You never know what new challenge lies ahead and what dormant skill may become useful. We had managed to have a pleasant day of sailing when during the night we hear a “bang-bang” coming from somewhere in the boat. After a thorough inspection it is determined that the new dive tank given to us in the Galapagos is banging around in the swimstep… which must have water filling the compartment. So next morning we “Hove To” so as to keep the swell off the aft section of the boat. First, we must move the lawn that has grown unrestrained for the past 2 weeks. The grass is now nearly a foot long. It seems that any surface that is not treated to an anti-fouling paint attracts growth in these waters. So with the Michael Graves designed spatula in hand we mowed the lawn off the teak decking that is the base of the swim step, but as any gourmand will tell you, it is all in the wrist to get the right action. So twenty minutes later all 5 square feet are clean enough to get a foothold on the swimstep. Then it was time to empty the swimming pool… that large cavity at the end of the boat euphemistically called the swim step. Seems that the locker hatches don’t close well enough to keep the massive sea swell from entering. Now, we have tried a variety of closures and gasketing techniques but none have survived the real sea-test, so all there’s left to do is empty the compartment of its 400 plus gallons of seawater. Easier said than done. While being “Hove To” will put MaaMa in the troughs and reduce the wave action over the aft section, it doesn’t eliminate the incoming sea entirely. So it becomes an issue of timing. Open the hatch, pump like mad, and judge the swells before one breaks over the back to refill the cavern before you get the hatch down. Of course there are the miscellaneous feet, body parts and lifejacket safety harness interfering with the smooth opening and closing of the hatch but we leave those in place in the event that one of us looses our balance on the newly mowed lawn area. So with the boat going up and down and we careening back and forth on the aft step we get the water level down enough that the scuba air tank is no longer ‘floating’ and careening into the hull. We elect to remove about two cases of beer that had been stowed in this locker as it wasn’t surviving the saltwater deluge or being crushed by the careening air tank… there were many causalities. We tried a new method of ‘mousing’, which is the term used to describe the semi-permanent securing of a latch or pin. That accomplished we retires for a dose of scurvy fixer - Gin and tonic with a wedge of lime. The celebration doesn’t last long. With the elimination of the banging istraction we can know hear the screaming of the autopilot more clearly. So for the next 96 hours we replumb, reconfigure and re-install in 4 different configurations the autopilot systems – all of it. Ram, coupling, hoses, pump, wiring… you name it, we checked it. Remember when Otto’s arm was severed a couple day back, well you would think he is a princess with the complaints. Seems that air has gotten into his system and he just doesn’t like it…. Which means that he screams all of the time particularly during the night, which has made sleeping difficult for Michael (Suzan can sleep through anything). We would like to report that we mastered the air situation, but we found a stash of earplugs instead and have given up on that repair…. But are now devoting our attention to other things...which we hope includes overcoming a computer issue so as to bring you more of these fascinating updates. But in the event that there are no more updates until we get to Tahiti, be assured that we are living the dream, we just didn’t know what dream it is. Only 1100 miles to go.
Fair Winds, Suzan and Michael