We’ve been in the Guaymas boat yard almost a month now. We are winning the battle most days. Then we come up against hard decisions, like the rigging, and I feel defeated. There is still so much to do and very little money to do it with this year. But the to do list to splash is getting smaller. Thanks to some help from Gene and Ben and friends in the yard.
When we left Harstine Island we said a sad farewell to Rose and Gary and traveled south to visit both our family’s in Ferndale, Half Moon Bay and friends in Ojai.
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| Hiking with Teri and Brisa the dog |
Then we turned east and stayed in Surprise AZ at the wonderful White Tank campground to provision and get work done on the truck. We stuffed the truck to bursting and headed south to cross the border in Nogales.
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| Trading by cell phone on a freezing morning. |
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| The desert was beautiful with all the rain |
The border was empty of border agents and so we drove through without incident and made it to San Carlos where we stayed with Gene for 5 nights before moving aboard Holoholo.
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| The first wash down of 6 months of grime |
The first day in the yard is always stressful and unsettling. I was stressed about what we would find inside: mold, critters, water, damage. But she was surprising dry, just a little mildew. Later that day we did find that the bilge pump had gotten turned off so the bilge was full of water - but still a foot below the engine. I had a thru hull open just in case. We emptied the bilge and Lucas started on the electrical so we could move aboard. We set up our tent next to Holoholo so we could take all the gear we removed from Eileen May and had thrown inside Holoholo, into the tent for safe keeping.
It took us four long days to clean, organize and unpack the truck. Having to figure out where everything belongs and finding containers to store gear and food and parts and tools took most of our time. We still have piles of sails and line on deck. And since we don’t have our mast up everything had to be carted up and down the ladder. Last year we were able to use block and tackle on our boom and winch everything up the 15 ft.
Thanks to Gene we had a clean bed at the end of the day and could do laundry and take showers, and use his kitchen to make dinner.
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| Swap Meet |
I was not looking forward to living on the hard, in a dirty boat yard with a bathroom 100 yards away, but we’ve survived 3 weeks now. The most challening part is staying organized amid multiple projects, keeping a clean kitchen, and finding the right tool which could be in the boat, the tent the truck or in the mast tool bin. But we’ve go a couple comfortable settees now and even tho the V-berth is too small we do have a bed.
Another big coup is getting a little cash from the parts we are selling from Eileen May. If I could sell her mast, engine and generator I would be so very happy.
We finally broke down and got a storage unit. For $29 a month we have a little closet unit where we can put Eileen May’s stainless steel dodger and bimini, sails, stanchions, cushions, windlass, and everything else until we decide what we will use and what we will sell. Slowly, we are shuffling gear over to the unit and getting organized. The worst we've found so far is a bottle of part A epoxy spilled all over the port settee locker. This was not a fun clean up. We have also abandoned the aft water tank. When I used my endoscope through the water inlet I found brown gunk covering the inside. The clean up will have to wait until we install inspection ports. This job can wait until later.
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| What the salon looked like first day |
Shay’s been working on the mast and prepping it for painting which means removing all the hardware, sanding, and getting ready to prime. I’ve been inspecting the rigging, fixing the propane stove, fixing the generator, cleaning water tanks, working on the scupper drains. Gene replaced the steering cable and the leaky galley sink drain.
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| Gene working on the steering cable |
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| Cockpit scupper problem solving |
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| Ben schooling Shay on spreaders |
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| No, Shay is not napping she is attempting to clean up a gallon of epoxy in the tool locker |
We will need to upgrade our solar panels cause they are old and not providing the power we need and check the chainplates and bolts and do some work on the engine and cutlass bearing. It’s a lot to do so we have been taking off more time to be social with dock parties at El Mero - the almost free marina, hiking with Gene, Pitaya Farm tour and a couple yard parties with bonfires thanks to Georgia. It has helped to not be pushing so hard this year.
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| Hiking to Martini Cove |
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I’ve also noticed that since we already know where to shop and most of the tool stores, that we don’t spend as much time running around looking for something. When we run into a road block we pivot to another project until we find a solution. We know who to ask to borrow a tool or for specific advice. We definitely learned a lot about how to manage life in a boat yard last year.
Our bodies are bruised and sore and we have buns of steel from living up a ladder but we’ve been able to keep a better pace. I think due to taking time off, eating healthy and sleeping lots. It’s not hot here yet and gets chilly at night still so it’s good boat working weather.
If we don’t have the boat in the water by mid February we will consider leaving the yard for a different adventure for awhile. But we are optomisitc that we can splash. It depends on the rigging and the engine I think.
Fingers crosssed!