Thursday March 14: Preparations for the Bahamas Continue!

Preparations to travel to the Bahamas are starting to take on a more serious and concentrated effort. Lots of reading up on what papers we need and regulations that need to be followed. Just my kind of thing!!

I dug out our EPIRP (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) which would be used to alert search and rescue services in the event of an emergency. Not that we intend to need it of course :-)

Registration is good through 3/2020 and the battery tests good. I'm not sure who I listed as the contact person but it might have been my brother Warren. Guess I should really check and warn him or whoever it is that I listed!!





Meanwhile, Steve has been working on a number of things that needed to be done before we head out.

Since we intend to be anchoring out as much as the weather permits, it's important that our ground tackle is in top shape.

All of the chain was pulled and checked over link by link. Steve also wanted to re-mark the anchor chain into 20 foot lengths so we can determine how much chain is out. He just uses small cable ties - makes it  easy :-)

While he was at it, the main anchor (a 35 lb CQR) needed repainted so he did that as well.

Irma had seen fit to remove and set free our secondary anchor during her march through the Keys in 2017. We hadn't bothered to replace it but decided we definitely needed a back up anchor - or a second anchor if needed. So that was mounted on the front anchor platform (it's a claw anchor - also 35 lbs).

Up next was the dinghy. Randy had made a really nice floor for his dinghy which basically makes for a flat floor to stand/walk on instead of the "V" shape. It's amazing how much easier it is than trying to keep your footing on something flat as opposed to having both feet at an angle in the V.




Big plus was Randy's dinghy has the same fiberglass bottom as ours! Simple job then to copy Randy's floor and poof - a dinghy floor :-)

Of course it took a lot longer in the hot sun to actually get it done. Good job Steve and Randy!!

Dinghy on the swim platform

The dinghy also had an a pinhole from rubbing on the holder we use to store the dinghy on the swim platform when traveling. Fortunately there was some of the sealer that we used last season so there was lots of help from neighbors to help roll the dinghy around after the sealer went in.



















Next step was to do two things: add D rings (blue 'patch' above) for the situation in which it becomes necessary for us to just tow the dinghy instead of bringing it and the motor aboard.

The other two patches Steve added were to address the issue of the holders rubbing on the tube of the dinghy when on the swim platform.

Steve looked like the proverbial mad scientist as he mixed the two part adhesive for the D-rings and the additional patches.

Safety Matt would definitely approve of the equipment being used :-)

Before

Of course the engine has been receiving a very careful lookover also. In particular the cooling system.

After

The removal of the end cap of the heat exchanger indicated that some flushing was needed. So we had Billie - great young guy that started his own business several years ago - do the job.

A product called Barnacle Buster is circulated through the fresh water cooling system (in our case it's salt water!) to remove the build-up of debris in the system. What a difference! This cleans not only the heat exchanger but also the oil cooler and transmission cooler as well.

To top off the good things for today was Sharon on Stevedore stopping by to drop off two tomatoes - home grown on the boat :-) So cute!

Simply another nice day in paradise :-)