package, incurring a
"second bag" charge, would have been about one-tenth the cost of the
"overweight" we paid. Ah, well. With any luck we won't ever have to think
about that again!

So, what happened?

Well, before we left, we'd identified the problem(s) with the VHF at the nav
station. However, simultaneous to that identification, our helm VHF gave up
the ghost entirely. We took that dead radio back along with all the rest of
the stuff we'd expected to either upgrade or get renewed or repaired, as, if
it went out with us, we could bring it back in with us, too. Actually, we
never had to prove the point, but we'd been told that if we took our
cruising permit with us, any new or refurbished/upgraded/repaired boat items
we brought in would be considered for "boat in transit" exclusion from duty.

As it happened, our box was inspected (and poorly repacked by the Bahamians
on the way out, causing some scratches to the computer screen we had along,
my built-in navigation station computer being one of the upgrades) by the
local (Bahamas, and Transportation Security Association, for the US)
security agencies. The profusion of TSA tape on the boxes when we re-entered
the Bahamas, combined with our very adorable cat, Portia, who diverted the
attention of all who encountered us (we're not entirely sure which!), meant
that the Bahamian Customs folks waved us through without so much as a second
glance at our boxes.

So, what was in those, and what happened when you got back aboard, you ask
(well, you didn't, but I'll tell you anyway)?

Well, having said that, I hate to leave you hanging, but this is plenty long
enough to start, so, I'll leave you here.

See you next time - Stay Tuned!

L8R

Skip and crew


Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to
make it come true. You may have to work for it however."
(and)
"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in
its hand
(Richard Bach)

On Feb 15, 4:07*am, "Flying Pig" wrote:
Cruising is... Nov 14, '09-Feb 14,'10, Part I

Hi, y'all,

Skip and passangers


Once again, we're proving that Cruising is Boat Repair in Exotic Locations.

My Dear Skip you are absolutly wrong. If that is the case you need to
get a totally diffrent perception of reality. A cognition shift is in
order. IN other words, More of the same will only get you more of the
same. Personally I do little repair regrdless where I am. There are
the typical consumables that roll around annually and at 3 and 5 years
but damn man dont laugh and make light at your situatoin. While it is
common with some there is another way.............. Follow the light!

Next, you mention radios going sour in your nav station. Is it in side
your boat or outside?

Robert Rexroth

"Bob" wrote in message
...
Next, you mention radios going sour in your nav station. Is it in side
your boat or outside?

Robert Rexroth


Stay tuned (pardon the expression) for the answer...


--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to
make it come true. You may have to work for it however."
(and)
"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in
its hand
(Richard Bach)