Grenada 8/9 February 2024

It was another busy day with jobs. Patrick came and said he had to do another job but would be back midday. The anchor chain roller man came and it was not right so he went away again and ground down some more and this time it worked (i.e. before when the anchor chain was going up and down it was not turning – now it is). In terms of the roller right on the bow he felt it would be difficult to do it in the water and feared the pin was bent. He did not see it as a problem so I had to leave it. The freezer man came and tested the freezer and he put some coolant in and said it should be fine. We discovered by using a new temperature sensor that the freezer was not minus 5 as that senor said but minus 18 on the new sensor which was fine.

The electrician came and wired up Starlink on to its own switch rather than it being on with the Satellite Phone switch. Patrick arrived and we went across to the chandlery and got three larger joker valves which he fitted into the pipes going to each header tank which are only one way so the contents of the tank can never backfill into the bowl. This work did not finish until late afternoon by which time I had enough.  At about that time the little day fridge’s door started playing up and would not shut. In addition we noticed that the water seemed to have a rusty colour to it and the new filters which I had put in were dirty. I spoke to Patrick about this and he thought the water tanks may be dirty and he said he would return in the morning to look at it. Sods law but we cannot have bad water. I had a shower and tried to forget about things.

Stig, Cari and Simon had gone on an Island tour and David bless him stayed behind to help. I felt a little guilty that they were involved in all this boat work and hope it did not spoil their last full day. They returned and it was their last night so we had booked the Knife and Fork in the marina. We had a great meal together and had a good evening with plenty of chats and laughs and we were all glad to get to bed.

9 February 2024

I had been looking at our potential passage plan to Panama and had been told we should keep 200 miles off the Venezuelan coast due to potential piracy. I had been thinking in the night about how do we switch off our AIS system. This transmits our position so in piracy areas we do not want this as they can see where we are. First thing I text the engineers who fitted the electronics and they messaged me how to switch it off. I now know how to switch it off.

After breakfast David had a look at the fridge door but could not fix it. Patrick was due to come at 8.30 am but did not arrive until 9.30am. We then had to go to the chandlery to get cleaning stuff for the tanks. We started with the starboard tank which holds 805 lts. It was almost empty and there was an inspection hatch under the floor by the corridor to the front cabin. Patrick took off the hatch bolts and we peered in. There was a bit of rusty stuff at the bottom. He said there must be another hatch which was under the starboard side table of the saloon. This had to come up so we unscrewed the screws and it lifted as one piece and it revealed the other inspection hatch. With both off Patrick was able to treat and mop out and clean the tank. We then filled it and ran it a bit with water coming out clean and a little rusty. We decided to move on to the port tank with the first inspection hatch being under the locker where I keep all the instructions for things on the boat. The second was under the main saloon table. Would that come up? We had to try. We undid the screws and we were able to lift it out with some difficulty. I was doing things that I had never done before on Stormbird. Patrick repeated the cleaning process with the second tank. We needed to flush all though on both tanks and thought this would resolve all our problems.  However when we flushed through – the water would be clear for a bit and then it would go rusty again. If it was not the tanks – as they were now clean what was it? Above each filter is a Pressure Tank – it is red and cylindrical and holds 8 lts. It is there to maintain the pressure for each tank. Could this be the problem? I said to Patrick could he call someone who knew about these things. Within 20 minutes Terry, whose team sorted out the Starlink electrical lead arrived. At first he thought that the pipes were all dirty but then he took off a pipe before the pressure tank and ran the pump and it was clean. He took off a pressure tank a ran a hose of water inside and rusty water came out. This was the issue and not the tank or the pipes.

Terry ran off to see if he could get two new pressure tanks and luckily he came back with 2 slightly different ones and had them fitted. Once done that seems to have resolved the problem. The time was now 5.30 pm and I had been on the go since 9.30am. Patrick had fixed the day fridge door as well. I had enough for one day!!

Stig, Cari and Simon had packed and relaxed with all this going on and Simon had taken me for a quick beer at lunchtime. They left at 4.00pm to go to the airport. I was sorry to see them go and it seemed ages since they arrived in Barbados and they had been great crew members. Carolyn and Joyce were very helpful and understanding throughout the day and joined in taking out screws and putting them back. Jonas another crew member arrived at about 5.15pm and was welcomed aboard and Carolyn and Joyce cooked a spaghetti bolognaise which we all enjoyed in the cockpit and II hoped we had now resolved all issues. It had been a busy few days but this is boating sometimes I am afraid.  

The blog will continue as we explore the Caribbean further and beyond.

If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com  I can only upload one picture a day.