Life is already too short to waste on speed.    Edward Abbey

February 27, 2009   Another Friday, Another Update

Happy 57th Anniversary to my parents!

We are still here.  And the work is still progressing.  Slowly. 

Nilson tore out the old flooring that was water damaged and has installed the new floor in our aft cabin and it is even better than ever.  All the soft spots are gone!  His assistant, Eddie, stained the floor while we were off the boat having dinner and when we returned, we were met with the ugliest color we have ever seen. Muy feo. An awful chocolate brown.  So sad to see such a beautiful floor so ugly.   The next morning, Nilson and Eddie came by and surveyed the damage.  It was worse in the daylight, and of course, in unison they said, "no problema".  Eddie returned that evening and resanded the floors and then restained them a pretty brown to match the existing floor.  Muy bueno.  So, the next step is varnish.  The cabinets both in the main salon and shop have the trim installed, but still waiting for the doors to arrive.  Meanwhile, I am cleaning our aft cabin again of another layer of dust.

Eder and his muchachos are almost finished with the galley countertops.  The backsplash has been installed and looks great.  Alex, worked two days on fitting the backsplash, then Angel came yesterday and glued it in place.  All that is left is a few finishing touches, like the hinges installed on the lids and the weatherstripping, both electrical outlets need covers made in corian to match, and today, the countertops are being sanded and then coated with a polish.  We were waiting until the weatherstripping was installed before turning on the refrigerator and freezer, but we can wait no more.  So, we turned on the refrigeration and was met with a horrible sound.  The compressor couldn't start due to not enough power.  The generator was started and the refrigeration unit worked fine.  So, we told John, the dock manager of the problem, and he sent his electrician onboard.  The fault they say is ours, so we hired our electrician, Elmegdio, and he arrived the next day, and after a day of tracing and connecting and reconnecting wires, his diagnosis was that it was the marina's shore power.  It doesn't put out enough amps to our boat.  So, we are at a standstill.  We would like to run the refrigeration before leaving the docks so that our cold plates are good and chilled, so we turned it on late Friday night and it ran.  It's the third world country electricity gremlins.

Renzon was employed again to sew our sail covers.  Our sun cover had chafed the covers in several areas so he reinforced them and sewed extensions onto the mizzen cover so that it now fits around the new boom wings.  He also resewed our staysail and when he was trying to board our boat, he lost his balance and found himself in the water with our sail.  He was quite embarassed as word quickly spread thru the marina that someone had fallen into the water.  Our staysail was rinsed off and hung up to dry.  No damage done except to Renzon's ego!

 Next project, are the heads; new countertops for both.  Eder says this should only take 3 days, which means a week.  One day to a Colombiano is three days to gringos.  Really.  Their time clocks are set differently.  This is an important tip to remember, and if you forget, you will be reminded once you hire a worker and experience it firsthand.

Jorge, has been busy painting the bottom portion of both masts.  Lots of chips in the paint so he sanded those areas, put a coat of primer, and repainted them.  They turned out great.  The last coat of the Cetol has been on hold, since we have so many workers coming and going.  Jorge, did go up our main mast and washed it again and then waxed and polished it.

The sails are back on the booms and we discovered that both sail covers had been chafed by the sun cover, so it was back to Renzon for repair.  Our sun cover had chafed both covers in several areas so he reinforced them and sewed extensions onto the mizzen cover so that it now fits around the new boom wings.  He also resewed our staysail and when he was trying to board our boat, he lost his balance and found himself in the water with our sail.  He was quite embarrassed as word quickly spread thru the marina that someone had fallen into the water.  Our staysail was rinsed off and hung up to dry.  No damage done except to Renzon's ego!

February 20, 2009  Friday Updates

This week went by quickly and the work slowly is progressing.  Have I said that before?

Edmond came by early and picked up the mizzen boom, which he will fabricate the wings and then drop it off at Jorge's friends house to have it sanded and repainted.

At noon, our good friends Jeannie and Bob on s/v Island Dreamin arrived at the marina in not the usual way.  They were at Todomar boatyard the same time we were, but upon getting their boat placed back in the water, their engine wouldn't start.  Sound familiar?  So, the mechanic there at Todomar looked at their engine, but it needs to be overhauled, so they ended up being towed to Club Nautico, where their mechanic, Elvis, (yes, the same one we used, because he is the best) can overhaul it here.  They made it safe and sound into their slip, but not without a bit of stress.  Most of the dock dwellers looked on and lended a hand or two to help in pulling in the lines.

