Finally! Fixes Complete!

It’s been a while since our last blog because we’ve been busy, busy, BUSY getting the good ship A2C all spiffed up and ready to head off again. We’ve been in St. Martin for the past few months doing lots of boat chores, some major, and we are so pleased with the results.

We arrived into Sint Maarteen, the Dutch side of this lovely island, after coming from St. Kitts’ summer storage. Anchoring just before Thanksgiving, we settled into the lagoon lifestyle and the close proximity to all the nautical shops surrounding the waterfront. We found the lagoon to be relatively secure with calm waters and plenty of friendly folks about. It wasn’t long before we decided that this would be the best pace to do some things we had been talking about and that we discovered need to be addressed. We took a good inventory of the boat’s systems and decided that we would need a shipping address to receive some things from the states into this duty-free island. The duty free part was a big contributor to our decision to stay here to complete the upgrades we decided on. We found a local place called the Business Point that, for a small fee would provide a local address, which could be used by their reshipper in Miami. We only had to have our parts shipped to the Miami address and they would reship our stuff on to St, Martin. It all sounded so easy. So we made some purchasing decisions and ordered our parts. And waited for their arrival. And we waited. Then we waited some more. One of the upgrades we decided on was to improve our navigation electronics. That included a new chart plotter and new radar system. The chart plotter is really the brains for all things electronic at our nav station. It displays all the charts (maps) which show us where we are and allows us to set a course for wherever we wish to go. Kind of like a GPS in one’s car. The radar system is just that. It sends radar beams out and displays the reflections on the screen so you can see what’s out there, all around you, whether it be other boats or current weather patterns. It is in real time, much like when the weatherman shows the storm patterns on the TV with the sweeping, rotating, on screen display arm. It can be very handy when sailing at night (or even in the day) during a period with periodic squalls around. It allows us to see where they seem to be developing and where to steer to best avoid running into one. Hopefully.

We found a marine electronics dealer in St. Martin who promised to match any price we found, on the Internet or otherwise, so we felt we got our new equipment at a fair price. He suggested we put our deposit down and order quickly as we might be able to receive the goods prior to Christmas. We did so and anxiously waited. And waited. And waited some more. Evidently this is not uncommon for goods to be way laid down here. Our first order came up completely missing from the shipper’s manifest. So the dealer reordered two additional units. When those took a ridiculously long time to appear, and with our insistence, he ordered another unit to be delivered through a fast courier-type transit. Finally the stuff appeared. Since the installation is pretty complicated, and with Rick’s somewhat limited electronics knowledge, we decided to hire a professional to do the installation. This also provided us with a secure warranty should there be any future problem with the equipment. We scheduled the install and Rick was able to assist with that work, greatly reducing the time needed. It still took over 16 hours to get both systems installed and tested. This included lots of “fishing” the wiring through the tight spaces inside the boat and the support tubes holding up the canopy over the cockpit. Very complicated stuff, and Rick was happy it was being done by a pro. But boy, are the GREAT! We are so happy we made the decision, even though the cost was higher than we hoped, it came out beautifully.

Additionally, our main engine panels (think gauges, sensors and ignition switches) from our original install (14 years ago) were not functioning all that well any longer. They looked dog-eared and worn out from years of sun exposure. Basically, they worked, but just barely. Plus, they looked terrible. From our Manta owner’s forum, we had read about a company that others had used to replace their panels so we checked them out. After review we ordered two new custom display panels to replace our non-functional ones. We ordered them, using our temporary St. Martin address just before Christmas, paying for expedited shipping to ensure their quick delivery. Then we waited. And waited. And waited. Concurrently, we realized that our boom vang was in horrible disrepair. Basically, it was necessary to repair it or risk the strong possibility of having the boom collapse onto the salon roof causing significant damage and possibly injury. The boom vang is the device that supports the entire weight of our boom and mainsail via an angular attachment from the foot of the mast. Internally, there are heavy springs, which absorb the weight and compress under the load of weight shift, much like a shock absorber on a land vehicle. Our vang had rusted a hole in the side of the shaft that holds the springs. Because of this, the internal springs had rusted into shambles and they also needed replacing. We ordered the new parts to complete this repair, hoping for a quick delivery allowing us to move forward with our sailing season. So, we waited and waited for that delivery along with the other parts and pieces we were waiting for. Can you see a theme here, yet?

Unbeknownst to us, the Business Point decided to move their location and closed their offices right before Christmas until January 8th. So, as we had expedited out deliveries to attempt to get them faster, our final delivery point on the island had decided to be closed until after the holidays! After all of our waiting, and a delayed reopening of the Business Point on January 12th, our goods finally arrived and by mid January we set about installing everything. In the meantime, Rick had decided to refinish the cockpit table with a new laminate and refinished teak trim. It turned out lovely and makes our cockpit look so much newer and cleaner. Also, due to the need to adjust the console for the larger chart plotter, we had some left over material which Rick made into additional shelving for the interior so we have more space to store even more stuff.

Probably our favorite upgrade came early upon our arrival in St. Martin. Suz had never enjoyed driving the dinghy due to it being steered by the tiller handle on the engine. It was “backwards” to her way of thinking and she was uncomfortable driving it and therefore, didn’t. We decided to check out installing a console with steering wheel mechanism into our year old dinghy and priced the parts only to be disappointed that everything we needed was available except the console itself. So we decided that we could likely do without it as it had worked fine with Rick doing the driving. Then, at the first flea market after our arrival, we spotted a used console and backseat set up that was recently removed from another dinghy which was for sale. We negotiated with the seller and bought it on the cheap since he had no further use for it. We made arrangements with Budget Marine to get the other parts and to have their tech department do the install. After a couple of weeks of back and forth, the dinghy was completed and it is a joy to have Suz drive it, with me as the passenger for a change.

So now we have completed our appointed fixes including but not mentioned our watermaker and generator and all systems are “go” once again. Now, it is our turn to make our systems “go”. We have grown to really enjoy this island. The French side and the Dutch side are very different with different amenities, both quite enjoyable. We have made new friends here since we’ve been here for such an extended time but now we need to move on. Daughter Nancy and her husband Eric will arrive into Antigua on the 23rd of February for a week of sun and fun so we need to begin heading that direction soon. Likely, we will make a stopover in St. Barths before making the longer trip to Antigua. Then on March 11th, daughter Ellie, her husband Eric, and the grand kids Liv and AJ arrive into the USVIs for a weeklong visit. The gals visited us last year in Antigua and we hope this visit will be more relaxing for them as the weather last year was very windy. We will then begin heading north to the Bahamas and eventually, on into Florida waters. We’ll try to be more regular posters but as you can imagine, it’s very busy out here. For everyone who always asks, “what do you DO all day?!?!?” I hope this has been a bit of an explanation. Plus we always have to have time to relax!

Stay tuned!