It’s been nearly seven years since I retired and every winter Brenda and I have headed south in the fall for a winter of cruising in warmer climes.\u00a0 \u00a0We’ve done the ICW a number of times, Bahamas for a few years, two months in Cuba, and, for the last two seasons, the eastern Caribbean.\u00a0 However, that unbroken run seems to be coming to an end.\u00a0 \u00a0 Actually, it would be more accurate to say that it’s “taking a break”.\u00a0 Well, I sure hope it’s only a break.<\/p>\n
As I have written recently, Pandora was in the shop for painting and some engine work and, as planned, she splashed the day after Labor Day so that I could begin the long process of getting her ready for the run south with nearly two months to work my way through the long list of tasks and upgrades.<\/p>\n
After several years of hard use, Pandora was surely in need of a face-lift.\u00a0 Her paint was looking pretty shabby and the heat of the tropics had caused problems with some of the foam backed headliner in her cabin which has begun drooping and worse.\u00a0 \u00a0As I negotiated the projects to be done by the refit group, the cost of fixing the headliner was just too high so I decided to do it myself once she was re-launched in late summer.\u00a0 Some of it has come down completely.\u00a0 \u00a0Note the “puffy” look to the right.\u00a0 The foam backing on the vinyl has totally broken down from the tropical heat.<\/p>\n
Nasty, right?
\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/IMG-7817.jpg\")
To fix the problem when the Pandora was painted, I was quoted at something like $5,000.\u00a0 Way too rich for my blood so I opted to do it myself.\u00a0 It’s going to be a nasty job and will involve removing hardware, molding and… Well, I don’t even want to think about all that.<\/p>\n
So, back to the day after labor day and Pandora’s launching.\u00a0 As planned, she went back in the water.\u00a0 However, as I was checking to see that all was in working order I discovered that the engine work had not been completed.\u00a0 Yes, the paint work was terrific but the\u00a0 mechanical work was not done by the sub-contractor and it seemed that nobody noticed.\u00a0 So, out of the water she went and after three more weeks, the work was finally completed.<\/p>\n
The good news is that the contracted work is all done.\u00a0 The bad news is that my two month window shrunk to less than a month and I am now seriously wondering if I can get the boat ready in time to head south.<\/p>\n
A month sounds like a long time but the unknowns with the interior work was bad enough and then “the other shoe dropped”.\u00a0 \u00a0You know that, with a boat, it’s always something”.\u00a0 And that particular something may have driven the last “nail in the coffin” for going south this season.<\/p>\n
As I fired up the instruments when I left the dock, everything was in working order but after about an hour the screen on the primary chart plotter began to get dim and an hour later it went dark and failed entirely.\u00a0 \u00a0That was particularly bad news for me as there is no way that I would head offshore without everything in working order.<\/p>\n
It’s worth noting that the plotter at the helm failed last year so the unit that is there now was a replacement, purchased from a dealer as “near new”.\u00a0 It had been taken off of a race boat that had not been used for several years and I was told that it had very few hours on it.<\/p>\n
Getting a plotter fixed or even replaced isn’t a big deal, well at least not compared to getting a boat painted,\u00a0 except that Raymarine has discontinued that series and is no longer supplying parts or doing repairs.\u00a0 \u00a0I spoke with the tech people and the local dealer and learned that Raymarine\u00a0 hasn’t supported that model for the last three years.<\/p>\n
But wait, it gets worse.\u00a0 To replace that, now obsolete plotter, will require that I replace the other plotter, the radar and the dozen individual instruments and repeaters that are scattered in the cockpit and down below.\u00a0 \u00a0We’re talking BIG DOLLARS, and that’s before we even think about all the work in running cables throughout the boat to connect all the stuff.\u00a0 \u00a0NOT HAPPENING and certainly not in less than a month.<\/p>\n
All of this gave me, what my father used to say, “a cold rush of S**T to the heart”.\u00a0 \u00a0Not a good feeling.<\/p>\n
What next?\u00a0 “Let me Google that for you.”\u00a0 Actually, if you are one of the three people on earth that doesn’t know about Google, this video will help you learn now.