 The best news was that our friend Cosmos recommended a guy who works on generators by the name of Elmedio who showed up on Tuesday morning and took a look at our Northern Lights 5KW.  He diagnosed the problem, which that the two wires that connect to the brushes and the magnets needed to be flashed.  Sort of like resetting the unit.  So, he hooked up 12 volts to each wire and held them for a second and then reconnected them to the terminal.  He said that this happens when you have disconnected wires several times, which we have.  We started up the generator and lo and behold we have electricity.  Elmedio also looked at the brushes and the magnets and everything looked good.  By the way, he speaks pretty good English which is always a plus.

Meanwhile, down below Eder's boys are working away in the galley.  The freezer box lids are finished and just need to be painted and the hinges to be installed and the weatherstripping.  The refrigeration lid is now being worked on; cutting PVC board and fitting it in and around and insulating the lid and the surrounding area.  It's slow going but it's progressing forward, the right direction.  Maybe we will have refrigeration by Monday!  Wouldn't that be great! It's been over a year since I have had the ability to store items in the refrigerator and freezer.  I am looking forward to that convenience!

Nilson, the carpenter, has not showed up all week.  All items usually stowed in our shop have been sitting out in the main salon since Monday, which makes that area rather difficult to get around, so that Nilson could make a template for the new cabinets.

Bianney has been by a few times getting just the right measurements for the supporting braces for the dinghy davits and finished up the job this morning!                        

Creison, helped us install the step onto the stern, the hailing port name of Tampa, cleaned and waxed the mizzen mast and polished the stainless. He finished up painting the fiberglass scupper he made and installed into our toerail.  Oh, and he delivered 10 bottles of rum to our boat.  What a guy!

On Thursday evening, Jorge returned with the pretty painted booms.  They look great and he and his friend, Ronheil helped Aaron place them back onto the masts.  The new mizzen boom wing is a bit crooked, but it will still function just fine.  Jorge finished the dorades (aids in ventilation down below in the cabin) as well and they turned out nice.  Before going home, Jorge and Ronheil brushed on another coat of Cetol. 

Since Sven fixed our SSB, I fired up the computer and started to try using the Airmail program, this is the email software that we use when we do not have access to internet, like out in the islands, but the modem is not talking to the SSB or the computer.  So, I turned it on and off, only to discover that when I did, the switch broke, so it's back to Sven I go.  When I drop it off at this office, which is a small place just full of electronic parts and stuff, he was working on our radar.  He said that it was definitely the lightning strike that caused the unit to quit working.  He may be able to fix it with other used parts, but will see.  If the cost is too high, then we will just wait and buy a new radar.

Well it's not all work and no play.  On Tuesday evening, we were invited over to Consort,  Janet and Duncan, who are originally from the UK, for appetizers and drinks.  Will and Margaret, s/v Atlantia, were there also. We have been instructed that it is not proper British style to take your your drinks to a British boat, so we left our rum at home but not our glasses!  Sorry, but insulated glasses rule.  We were priming ourselves for the nights entertainment, the Korean Philharmonic Symphony were playing at the Convention center at 8pm.  The performance was very good, if not, a bit conservative, precise, and by the book.  Afterwards, Will and Margaret, treated everyone, to a drink at the German beerhouse.  Cosmos and Donna s/v Koukla joined us.

Wednesday evening after happy hour at Club Nautico, we walked down to Club de Pesca marina, with Cosmos to their boat, Koukla, where Donna had prepared her award winning chicken dish.  What a dish!  Tristan on s/v Pangea, joined us also, and in the course of the evening, we tried to solve the Colombian worker work ethic problem.  It still remains unsolved by the way.

February 15, 2009   Nilson returns and our Booms leave

Nilson, the carpenter and crew showed up this morning and went right to work tearing out the two sections of cabin sole that are water damaged.  The dust was flying.  Nilson had made templates earlier and came prepared with the two sections already cut and laid them in and made mental notes of what tweeking needed to be done.  He is making an access hole in both of those sections so that we can stow items in the bilge.  We also decided to have him replace the rest of the flooring in our aft cabin since the wood he is using is 3/4" teak and holly with a plywood backing.  He also made a template of the main salon cabinets.  Aaron also wants the bottom shelf of his shop completed with cabinets, so Nilson gave us a bid for that and we agreed to that price.  Doesn't  Esteban look like Eddie Murphy?

