Back to Boat Work

Yes, we're back aboard Nine of Cups. Our trip to Swaziland and Kruger Park already seem like a lovely, but distant memory. I keep looking at all of our photos to remind myself it was just a few days ago that we returned. It's easy to forget what you've just experienced once you're immersed in boat work again. As much as we enjoyed our trip, towards the end, getting back to Cups was always on our minds. Our new bimini and dodger were in place and though a few tweaks were necessary for the dodger, we were well satisfied with the final result.

I had recovered all the saloon cushions back in Panama in 2009. It was really in need of replacement, but it's a big project and I wasn't game for starting it now. As David mentioned previously, the South African rand is quite soft against the US dollar at present (R11.5:US$1). We took advantage of this by ordering new saloon upholstery before we left. The final cost wasn't significantly more than my cost for just buying the materials. The new saloon upholstery wasn't quite finished when we got back to the boat, but Clyde delivered everything within a couple of days. It adds a whole new elegance to the saloon, I think … and it's new and unstained. Hallelujah!

We returned the car to its downtown Durban location … about a 20 minute walk away. It seemed odd to be in the midst of the noisy hustle-bustle of the city after nearly 10 days of pretty much peace and quiet. It's hot and humid here … except when it rains, then it's hot, humid and wet. The city sidewalks are always crowded and the decibel level of the noise is incredible.

The boat was a wreck when we first unloaded all of our stuff, lugged it below and crammed it into the saloon. We sorted and stowed everything almost immediately and Cups was shipshape (at least below deck) for nearly 14 hours before David got to work on his projects. He wasted no time. His latest effort was installing our back-up autopilot system which required access under the aft bunk in our cabin. The mattress came off. Tools and parts and equipment were everywhere. This is not unusual on Cups or any boat for that matter. Everything is compact and snug. When a project needs doing, everything is affected and is in turmoil until the project is complete.

As for me, I've been writing up a storm, cooking, cleaning, sewing and … dare I say it? … preparing for another inland trip. We just got word from Brennan and Hannah (our oldest son and our daughter-in-law) that they're planning a trip to Africa in early February. We only have them for a few days. They're hiking enthusiasts and want to visit Lesotho (Leh-soo-too), that tiny landlocked country surrounded by South Africa only a few hours drive away. How could we resist that opportunity?

We need to get all of our work done before they arrive so that we can play and then depart Durban on the next weather window after their departure. Always lots to do and lots to look forward to.

Work Before Play...dull, dull, dull

Now that I've gotten our inland travel itinerary all set, I'm anxious to take off and doing chores seems  pretty dull. I have visions of all the wonderful animals we'll see and the cultural centers and museums we'll visit and the food we'll try and … My mind wanders constantly to what I will be doing versus what I am doing or should be doing. Nevertheless, the deal is we have to complete some specific chores before leaving on our land tour. My to-do list is always shorter than David's (praise the Lord!), but it always seems to take me about as much time to complete mine as it does for him. The wool-gathering and mind-wandering take their toll on my productivity, I guess. I began my chores in earnest the other day tackling the cleaning of the starboard water tank. It had some unwanted particles floating around in it and it was overdue for a cleaning. We filter the water between the tank and the faucet, but still the tank needed to be emptied out and wiped clean and dry with a cloth. The water pump had done its job to empty the tank as much as it could and I foot-pumped as much more out as possible. The water tank is located under the drawers in the forward bunk which had to be removed before getting to work. I removed the inspection hatch (8 bolts)  before I lay belly down on the floor and scrunched myself into the opening. It isn't hard work; it's just awkward and tedious. I used a sponge to get out the rest of the water and then clean cloths to wipe and dry out the inside of the tank. A  dowel came in handy when I couldn't reach the far corners. It only took a couple of hours, but it was something to tick off my list.

Next, I tackled the Nine of Cups nameboards. One had been damaged at some point and needed to be totally stripped. This posed a problem when I determined that the heat gun which usually removes old varnish had no effect on the Uroxsys urethane we had used on the nameboards last. Uh, oh! I ended up scraping off as much as I could during the course of an entire day, then David took over hand sanding the rest later on. What a slow, messy process. To make matters worse, the nameboards were not on the original to-do list. David added them because he was refinishing another piece for the base of the replacement cockpit clutches, and since the nameboards needed to be done, why not include them? It was a joint effort, but we finally got them prepped. Gilding to follow.

Sewing projects were mounting up and I had put them off as long as possible. Nothing's ever easy on a boat. Since we don't have shore power, David had to lug out our little gas generator, so I could use the sewing machine. UV plays havoc with  fabric that's exposed, especially the stitching.  I use a good UV-resistant thread when I'm sewing, but even so, after awhile, the stitching breaks down and needs to be re-sewn. Case in point: the mainsail cover … again. It's big and bulky and stitching it down below is always a wrestling match, but necessary to protect the mainsail. Our homemade canvas bucket was  also suffering from sun exposure and needed a little restitching. David mentioned he'd like some new ditty bags for holding various parts and tools. I cut up the old bimini and salvaged chunks of useable Sunbrella fabric which provided ample material for the half dozen new bags he'd ordered. I handled more mundane hand-sewing projects like replacing missing buttons off various shirts and pants. All in all, a full day of patching, re-stitching and sewing. I didn't get it all done, however, there's some patching to be done on fender covers, but they can wait for the next sewing session.

We're making progress on the chores and it appears we'll finish most by the time we're ready to leave on our trip. Truth be told, I think the captain is just as anxious to begin our inland adventure as I am.

Internet Aboard - Yahoo!

Internet here at the Durban Marina is free in the clubhouse, but very inconvenient. In Australia, we were quite spoiled. We purchased an internet dongle  from Australia Telecom when we first arrived and had internet aboard pretty much everywhere we went … from ports, to anchorages, and up to about 10 miles offshore. It wasn't always easy to get a signal, but we managed quite well.

Purchasing a dongle here in South Africa proved to be a challenge budget-wise. Instead, we've been walking to the marina clubhouse early each morning and lugging the laptops and/or tablets with us. The clubhouse lounge is comfortable enough, it's just not quite as comfortable as sitting in our underwear at the saloon table or the nav station and certainly not as convenient for quick internet searches, especially when it's pouring rain.

For several years, we had an Alfa antenna. It was an inexpensive little gizmo with several limitations, but it worked fairly well until we bought our new computers and the software was not compatible with Windows 8. We didn't bother to replace the antenna since we were in Australia and we were using the dongle quite effectively.

One of the many items I brought back from the States was a new high-powered wifi antenna and a mini-router. It was fairly costly (~$400) and we were anxious to see if it worked as advertised. David checked it out immediately. He even read the directions and then hooked it up. As incredible as it might sound, it worked right out of the box! We have internet aboard, compliments of the yacht club. What a luxury. It's amazing what land folks take for granted sometime.

The final install will require a trip up the mast, but in the meantime, we can tolerate some loose wires hanging about. Look for a Blue View post in the next few weeks with the more technical aspects of the system and its installation.