Awesome sunsets as we finish each day in the boatyard on VIRGIN GORDA in the BVIs while working on the new boat "SOUTHERN COMFORT" and sleeping on "ARITA" tied to the dock in the marina .......... We came alongside the fuel dock and off-loaded at least a ton of stuff including equipment, sails and anchor chain, and there's lots more sitting in CULEBRA in Puerto Rico .....
We have been at it for almost three weeks ...... Cleaning, washing, scrubbing, de-greasing and are only now getting to the technical parts of the engine ...... Installing new fuel lines, remote oil filters and sorting out the electrical wiring trying to figure out what works and what doesn't ........ "SOUTHERN COMFORT" has been sitting on the hard for almost three years ....... Boats here are packed in like sardines by using this hydraulic 'lifter' that then drives beneath the travel lift which picks up the yacht in its slings and does the final launching ....... There's a definite 'graveyard area' here where they park the yachts whose owners have never come back ....... Ours was on the edge of the 'graveyard' ...... Rescued just in time, although the outstanding yard bill had reached well over $20,000 .....
Mark and Willie on our sister-ship "LIAHONA" arrived from ANTIGUA to lift our spirits and help us no end, with all the technical stuff ........... If we get lucky this is what "SOUTHERN COMFORT" will look like when she finally floats again ...... But that is still some way off ...... At least we have the engine turning over .... not running, just turning over ..... Small steps, but all forward ....
Surely this must be the most beautiful boatyard in the world in which to get filthy dirty ...... Surrounded by magnificent flowers like these 'bougainvillea' and the 'frangipani' we change clothes just to eat lunch ....... Dirty work in paradise ...
Now this may take a bit of figuring out because there are mirrors here but in the aft section there are two double cabins separated with a bulkhead ...... Well, that bulkhead will shortly be gone opening up the aft section into one huge cabin with a double bunk on either side ...... One of the bathrooms will become a hanging closet and the vanity, a writing desk ...... That work we will do in CULEBRA ...
The mid section is the lounge leading to the middle cabin on starboard and the galley on port ........ The middle cabin sleeps three and has access to the engine and to the 'pump room' ....... Never knew a yacht could have so many pumps .......
Forward of the salon are two more cabins with vanity and shower, separated by a hanging closet ..... Lots of doors ....... that's all going to go and become a single cabin with one head and a shower and will sleep six ...... The woodwork is in wonderful condition after almost thirty years as a charter boat .... Lucky us ....... Being in a marina, and seeing the daily fleet of charter boats arrive, we can tell you 'stories' about how to 'never rent out your boat' to someone who doesn't own one ......
Finally forced to put another opening into the engine room to give access to both sides of the engine ....... The lid will go snugly back in and be locked into place ..... But it is so easy now to change out the starter motor, work on the alternator and fit the new through-hull fittings for the A/C water pump that is buried down there .... That new opening is 'torso' size ..... Just barely ...
With Mark's help we managed to get the steering working again ..... It is all hydraulic and you need to know just where the by-pass valves are in order to 'bleed' it ............ The same champion helped us fix the anchor winch ......... Yes, bit by bit everything is beginning to work again ............
By the time we get back to "ARITA" each day, the day is done and we are filthy, exhausted, sore, but jubilant ........... We lived in fear of buyer's remorse for a while but after three weeks we are counting our blessings ....... I mean, just look at how nicely the 'fill-in' turned out between the keel and the rudder skeg ....... Still not finished, but getting there ...... And what's so nice about "SOUTHERN COMFORT" is that the interior, with its all wood finish, is so very similar to the ambiance of "ARITA" ....... We kid about the 'tennis court' on the bow and the 'heli-port' on the lido deck ...... Not true, but it definitely is bigger .....
Somehow the boot-stripe, that painted line just above the anti-fouling takes a nose dive underwater towards the stern....... That line is completely crooked ...... Sanding and re-painting will give us a new and even waterline ..... We hope? .... It has to be done prim and proper, after all, this is one of the bastions of the English Realm ...... And all that, Eh what! .....
Talk about a walk in the garden on our way home to "ARITA"........
Meantime back in CURACAO, our dear friends Timo and Annemieke are just as busy, doing their new boat construction that is making amazing progress ....... The strip-planking in cedar is now forming the first curves of the hull ..... Each strip piece is expoxied in and screwed ...... Radical water-level construction ..... Go Timo, go .... Now there's one Antillean sailor who would die if he didn't have a yacht ...... This is all of National importance for check out the Curacao flag flying high above the project ......
We were invited for a drink on one of the 'Barefootcharter' boats after getting back from the boatyard ..... Met the seven people on board, but it soon became twenty-seven in that cockpit...... I remember Jack, David, Ben and the host Tom, but the rest of the names became a Tequila blur ...... They had all escaped from Washington, D.C. .... I mean who wouldn't ......
Three weeks have flown by ......"ARITA" sits quietly in the marina as we trudge off to work each morning, like regular workers ..... Interestingly, the entire marina and boatyard operation, employing a great many people in day and night shifts, is run entirely by V.I.Ps. (that stands for Virgin Island persons) ........ Not a white person anywhere, other than the tourists and charter guests ..... We have seen boatyards before, but this is probably the most efficient operation we have seen anywhere in the Caribbean ..... Not only that, but it is clean, safe and secure ..... And all those 'little people' on the right are not boatyard employees, or at least not yet ....... Those 'little people are on a pre-school outing to look at the boatyard together with parents and teachers ....... If they had seen me in my 'bio' suit they would have run for cover ....... That anti-fouling paint is highly toxic and really burns your skin when you are sanding ....... Actually, it's the perspiration mixed with the dust that sets off that 'tingling sensation' of TNT ... And if you thought that the previous sunset was stunning, then check out this one after a rainy Sunday ........
While we are still cruising on " ARITA " as we complete the work on the new boat, she is now officially " FOR SALE " ..... All the details are listed on www.stthomasyachts.com ...... AND OBVIOUSLY VISIBLE BY CLICKING ON 'OLDER POSTS' ..... ENJOY ....
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