A week of maintenance

Is it at all possible to consider a week alone on the boat on cradles ashore, a todo list as long as a roll of paper towels, and working from 8am until 11pm, as a vacation? Absolutely. Which is fortunate, as we are going to do this a lot in the years to come, something we both look forward to.

We were very conscious of the huge maintenance tasks that followed with this particular boat, which really requires a loving hand or two. While sailing Carpe Diem home to Denmark we focus on keeping her sailing safely, adjusting to the different waters on our way.

Unfortunately June had to stay home this week. A new IT system was being introduced in the hospitals in Denmark, and employees were not allowed to take vacation during this period.

From new sailstop to a new through hull

Some tasks on the boat was simple, while others were more nerve-wrecking and first time for me to do. The easiest was a sailstop, which is a kind of removable screw that would block the sail from falling out of the mast track. The previous owner had a fixed sailstop which it wasn’t possible to reef the sail with, and I’m quite sure we are going to need that during the summer, see Coasts of Portugal and Galicia. At the other end I had to change the through hull transducer for depths and speed though water. Drilling holes in the bottom of your boat does require being thorough.

The todo-list was the following:

• Preparing for and applying antifouling.
• Installing NMEA 2000 network (for the instruments to intercommunicate)
• Change transducer for depth and speed through water (which also included a temperature gauge), and connect it to the multifunction display through the NMEA 2000 network.
• New rivets in the spinnaker pole.
• Trimming the rig
• Stop a leakage in the holding tank (VERY gross) – ended up having to buy a new…
• Loosen brackets on onboard motor, as it was stuck.
• Meet with sailmaker regarding sewing the genua.
• Change navigation light to LED
• Change cabin lights to LED
• Mount EPIRB (emergency beacon), so it can be activated quickly
• Wash sheets and other ropes.
• Sailstop in the mast
• provision what will not pass expiry date during the summer.

Megahits

A day typically startet around 7am. It was cold during the night, so I hurried up to get dressed and get warm outside. I usually worked a bit before breakfast, and the rest of the day was spend working, small breaks with food, drinking, or relaxing at the office, which had wifi. Even for me it was a bit quiet during the day so I enjoyed listening to the radio in the boat. I found a channel, Megahits, without Portuguese speaking, but where only a very few songs qualified as a megahit. More precisely 12 hits qualified, which I heard over and over again for multiple days until I finally found a new channel. However, the hits are quite alright:

• Shape of You – Ed Sheeran
• Skin – Rag’n’Bone Man
• It ain’t me – Kygo / Selena Gomez
• Castle on the Hill – Ed Sheeran
• Paris – The Chainsmokers
• Something Just Like This – Coldplay / The Chainsmokers
• Human – Rag’n’Bone Man
• Safe Inside – James Arthur
• Re-arrange – Biffy Clyro
• Treat You Better – Shawn Mendes
• Scared To Be Lonely – Martin Garrix / Dua Lipa
• Just Hold On – Louis Tomlinson / Steve Aoki

Ready for next leg… almost…
All in all most of the items on the todolist was checked off during the week, but of cause not all of it. Some tasks are best to do when the boat is in the water. When sailing off in the summer vacation, we will arrive at the boat saturday morning where it goes straight into the water. We will then be at the waiting pontoon until high water, which will be sunday morning around 10, where we will depart. In the time at the waiting pontoon we will have to:

• Change oil and fuel filters on the engine
• Plug in transducer (well, just before the the boat is splashed)
• Climb the mast for a check and add line for courtesy flag
• Change navigation light, which are bought and ready
• Install the new holding tank, as the old was not to save. We will need to bring the new tank with us to Lisbon.

We will most probably end up working all the time at the pontoon, but it is OK. Working on the boat is time we enjoy, especially when fantastic sailing adventures awaits when done.