Yacht Zen Again: Woburn Bay Adventures

Hi everyone,

About two weeks ago we departed Port Louis Marina. We sailed and motored around the SW tip of Grenada and east to Woburn Bay. Along the way we noticed the engine temperature was elevated - Uh Oh!

Big Boys Toy at Spice Island Marina

Here's our track...

Port Louis to Woburn Bay track

Rounding the SW tip of Grenada

Anchored near sv Cerulean in Woburn Bay

It was good to get to Woburn Bay before Helen and Steve on sv Cerulean departed for Bonaire. Also in the bay were Caron and Martin on sv Escapade of London. We consulted Martin about our engine issue and he helped us remove the heat exchanger tube stack. It wasn't easy!

The tube stack was in poor shape to say the least. Happily we had both a spare and powerful cleaning fluid aboard. However we found the heat exchanger housing had bad pitting around the rim where the front o-ring sits.

Tube stack prior to removal

Tube stack partly cleaned

Pitted Heat Exchanger housing

The next day we took the bus to Ace Hardware where we found high temperature epoxy filler suitable for metals. After thoroughly cleaning out the pitted areas we applied the epoxy.

High Temperature Epoxy

Filled!

Martin rejoined us to inspect the filling work and to assist with reassembling the heat exchanger. The new tube stack went back in nicely and all was going well until we tried to fit a bolt which secures both the alternator arm and the thermostat housing. We'd had to remove the arm to access the heat exchanger. The bolt had brought out the thread holding it in the engine block. Bugger! Martin suggested helicoiling the block to provide a new thread for the bolt to screw into.

While Martin kindly sourced the helicoil kit we had to sail to Prickly Bay to be hauled out. We had a nice gentle sail with minimal motoring. A little water was escaping around the thermostat housing but the engine was running nice and cool.

Sailing to Prickly Bay

We anchored overnight in Prickly Bay before being hauled out at 0800 on Friday 9th September. The crew at Spice Island Marine did a great job with a thorough pressure wash. The hull wasn't very dirty since we'd been scrubbing it regularly in the water.

Not too shabby after two years

One year old anodes ready for replacement

Pressure Washed

On Saturday Caron and Martin came around to Prickly Bay to help us with the Coppercoat rekeying. It only took about 3 hours to get the job done. Nic and I then cleaned the prop which took about the same time. Spice Island Marine replaced our broken 1.5" sea-cock and its thru-hull within 30 minutes of propping up the boat.

The cleaning crew - Thanks Escapades!

Lavac loo pump with 4 years accumulated muck!

Year-old shaft and prop anodes

New anode on the skeg foot

New anodes on the polished shaft and Autoprop

Between boat work sessions Nic and I enjoyed air-conditioned comfort in a Spice Island Marina apartment. And most of our meals came from the nearby One Love cafe. Twas a real treat!

Spice Island Marina apartment

Preparing to relaunch

We relaunched on time at 1400 on Monday 12th. We anchored in Prickly Bay and spent the afternoon plumbing-in the outlet side of the new holding tank. The following morning dawned with little wind or swell so we took the opportunity to gently motor back to Woburn Bay.

Once there Martin advised he had the helicoil kit and we arranged to fit the helicoil the following day. Meanwhile we were busy plumbing-in the inlet side of new holding tank.

The helicoil fitting went very well. Martin wasn't happy with the state of the bolt so he machined one up for us from threaded bar and a couple of nuts. That boat's a floating workshop - impressive! With everything back together, and an extra washer to keep the new bolt clear of the 'dead end' the motor was fully up and running. Tested up to max continuous 3400rpm.

Preparing to tap

Tapping

Cleaned-up Thermostat housing

Other maintenance tasks since departing Port Louis included mounting the Starlink 'dishy' and replacing the VHF. Silvio of On The Spot Marine did a very nice job constructing the Starlink mount. So far the Airmar weather station doesn't seem to mind Starlink irradiating it, and Starlink doesn't seem to mind the SSB doing the same to it either.

Starlink mounted

Our 11 year old Garmin VHF had been transmitting poorly while we were in Port Louis Marina. This was confirmed in Woburn Bay. So while on the hard at Spice Island Marina we bought a new unit. It is a Uniden UM385, which appeared to be the only DSC-capable VHF on the island. The new unit is mounted atop the SSB on the nav table.

Navigatorium

Today we did the laundry and dinghied fresh water to Zen Again from Le Phare Bleu Marina, and fitted the holding tank vent. The vent runs forward into the chain locker. The chain locker vents externally via the naval pipe and is usually pretty smelly anyway. Just a little more so now!

Zen Again in Woburn Bay with ensign at half mast

Between all the maintenance we've been enjoying Woburn Bay and its surrounding attractions. Last Thursday we went with the Escapades to Nimrods to listen to their weekly 'open mic' session. On Friday we took the Escapades to dinner at Le Phare Blue. On Sunday we joined Si's Sunday morning walk with the Escapades, the Kiahs and another cruising couple, followed by Sunday Roast at Taffy's.