Jorge and Aaron took of the main and mizzen booms so that Jorge can sand and repaint them.  We have many many chips in the painted booms, more than just a touch up job, so why not get them looking pretty as well.  Jorge had a friend with a truck come and pickup the main boom and take it to his friends house where there is a big enough yard to do the work.  The mizzen boom is going to be picked up tomorrow by a man who will make a boom wing out of aluminum and install it onto the boom and then send it to Jorge to be painted.  Our main boom has this feature and we really like it; makes the dropping of the main much easier. 

February 14, 2009   Happy Valentine's Day

The week passed by quickly and some progress has been made.  But it seems, that as soon as we fix one problem, another one occurs.  And the avalanche keeps falling.  Renzon resewed the sun cover and on Monday returned it and now it is up and shading our boat from the sun. That project went well.    Elvis spent 3 days working on the generator, cleaned the manifold and heat exchanger and replaced the water pump.  He also rebuilt two others we have for spares.  When he left on Wednesday, the generator was working and producing power.  But on Thursday, the next morning, when we started it, it runs well but does not produce any power.  This still remains a mystery as to why.  Could be one of the capacitors is bad.

 Eder and assistant Alex, started the week installing the sink hardware and it is wonderful to have a functioning sink again.  But I still keep going to the forward head to wash dishes.  Some habits are hard to break.  The freezer project was next.  The lid is now designed to open in two sections.  This will be more convenient and easier to open just half of the lid when needing ice.  The space around the lid in the interior is now blocked and insulation will be poured in from a hole in the corian countertop.  In addition, weatherstripping will be placed all around the lid to stop condensation from forming

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Sven, the electronic guru around here, came on Thursday morning to have a look at our electrical problems.  He fixed our single side band radio (SSB), took a look at our bilge pump that was not hooked up properly and is now functioning again, a good thing.  And tried to fix our generator problem.  He confirmed that no power is coming out of the generator.  On Saturday, he returned and tackled the radar.  Our radar quit working after a lightning strike occurred while we were in the Rio Dulce at Mario's Marina back in August 2006.  With the help of his friend, Alvaro, who went up the mizzen mast to look at the radar dome and he confirmed that it wasn't working.  The radar screen unit down below in the navigation station does turn on, but displays the message that the transponder is not responding.  So, in the end, Alvaro disconnected the dome and Sven took it with him back to his place of business to have a better look.  We are not getting our hopes up, figuring that it will probably be cheaper for us to just buy another complete unit.  

Our old ice machine quit working on the very last day we were here back in February 2008.  So, before we left the states, we purchased a new one online and had it shipped to Cartagena.  Much to our dismay, this new ice machine does not produce ice very well.  It doesn't keep up.  We called the Hermanos Malos, bad brothers Antonio and Fabien, and they came and picked up the old ice machine and two days later returned it.  It was out of freon.  It produces ice once again, but the automatic sensor for when the tray is full is not working, so that we are not able to run it while we are away. (we usually turn it on before we go snorkeling, so that upon our return, we have ice for a cold drink afterwards.)  And now, we are trying to sell the new ice machine.

Felix, the younger brother of Antonio and Fabien, is a computer guru, so I had him take a look at my old Compaq, the one that I had sent in to Compaq to get the screen fixed.  Their response was to replace the entire screen for $750, so I told them no thanks,  I could buy a whole new computer for that price.  Felix took my computer back to his shop and after several hours returned it, working like new!  He had to use a magnifying glass and solder the connections, one by one.  They were all corroded.  He also cleaned it up and I am so happy to have my favorite computer working well once again.

Nilson came by and made a template of the floor areas that need to be replaced.  We haven't seen him since Tuesday.  But, we are not worried, he does most of the work at home, and when he does return, he will work his carpentry magic and install it all at once.  I am anxious to see our new main salon cabinets! 

Bianney, our stainless steel welder guy, came by to have a look at our dinghy davits.  We would like to replace the existing cable wire that is now in place reinforcing the davits to the toerail, with new stainless steel tubing, the same as our hardrail, which we are very happy with by the way.  He is very busy the rest of the week, but says he will begin the project next Monday.

At times this week, we had six to seven people at one time onboard.  There's just not enough space, but, everyone, worked well together.  With that much testosterone onboard,  I had to leave!  This girl went .....shopping?  I hate to shop, so I really just went for long walks.

