Sint Maarten Part 1

Hi everyone,

After several days anchored in Simpson's Bay Lagoon it was time to haul Zen Again out at Bobby's Megayard.  They came highly recommended, particularly their yard in the lagoon.  We hauled out on Monday 20th.

New TruDesign thru-hulls, sea-cocks & hose tails

Prior to the haul-out we rediscovered Lagoonies and the Soggy Dollar.  The former is a nice restaurant between Budget Marine and Island Water World chandleries.  The Soggy Dollar offers US$1 beers during daily happy hours 1700-1900 and is a popular cruiser hang-out.  While Zen Again was ashore we stayed at two different places ashore, one a small hotel and the other an AirBnB - our Christmas pressie to each-other.

At Lagoonies

A Soggy Dollar six-pack

The haul-out went well.  They prop up boats using wooden beams.  Unusual but effective.

In the small travel-lift

Propped Up

One of the key tasks was to replace our thru-hulls.  Since the Canaries, possibly the Azores, one of our thru-hulls has been leaking.  We diverted to Mindelo to carry out an emergency repair.  It involved applying GRP disks and lots of sealant outside and inside.

Exterior Patch

Once propped up our first job was to remove the patches.  They came off easily using a blunt multiool blade.  The replacements were New Zealand made TruDesign units which would be epoxied into place.

Exterior (left) and interior (right) patches

Next was removal of the propellor, shaft, cutlass bearing and PSS shaft seal to replace the latter two.  This work was done by the Megayard mechanic Noel.  The cutlass bearing and shaft seal were four years old and the engine had done about 1100 hours in that time.  The cutlass bearing was a Delrin plastic unit which had 3mm of play after that time.

With the shaft removed we could see the shaft seal rotor's O-rings had caused corrosion to the shaft.  And the cutlass bearing had scored the shaft.  Neither good.  Megayard boss Jeff, mechanic Noel and I discussed the best way forward and came up with a plan which avoided fitting a new shaft.

Shaft seal damage to shaft

Cutlass bearing damage to shaft

While the mechanic worked on the drive train we had a separate contractor Peter (the "Dutch Shipwright") working on the thru-hulls.  Unfortunately our shipment of TruDesign kit from the UK was delayed in the US.  Apparently UPS only flies to Sint Maarten once a week and our parcel just missed it.

Peter did a very neat job removing the old thru-hulls.  He fitted a wooden bung, cut it off flush, then drilled out the thru-hull flange with a hole saw.   A very nice method.  I then set to work cleaning the interior surrounds of each hole.

Hot flange!

Old kit

Cleaned surround of the galley thru-hull holes

Two of three head thru-hull holes

Exterior cut down to GRP

While awaiting the new thru-hull kit the drive train work continued.  Our cutlass bearing has a non-standard outer diameter but Jeff managed to source a larger unit and have it machined down to fit.  Happily it is a proper cutlass bearing.

New cutlass bearing

Pressing the cutlass bearing into place

New PSS shaft seal fitted

We had hoped to relaunch on Friday 24th January but our parcel didn't arrive until that afternoon.  So Zen Again stayed ashore for five more nights.  Every day (not just the extra days) we carried provisions down to the boat and stowed them away.  Sint Maarten is a very good place for provisioning.

On Monday morning Nic and I rekeyed the 5-year old Coppercoat.  It's still in very good shape.  Rekeying takes us about 3 hours to do the job starting from a clean hull.  We use wet-n-dry paper and gently rekey by hand.

On Monday afternoon Peter and his offsider Jordan fitted the TruDesign thru-hulls.  They used West System Six10, a relatively new thickened epoxy adhesive.  Epoxy and hardener are mixed in the nozzle making application very easy.

Two of the head compartment thru-hulls were increased in size from 3/4" to 1".  These thru-hulls had been replaced more often than the others and the holes had gradually expanded.

Using the blue TruDesign insertion tools

Galley 3'4" & 1.5" thru-hulls fitted

Exterior view

Two head 1" thru-hulls

Head 1.5" thru-hull

On Tuesday afternoon Peter fitted the sea-cocks and hose-tails using 3M 4200 sealant.  We fitted new anodes to shaft, propellor and skeg shoe, then did some final Coppercoat rekeying.

On the morning of Wednesday 29th our last load of provisions (for the time being) went aboard and we fitted the hoses to the sea-cock hose tails.

Galley 3/4" sea water inlet & 1.5" sink drain

Head 1" hoses for toilet water inlet and sink drain

Head 1" sea-cocks

Head 1.5" sea cock for holding tank outlet

On Wednesday afternoon Zen Again was 'splashed'.  No leaks.  Huzzah!!!  Bobby's Megayard and Dutch Shipwright Peter both did great jobs.

In the slings

In the water

We're now anchored back in Simpson's Bay Lagoon.  Looking forward to working on a host of in-the-water jobs.  Cruising certainly is "boat maintenance in exotic locations".

Trust all's well where you are.

Antigua

Hi everyone,

We spent nine nights anchored in Freemans Bay, English Harbour in Antigua.  It was our third visit and we still love the place!

