LIFE: Part 2

Current Location: Road Town, Tortola, BVI
Current Position: 18 25.56 N 064 37.01 W Click to view map.
Distance sailed since last post: 90 nautical miles. View the map of our voyage track here

How many times Noel had to go up the mast to complete installation of the radar??? The same amount of times I had to winch him up there….too many times! It took many tries, but it was always amusing!

We started off with one trip up to see how far up we wanted it and how much cable we needed to feed through. I always wanted to try and climb the mast so I did that too, because it was only halfway, but then I was ok with it and kept going to the top. Was ok going up, but I’m sure its not a piece a cake when you have to carry the tools and actually move around the mast a lot.

For that, we picked a quiet bay where waters were smooth. Noel went up and started drilling..needed 12 holes. On the eleventh hole the bit broke. We didn’t have spare. Next day while Noel did some work in the computer he sent me shopping for bits. I bought more tools and lots of extras. I had 2 guys helping me with that. I said to the 2 guys that on boats you always need spares, for everything, so with a big smile on their faces they offered to be second and third mates. It’s all in a days work, right????

On the next trip up Noel was then able to finish drilling and put up the bracket. By now it was getting dark. Next day we had to sail away to a different location to pick up Noel’s new seat. We plan to finish our installation and really wanted to get in to that Bay again with the protected waters. When we arrived it was very busy but we managed to anchor in some tight spot beside the Channel. Tools and all ready to go, we got kicked out by the Harbour Master…too close to the channel. I explained it was only for an hour or so, to fix something , but he didn’t care. We left but came back again later to see if there were more spaces available. As soon as we got in he kicked us out again. He was expecting some big ship to come in. We left and anchored outside the bay. Noel got up the mast and there was no way he could work…it got so rolly, we moved again. After being kicked out twice, we wouldn’t try the inner harbour again.

We moved to Road Town and Up the mast! This time Noel attached the actual bowl to the bracket and it all went well. All its left to do is a half inch hole in the mast for the cable to get trough.

I sent up the drill and the perfect 17mm bit. The bit did not fit our 3/8” drill.

Ahhh! the next day I had to go to the same store and see the mates again. I was trying to find a bit that was still 17mm but a 3/8” end (instead of a 1/2” end) to fit our drill. No luck. None of the stores had such a thing. How can it be?

A week later we met up with our new sailor friend James at Bitter End Yacht Club and asked about his drill. Sure enough, we tried our bit and it fit. Ahhhh you have a Bosch, I said! Ohhh he was so proud! And we were so happy and grateful as well that he also helped us to move our  wind generator down one step. Thanks James!

Next day…there we go again! The last stage of our never ending job. Noel drilled the hole, I sent up the cable and he fed it through. I had to dig for it somewhere at the bottom of the mast and put it through some little other hole somewhere!!

Ohhh so much fun wiring stuff on Boats, all the scrapes you get…its finger lickin’!!!!

It’s finally over and we look forward to attaching all the electrics and see the magic.

Now you know why I lost count how many times we tried…..and sooo much time consuming. Hope to enjoy our new Radar soon , especially on our long passage coming up soon

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