Sunday 29 June 2014

A Sandy Perch

Our plans for this summer have changed rather a lot, as my Mum has been very ill and I had to return to the UK.
Tristan sailed to St Martin and decided to use the time carrying further improvements to the boat......the ultimate  aim being to ensure a dry bilge. These were repairs we had intended to do back in the UK.


                                        


Meriva has  more supports and cross members to be added over the next few weeks and of course being hurricane season, straps across the deck. These will be anchored to the ground.  As far as hurricanes goes.......it's all fingers crossed!





When we rebuilt the boat, we knew that the strap floors could have been an issue, but we didn't know the extent of the problem. Although in La Palma we partially addressed the problem, as soon as we sailed hard upwind, we knew there was more to do.   Again, Tristan has taken advice and knows what to do......St Martin is a good place to do the work. There is access to good wood which hasn't been transported half way around the world, and being closer to the States than Europe, access to bronze bolts! That's always good news for me as it's less to carry in my suitcase when I return.


     
                                                          Before


                                                                 After


Tristan has scraped back the bilge pain to expose good wood, and is planning to replace the strap floors which have weakened with age, with solid hardwood floors. This was similar to what he did in the heads, and they look like they've always been there.  The mast support is also being replaced, along with new bronze bolts. 

                                      

So for now we  are on opposite sides of the Atlantic......


                                 


                                      

Tristan tied me in a dingy onto a mooring buoy, early one morning so we could get a photograph of Meriva under sail for the application to Antigua Classics, then proceeded to sail at me on his return to the  mooring.i


Over the last two years our beautiful wooden boat has been exposed to a gale in Biscay, rough seas off Portugal, a trip up the polluted River to Sale and Rabat, acceleration zones off the Canaries, earthquakes whilst on the hard in El Hierro, tropical storms in the Canaries, an Atlantic crossing, Antigua Classics, sailed from Grenada to the BVI's................she's not the only one that needs TLC  but at least she can have a rebuild!  

It's been fun and we still have  Cuba to visit to complete Tristan's cigar tour!