I don't think there's a cruiser out there who hasn't had something break on their boat while they've been in the middle of paradise, but this year I seem to have been especially good at causing things to break! The galley faucet, the aft head (eh, not me specifically, but a team effort by the crew!), and the dinghy. The dinghy kind of broke my heart a little. I mean, she's NEW! But I'm 99% certain that the fish spike we found in the starboard tube was from the hogfish I speared and I was the one to take it to the dink, so...my fault. As much as I wasn't into putting chaps onto a hypalon dinghy, I'm starting to reconsider and will likely tackle that project before we head out cruising again.
But anyway, we had to patch the dinghy! Thankfully we had the material and a good glue onboard, but finding the time to do it so that it could properly cure was probably the hardest part, followed closely by where exactly to put the dinghy while we did it. To properly do that patch we needed to deflate the tube, prep the area, put three layers of glue on the boat and the patch with varying setting times, then apply the patch and roll over it to bond the two surfaces, and finally let it cure for 24 hours before inflating. So we had to basically commit ourselves to being boat-bound for a day. We were in Rock Sound, had plenty of food, and a good anchorage so we went for it.
We left the dink in the davits and just deflated the punctured tube. Then with the help of a small cutting board and some clamps we had a decent working area. And I'm happy to report...the repair went well! She's been holding pressure beautifully for about a week! Whew! I promise to take WAY better care of all things boat and crew from here on out!
 |
| A successful "boat project in paradise!" |
About this time I also did a fun little poll on my Instagram story. We are approaching out 13th Boativersary and it can make us a little nostalgic about what we've done over the years. At this point, we've sailed about 19,000 nautical miles on Lehe Paine! She's a good boat and has cared for us well over the years.
 |
| It's been a good ride! |
~Jo, 1st Mate
No comments:
Post a Comment