Boatyard Blues

On Friday December 5th I finally got word from the Boatyard the work on Conch Clipper had been completed and they are ready to splash the boat back into the water. Finally Sonja and I will be able to sleep in our own beds rather at my son's home sleeping on our grandson's bed.

The yard closed at 4:00 PM and I was told to be there at 3:30, well as luck would have it some last minute errands had to be made and since I was planning on leaving Saturday evening the trip to the bank was essential. Unfortunately when I arrived the boat was in the water and I did not have an opportunity to see their final product, but as before, I took their word for the job and paid the tab.

The boat didn't seem to be sinking so a quick look around to make sure all seacocks were closed and we fired up the engine and took off. A friend of mine volunteered to come with me to handle the dock lines on the other end and the fifteen minute trip from the boatyard to our dock went uneventfully.

Once back at the dock I took a better look at the yards work and discovered a terrible mess of plumbing associated with the forward seacock installation relative to the Fwd AC unit. It was now about 5:00 PM and darkness was approaching. I took a deep breath and ordered a sundowner with Sonja instantly agreeing. Here's to another wonderful day in Paradise, bottom's up.

Saturday I woke at 06:00 with the thought of finishing my departure checklist and cutting the dock lines at 12:00 midnight. That's when everything started to go down hill. First item on the agenda was to open the sail envelope (stack pack) and put a reef in the main sail. Sounds easy enough but when I the Sail Loft installed the sail pac and lazy jacks two weeks prior they reminded me the reefing lines were disconnected.

So with a gentle wind from the stern, I raised the main to the reefing point and attached my lines. Problem was; now I can't lower the sail because somehow the leach of the sail wrapped around one of the stays and refused to come down. I summoned the first mate and between Sonja pulling on the halyard and me tugging on the leech of the sail we finally were able to overcome the 5 kt wind and bring the sail down into the sail pac, but not without a struggle.

With that struggle behind us I left for my office to finish shipping the final sale items that sold on eBay Friday. I packed the accounting information that I would need to process my taxes and closed down my office. One more trip to the bank for final deposits and back to the boat I went still with the thought of leaving as late as 03:00 AM Sunday morning.

Walking down the dock towards the boat I realized that the dink had to be loaded on the bow, motor had to be stowed, deck box and extra chain locker all had to be stored, dock lines gathered, batteries checked and a whole host of other items that were still not complied with, had to be complied with not to mention that I really hadn't taken the time to inspect the seacocks that were recently installed by the boatyard.

So first thing was to inspect their work and that's when the whole plan of departing Sunday morning started to fall apart. The forward seacock plumbing was such a mess, so I decided to start there. When 5:00 PM came and Sonja finished with her pre-departure list I finally admitted I was no-where near departing and suggested it was time for a sundowner and Sonja quickly agreed. The pressure of departing on schedule was gone and another plan had to be made, but most important, the boat had to be prepared for sea and at this point it was not.

Well here it is Monday and we're still not gone, but I finally finished re-plumbing the forward AC/Heater, inspecting the other seacock installation and tie-up some lines. The only thing left to accomplish on the forward seacock installation is run the grounding (bonding) wire to the closest thru-hull which is fifteen feet away. I will use the 5/8" water line that brought the sea water from the old ball valve located at the companionway entrance as a conduit and connect the forward seacock ground wire to the new seacock just installed. It seems to be the easiest route and it keeps the grounding wire off the bottom of the boat and out of the seawater.

The following pictures in the order they appear are my able body crew sleeping on the job. The next picture is the aft seacock installation showing how little room I have to remove the seawater strainer, compliments of the boatyard. I will have to re-do the seawater strainer fixture in order to have enough clearance to remove and clean the filter. The last picture shows the completed re-do plumbing job of the forward seacock after I straightened out all of the snakes.

Let's tip our glasses to the next weekend and hope for fair weather and smooth seas.