February 9, 2009    Marina bound

A calm morning greeted us and our efforts to secure a slip at Club Nautico marina has been successful.  We wanted an easy slip to get in and out of, so we waited until an outside slip was available.  Jorge and Creison arrived at 9am to lend us a hand and we slipped into our slip with no problems.  It was the easiest maneuver yet.  We have lined up workers for the next 10 days.  Elvis returns tomorrow to work on the generator.  Eder, our corian guy, and his assistant, Alex, are now working on our galley. Alex is reinstalling our sink hardware into the new corian countertops, so that we will have a functioning sink by days end, hopefully.  Renzon, our canvas guy, is repairing our canvas sun cover.  After months in storage, upon inspection all the thread has rotted, so it needs to be resewn.  Nilson is working on the main salon cabinets.  Lots of action onboard, that's for sure. 

Since we have been here in Colombia since December 9th, our 60 day visa has expired.  Manfred, our agent, helped us in renewing our visa for another 30 days.  We hope not to renew again, but be on our way to the San Blas by month's end.

February 8, 2009   A Sunday Sail

Yesterday, we enjoyed the day piddling about on our boat and treated ourselves to a siesta in the afternoon and then we met up with Bob and Jeannie, s/v Island Dreamin, at our favorite bar, Wiskeria Zorba's in El Centro and dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Chinese Dragon. 

Elvis, the mechanic, arrives at 9am, and works on our generator.  He replaces the fuel pump, and cleans it.  While Nilson, the carpenter, gives us a bid on making new cabinets in the main salon, and replacing the floor in our aft cabin, (water damage).  Then, at noon we meet Creison and his family, and enjoy a sail around the bay, their first time on a sailboat.  His wife, Lina, and two sons, Adan, 15 and Jesus, 5  watched as Papi Creison handled the sails.  Little Jesus, had a great time entertaining us all, being a little monkey and exploring the boat.  After our company left,  we treated ourselves again to another siesta and since our galley is still under repair, we dinghied ashore to have pizza later on for dinner.  We retired early, asleep by 830pm and slept over 10 hours.  I believe that all the stress we have been under, has finally lifted from our weary shoulders, and the best medicine for us right now is sleep.

February 6, 2009   Moving Day

I awake early to discover that the wind has blown itself out and the morning is clear and bright.  I wake up Aaron and tell him we are moving.  Last night was awful.  The wind was right on our aft and the waves were confused, creating a washing machine effect that made alot of stress on the aft stern lines, which were tied around the pilings, a worry about breaking loose.  And with a concrete shore in front of us, if that happened Blow Me Away would incur major damage.  Aaron and I prepare to leave and when our crew arrives at 9am, they hop onboard and we start the challenge of retrieving the lines from the pilings.  Jorge makes a gallant attempt, but it is not possible.  A speedboat is tied up to the dock, and we politely ask him for help.  Jorge jumps onboard the speedboat and from the bow of that boat, he is able then to lift both lines up and over the pilings.  It is a scramble once we are free to back away from those pilings, and it is narrow miss.  Our dinghy is hanging on the davits off of our stern and just barely misses a rub with the piling.  Aaron also discovers that when we are in reverse, our boat used to walk to starboard, but now, much to our surprise, we walk to port!  Which doesn't help the situation.  Soon, we are free from obstacles and idle out a ways and wait for Jorge and Jose to be dropped off by the speedboat.  This maneuver is risking as well, as the speedboat comes along side, getting close enough so that the boys can jump across.  But, the new paint job comes away unscathed as we motor on towards Club Nautico marina.  The crew enjoyed the hour's ride sitting on the bow relaxing and we were happy that the motor ran well.  Once we set anchor, the crew helped us put the sails on, all four of them and the sail covers.  Now, Blow Me Away is all dressed up and looking like a sailboat once more.  We treat our crew to lunch and then we agree to take the rest of the weekend off and get some well needed rest.   Later, we are invited to Club de Pesca for happy hour by Cosmos and Donna, s/v Koukla.  We tell them our ordeal of our last few days, and our amazed by our tenacity.  What else can you do?

