It’s starting to feel like we are having a lot of breakages
and strange electrical problems. Our one, and only, electric winch would work
fine sometimes and then it wouldn’t work at all; the electric fan that blows
hot air out of the engine compartment keeps blowing a fuse; the almost new sump
pump that drains the shower and the fridge also blew a fuse, and to add insult
to injury, the “sonic hub” music controller run through our navigational system
also stopped working. Why is this happening? We think the answer is that the
boat and all it’s systems, of which there are many, are taking a real beating
in the heavier winds and seas in which we are sailing. I’ve contemplated how
often washing machines beak down and suspect not that often, but I’m convinced
that anything electrical that is inadvertently put through the wet and
turbulent cleaning cycle never works again! In fact, on reflection, it’s
amazing that anything works on this boat … “it’s a bloody miracle”!
After many false starts trying to fix the intermittent
problem the electric winch, including replacing the deck switch, we managed to
pin down the cause to some loose connections on the control panel circuit
board, which we were able to solder back into place. (Believe it or not we
actually have two soldering irons on board – one electrical and one propane!).
The problem with the engine blower is almost certainly a dodgy thermostat that
we may just replace with a manual switch, and I’m hoping the problem with the
sump pump is simply that I put too low a fuse in when I installed in the first
place.
Saturday morning saw me working on the music issue. I tried
various reboots of the system to no avail and so set about inspecting the
control box, which is in the bathroom cabinet with much of the other
navigational electronics. This cabinet also contains our first aid, medical and
bathroom supplies and would give many drug stores a good run for their money.
Simon was so impressed by this collection that he questioned my honesty in responding
to the standard immigration and customs question – “Any drugs etc” … “No” …
Really? Anyway, it turned out that simply unscrewing the unit from the cabinet
wall and wiggling the wires fixed the problem … for now. I hate these flaky
electrical issues where you aren’t sure if or how you have really fixed the
problem. So picture that I am now in the “aft head”, slowly screwing the Sonic
Hub unit back in place and re-packing our mini-pharmacy. There’s not a lot of
room in there so the door is closed. However, the Sonic Hub is now working just
fine and music is blaring out in the main cabin at a volume that those who are
not yet stone deaf might find uncomfortable. I later found Gloria cowering in
the V-berth with the door closed … “what’s wrong” I shout, “I can’t hear myself
think!” I’m guessing she replied, “what did you say? I can’t hear you – speak
up” I responded … you get the picture!
On Saturday afternoon, with many of our boat jobs completed,
we wandered back over to the Botanical Gardens in Soufriere and again had a
fabulous time. Afterwards we ate out at a small Creole restaurant in town. Our
three meals, jerk pork, creole shrimp and goat curry were advertised as coming
with a variety of side dishes, but in fact all came with plantain, yam,
cassava, mashed potato, fried potato and carrots, as well as a large bowl of
rice and beans for the table. The range of starches impressed us, but actually
the food was really tasty.
Mike
The ever present Boat Boys, in this case trying to sell us bread
Purple throated Carib Hummingbird
Purple Throated Carib Hummingbird
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So very grateful I was worried about our symptoms, and they put us at ease and saw us so quickly.,Washing machine and dishwasher installation
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