English Harbour from Shirley Heights

We were in Freemans Bay with OCC sv Metzi.  Further up the harbour was Aussie sv Pasadena who we'd met in Mindelo.  We also met Aussie cat Cathay Oz and enormous Aussie cat Manaia.

Picturesque Nelson's Dockyard buildings

Australian yacht Pasadena

We spent most of our time in or near English Harbour.  A lot of time was spent arranging shipment of gear to Sint Maarten for our haul out.  But we got out & about with the sv Metzis and others.  Good times.

Superyachts

Freemans Bay wth Shirley Heights beyond

Walking up to Shirley Heightts

Rum Punches & Beer at Shirley Heights
sv Metzi photo

Steel Band ...

... followed by a DJ and dancing

Drinks at the Antigua YC with (mostly) OCC boats

We had a great time in Antigua.  But we had a haul-out date to meet in Sint Maarten.  The wind had been NE for some days, giving us a beam reach to our destination.  It was a quick 110nm overnight sail with increasing showers.  On arrival at dawn the showers had become almost constant heavy rain.  We had to waste a couple of hours until the bridge opened so we cruised around the anchorage getting very damp and admiring the super-yachts.

Sunset enroute to Sint Maarten

Here are the usual passage pics...

Track

Arrival

Graphs

Once anchored in the lagoon we tidied up, launched the dinghy and cleared in via the dinghy dock on the NE side of the channel.

Zen Again anchored in Simpson Bay Lagoon

We expect to be in Sint Maarten for several weeks.  On the 20th January we haul out at Bobby's Megayard for some serious maintenance tasks.

Trust all's well where you are!

Cape Verdes to Antigua Passage Summary

Hi everyone,

We arrived in English Harbour, Antigua on Tuesday at 0700 local time after a passage of 21 days from Mindelo in the Cape Verdes.  It was a great passage with light winds.  We knew there would be very light winds along the rhumb line so planned to go well south.  As usual we gybed to and fro for more comfortable sailing and better VMG.

Chasing the Sunsets

Here are the usual plots...

Track

Arrival

Graphs

Here are the vital stats for the passage…

    • Distances/Speeds
        • Route Distance = 2200nm
        • Logged Distance = 2449nm
        • GPS Distance = 2491nm
        • Duration = 21 days 0 hours
        • Average speed over ground = 4.9 kt
        • Average day's run = ~117nm
        • Best day's run = 138nm
        • Minimum boat speed = 2 kt
        • Maximum boat speed = 6.6 kt
    • Weather
        • Minimum wind speed = 2 kt
        • Average wind speed = 15 knots
        • Maximum wind speed = 20 with gusts to 35
        • Apparent wind angle range = 90 to 160
        • Seas up to 2m
        • Swell up to 3m
        • Saharan dust for first week, sunny for second week, rain showers for third
    • Engine
        • Total = 26 hours
        • Driving = 24 hours
        • Charging = 2 hours
    • Failures
        • SailnSea SailingGen hydro-grenerator
       • Vesper Cortex GPS input - again - rendering our AIS receive only
    • Stars
        • The boat!
        • WindPilot vane gear (steered well for 90% of passage)
        • Icom HF/SSB radio (for voice skeds plus backup email and position reporting)
        • Starlink (on Roam-Unlimited plan with Mobile Priority data On)

We motored for 24 hours when we fell into a windless hole near the southern-most part of the passage.  We might have avoided it if we'd continued SW for another 6 hours.  We used about 30 litres of diesel and 120 litres of water.

In Mindelo Marina

Wind on the passage was benign once we cleared the Cape Verde acceleration zone.  After than the maximum wind gust was 25 knots.  We had no real squalls, rather just minor rain clouds with a little more wind around them.  For several days we were under full sail which is very unusual for us.  Of the three weeks about one week was 'champagne sailing'.

Acceleration Zone

Through the Saharan dust

A feature of the passage was the Sargasso weed.  Gooseneck barnacles gradually accumulated during the passage and it took us several hours to scrape them off in English Harbour after arrival.  There were less of them this time compared to our 2022/2023 crossing.

Champagne Sailing

Rain Showers

Our SailingGen hydro-generator was making nasty noised at the start of the trip, but providing good output.  Sadly if failed after two weeks.  Earlier in the passage our Vesper Cortex's GPS input failed for the second time.  Last time Garmin provided a replacement antenna but that only worked for a few months.

We repaired our leaking thru-hull while in Mindelo.  We applied plates and copious amounts of sealant outside and in.  Initially it was still leaking when we departed but after three days had stopped.  We believe it took that long for the sealant to fully cure due to its thickness.  It was good to have a dry boat. 

We arrived four days after Moody 44 OCC sv Metzi, having departed a day after them.  They took a much more direct route and motored for twice as long.  But they beat us on handicap nonetheless.  Twas good to anchor next to them in Freemans Bay (at the entrance to English Harbour).

Overall the passage was very pleasant.  It was a good 'shake down' for our long passage from Panama to the Marquesas in a few months.

Anchored in Freemans Bay with sv Metzi astern

It was a busy 2024 for us.  We sailed about 7000nm to complete our North Atlantic circuit.  Here's our track for the year (plus one week)...

2024 Track

It's great to be back in the Caribbean!