February 5, 2009   Blowin' in the Wind

The wind is still blowing a brisk 15-20 knots from the NE, right on our starboard aft quarter.  We realize soon after waking, that we are staying put for another day.  It is blowing too hard to make an attempt to leave this slip.  So, there is work to be done.  Creison arrives promptly at 9am, and removes the old  raw water pump from the main engine.  This isn't easy since the location of the pump is somewhat towards the bottom and not much space between the engine wall and the engine.  Aaron tackled the generator, replaced and cleaned the fuel filters.  He did get it starrted, but after 20 minutes, it shut itself down due to an oil leak. By lunchtime, Creison is successful, so we hail a taxi and all three of us go to Turbinas y Mangueras, (engines and hoses) where they rebuild the pump in 2 hours.  During our wait, we eat a typical lunch, shop for a bucket to wash lines in, buy more minutes for our phone, and patiently wait.  This is the same place we had our low pressure pump on our watermaker rebuilt last year and we had good results.  At 330pm, we pay $50 for their service and are on our way back to Todomar.  Creison installs the rebuilt pump, and at 530pm, we fire up the main engine.  No leaks, a celebratory high five is in order.  But, no, shortly after, we lose all electricity on the boat.  What is going on?  Aaron is so frustrated at this point, our luck (what luck) has not changed.  Bob and Jeannie come over and while Jeannie and I give moral support from the cockpit (dispensing beer to Bob and rum and cokes to Aaron), the men tackle the mystery of the loss of power.  With volt meter in hand, they trace the problem down.  The battery lug had become loose so they designed a new system going straight to the post.  And yes, let there be light.  At 8pm, Bob says a PTA shower is in order and then dinner.  Aaron and I are not in the know of what a PTA shower is and Bob explains that you just wash your pits, tits and ass!  Oh, we call it a Huggie baby wipe shower! But PTA is a much shorter way to say it.  We all meet after our PTA meeting, and walk down the main highway, but at this late hour the Chinese restaurant is closed.  So, we find lights on at a local hotel with a restaurant, and walk up to the kitchen and ask the ladies if they can serve us.  Even though, they are cleaning up, they offer us what they have left, tongue and french fries.  We politely decline the tongue and ask if they have other meat, chicken or beef available.  A plate of raw beef is shown to us, (it is not tongue) and we agree we will eat it with french fries.

February 4, 2009   Splash Day

The day has finally come and Blow Me Away is just as anxious as we are to return to the water. It's been over 11 months since she was last waterborne.  By 9 am, the tire has been replaced and the crane moves in position.  After lifting her up, the stands are removed and Creison paints the areas where the stand pads were and the bottom.  She is then slowly moved to the haulout slip.  She looks great, the best ever.   As she slowly is lowered into the water, you can almost her sighing a huge sigh of happiness to be once again in her natural place upon the sea.  Aaron checks the bilge for any signs of leaks and discovers our stuffing box is leaking quite a lot.  Bob, who has just worked on his, lends Aaron a hand.  It is Creison, though, who saves the day, by using his brute strength, he manages to turn it just so and then a repair is made. 

 The crane is now hauling another boat toward the slip and we need to move.  Hurriedly, the stuffing box is repaired and the engine is started.  But no, although it is turning over, it will not fire.  This was what we were dreading.  Aaron does his best to try to start it, but no luck.  Jovanis wants to tow us to a another slip, so with many hands and lines, Jovanis slowly pulls us backwards with a speedboat.  Things are stressful since on either side as we pull out are concrete slabs and pilings.  Things get even more stressful when the boat starts to turn sideways. Stress level is very high at this point, as Aaron and Jorge grab lines and pull hard so that two stern lines can be hooked around the pilings and then two bow lines are secured from shore.  After that episode, we take a break and catch our breaths.  Jorge retrieves a mechanic who works here at Todomar and he commences to bring back to life our 85 hp Perkins, the original motor. He makes a few adjustments; the alternator is stuck but decides to turn after a few hammer blows, the engine is bled, (gets rid of air in the lines) and WD 40 sprayed into the intake valve.  But, after so many attempts in starting, our batteries are now run down and need to be recharged.  We break for lunch, which Jeannie and Bob have invited us over to their boat, a calming influence.  After recharging our batteries, that is by way of food and lemonade, we are ready for the afternoon session.  Carlos agrees to let us borrow Todomar's battery charger and he delivers it after lunch.  We hook it up and charge the batteries for almost 2 hours.  At 3pm, Aaron and I cross our fingers and hit the starter button.  It fires right up and is running. Hallelujah! The mechanic returns shortly thereafter and inspects the motor.  He discovers a leak in the raw water pump, possible the gasket needs to be replaced.  So, we shut her down after 20 minutes.

