I didn’t really believe it when I read that cruising was about fixing the boat in exotic locations. Now I get it!
As you may remember, we were at Isla Isabella when the winds picked up to 25 knots. Normally this would not have been a problem, but Isla Isabella is a fair weather anchorage. Our anchor started to drag over the ocean floor and our bridle had almost chafed through. We were lifting our dinghy to prepare for departure and as we were doing so- WHOOSH!! -a gust of wind took our dinghy and flew it in the air like a kite! The dinghy hit the solar panel by the cockpit, creating a hole in the bottom! (Read original story here). Well, we tried everything from bicycle tire patches to super glue in San Blas, a small fishing village, but we had no luck. We finally found the 2 part glue and hypalon patch material at Zaragozas in Puerto Vallarta.
Woo-hoo- we have freedom again!!!
Cleaning and preparing the patch area. Lots of glue residue from false attempts to remove.
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We had one shot at this (expensive) glue. After the two ingredients are mixed we had 4 hours to use the glue but in our conditions the remaining glue in the container started to turn gummy after about 2 hours. The directions stated to use away from water, direct sunlight, and humidity. We were on a dock, with no shade, and 75%-85% humidity.
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Hallelujia, it worked!!! Due to the humidity, we let it dry for 10 days.
Next we had to fix a sail car on the mast which had broken during a 40 knot ‘wind event’ about 12 hours after leaving the Turtle Bay Anchorage. (Read original story here). We had not found any sail cars down the coast and Mike at PV Sailing in La Cruz gifted us 2 used sail cars that fit perfectly and now we can use both reef points! Yeah!
The loop ripped right off in high winds. We can still sail without it with a full main or one reef but because of the position of the break, we cannot sail with the 2nd reef.
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Ripping the threads out of the fabric was easy. It was getting the glue off that was hard. This must be done so we can attach the sail to the new sail car with this fabric.
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I’m so happy that I raided my mother’s sewing chest when we went back for a US visit. This needle is invaluable on the boat!.
The next project was to rebed the chainplates. After getting the rails in the water during the Banderas Bay Regatta we found new leaks in the boat and decided it was time. We used 5200.
It’s HOT!!! Without a sewing machine or the desire to pay someone to make a fancy custom sunshade for our boat, we made do with a little creativity.
Instead of cutting in to the fabric to fit around the boom (way too much hand sewing involved and the measurements were forever changing!) I decided to sew strings on to the fabric that would tie to the boom. The most important element is that the fabric offers shade and it can be taken down in minutes in the case of sudden high winds in an anchorage.
It looks like we are camping!
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I used sail tape as the backing to reinforce the attachment point.
Shade! My new heaven on earth. It lowers the boat temperature by several degrees. Now we need a boom tent and a shade for the forward deck.
It all sounds so difficult. The price you pay for a bit of paradise.
Cruising is the most challenging and rewarding thing I have ever done! I went up the mast again this week to straighten out the windex (indicator that tells you which direction the wind is coming from). A bird perched on it and bent it!
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