Next is the generator.  It makes an awful noise as the switch is turned on.  Sounds like a bad starter.  The mechanic says that he can get it fixed today, so he takes it off and comes back at 6 pm and installs it.  Another attempt is made to start it, and it does turn over but, does not fire.  A check is made in the fuel filter and no fuel is getting to the filter.  So, we call it a day at 7 pm, shower, eat dinner across the street and in bed by 8pm.  The wind has been blowing hard since the afternoon and does not quit the entire night.  A fitful sleep we have as Aaron and I take turns thru the night, checking the lines.  In bed, one of the aft stern lines creaks  right above my head.  This is our first night back in the water and although it has been almost a year since we have slept onboard,  we are preoccupied with worry.

February 3, 2009    To be splashed or not to be, that is the question!

We check out of our room at Ferroaquilmar and thank goodness Jorge is there to help us out with toting our bags.  Jorge, has another boat, s/v  Atlantia, owners Will and Margaret from Great Britain, who are getting their topsides painted by Jorge's crew, so he was there this morning checking up on that job. Will and Margaret have a room also and we have enjoyed spending evenings with them and discussing boats and past experiences over a few cocktails.  Even though these last few days I have been taking items back to the boat, there is still alot of stuff to move.  On my walk to Todomar, I stop at the convenience store across the street, and talk to Hugo, who is the owner, and ask for 70 gallons of diesel to be delivered before noon.  He says, no problem.  When we arrive at the boat,  Jose, the painter, is finishing up the topside touchup and matches the color perfectly, which is incredible.  Jorge discovered that the paint store had added just a touch of black to the hull color, which tones it down to more of a bone color. The fuel truck arrives at noon, and pumps in 81 gallons of diesel and 20 gallons of gasoline to fill up our jerry jugs. This was a slick operation and so much easier than buying fuel at the fuel dock at Club de Pesca. No stress. We buy the crew lunch and have it delivered, meanwhile, we stow away items back into the lazarette and wait for the paint to dry.  Jorge takes a trip up our main mast and installs the lightning striker, in hopes that this will deter lighting from striking our boat, oils the windex, and takes a few pictures.  After lunch, he returns to the mast, to wash the mast, shrouds and stays.  Amazing the amount of dirt that has accumulated over these past 11 months.

I pay the remaining bill with Jovanis, the boatyard manager, and ask again for a pickup at 3pm.  They arrive on time, but only then do we realize that the tide is low, so everyone is in agreement that we will be the last to be placed in the water, and spend the night in the haulout slip and leave in the morning when the tide is higher.  We draw 6 feet and the slip has maybe 7 feet at high tide.  So as to insure not having our new paint on the bottom of the keel scraped off, we will wait for more water.  At 430pm, the crane arrives, but just as they are about to pick us up, they find one of the tires has a flat, so efforts are abandoned until tomorrow morning.  We wonder about our luck.  We spend the night aboard after having dinner on Island Dreamin, owners Bob and Jeannie from Texas, who are also in the yard having work done.  Jorge is also employed by them, painting topsides and bottom.  It is our first night back onboard our home and with our Cruisair air conditioner in place in the aft hatch, we sleep soundly.

February 2, 2009

Monday arrives with hopes of getting prepared for a Tuesday splash.  Creison and Jose paint the bottom with antifouling paint, which is very toxic and helps to keep the bottom free of underwater growth, barnacles and the like. It is best to paint the bottom the day before, so that the paint has a better chance of repelling growth. Jose, the painter, begins to mask the toprail and gets about halfway done.   Bianney arrives early and completes the hard rail job.  After lunch, Bianney returns and brings his welding equipment, in order to weld the bottom of the stanchions to the base plate so to make the gate sturdier, since it gets alot of abuse from people getting on and off our boat.  At the end of the day, Blow Me Away looks beautiful and it is a job that Jorge and crew are very proud of.  And so are we. 

February 1, 2009  

Today being Sunday, there is no electricity at Todomar because they are working on installing a new transformer, so the waxing of the hull is done by hand.  Jorge and Cresin wax while Jose applies another coat of Cetol on the woodwork.  Aaron and I put up the bimini and finish some other little projects and everyone goes home early.  But, a Monday splash is not going to happen.  There is still some painting left to do.  The very top of our topsides need to be repainted since unfortunately, this area was covered with masking when the original painting to the hull was done.  And the bottom needs to be painted yet with antifouling paint.  

I