Harts At Sea

Pests in Paradise

Yep. Hate to burst your bubble, but flies, gnats, fruit flies, (shudder) cockroaches, and termites all thrive in the Caribbean. We’ve been lucky/diligent and have had no infestation of cockroaches, flour bugs, or termites.

• All fruit and veggies are washed in vinegar water on deck.
• No cardboard comes on board. Ever.
• No paper flour or sugar bags come on board, either.
• Bay leaves are scattered in all dry good storage areas and placed inside of all dry good containers. (EW has to be careful not to end up with a bay leaf in his cereal. He deals.)
• We have heard about termites swarming to boats, shedding their wings, and crawling aboard. (Enough to give EW nightmares.) So far, no worries.

But many kinds of flies can be a problem.

I dealt with fruit flies in Maine. Setting out bowls of vinegar topped with dish soap and crowing with the little suckers drowned .

Last year, we met Carl and Carrie on s/v/ Sanctuary in Guadeloupe, where there were an uncomfortable number of house flies due to low winds. Carrie is a hoot; smart, funny, fast-talking Florida woman, and very knowledgeable. She also has a great sense of humor, so I was skeptical when she and Carl told us their method for reducing the fly inventory.

“Didn’t y’all see those bags hanging in the restaurants in Luperon?”

“No.”

“Every restaurant does it. They hand small baggies up with water in them – and a penny.”

“Yeaaah?”

“Sure!” And she gave us some story about the flies seeing their reflection and the penny and believing that it was a wasp. Really. We didn’t believe her, but we didn’t like the flies, so after they left that evening I hung up water filled bags all over the boat.

Afterward, I told EW, “If Carrie is pranking on us, I’ll never live it down.” I half expected her to laugh uproariously on her next visit to La Luna, saying, “I knew you’d fall for it!”

She didn’t laugh, but commented that I had taken her advice. I think they worked. Or we moved harbors. Or the wind picked up. We left the bags up, and replaced the ones that leaked with new bags every few months. Carrie came aboard in St. Thomas, and was surprised we still had them up. “There aren’t any flies here.”

“Yes,” I said. “Because the bags are up.”

We’re still not sure it really works, but we rarely have an infestation of house flies. So the bags stay up.

We do have a few house flies, and in St. Martin we’ve had small black flies that don’t bite and aren’t attracted to vinegar. They are attracted to sinks. I hate them. I hate any pest, particularly ones that enjoy both the head sinks and the galley sink. This means war.

These little guys are hard to sneak up on with a normal fly swatter, but we’ve found a secret weapon…..a fly swatter that fries those puppies.

Faster than you can say, “Snap, Crackle, Pop!” I only have to tap counter next to one of those little flies, and the fly will jump up to escape a swatting and fly right into my gizmo. “SNAP!” Every kill is accompanied by a rewarding sound track. Each “Snap!” is usually followed by my crow of delight, “HA! Die you little sucker!”

There may be flies in paradise, but I have a weapon and I know how to use it.

Go ahead, sucker. Make my day.

NOTE: For your information, EW was the first one to accidently zap himself on the finger. By the way he jumped and shouted, I believe we have a formidable weapon. I’ve refrained from trying to fry flies that are sitting on EW’

NOTE 2:  He does not usually smile when armed with this zapper. He usually has a ferocious face and is saying something like, “ DIE, you sucker!”

New to Harts at Sea? I've written a book -- The Harts At Sea Sailing to Windward -- about our first year of cruising, from Maine to Grenada. It's available on Kindle (or Kindle for PC or Kindle for Apple) for only $2.99. No Kindle? You can download Kindle for PC or Kindle for Mac at no cost. 

Say “Goodbye” to Popcorn for Dinner (Mostly)

A few weeks ago, I was delighted to have a chance to talk on the phone with Lynnelle in Dallas and Rhoda in Santa Fe at the same time.  It allowed them to share a laugh at my expense, but I still say they were laughing at an uncharacteristic solution I developed to the problem of meal planning. I told them, “I just created an Excel spreadsheet for meal planning and I think it’s going to help a lot.” Instead of a “Good for you!” or at least an interested “Hmmmm”, I heard silence followed by two of my dear friends laughing at me. With her charming Dallas accent Lynnelle hooted, “Did she say spreadsheet?!”  “Yes!” said Rhoda, “Yes! She did! She said Excel spreadsheet!” and they laughed again.

OK, I admit that this act is not how I normally attack meal planning and provisioning – and that’s the problem! Before we left Maine, I took the wonderful SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association) provisioning course by Barbara Theisen. Then I declined to take the time to plan meals before provisioning. I still am not up to planning menus for 30 days. That’s just not going to happen. And when anchored in a harbor among cruisers, I have to be very flexible, as parties happen and frequently involve lots of appetizers and tapas that take us all through the dinner hour. Consequently, I stopped planning meals, and then would have no idea what to serve EW for dinner. He likes popcorn. Still.

While we were in St. Thomas, I reflected on my lack as a provisioner and chef. EW has never complained. Not once. But I know that we had popcorn for dinner many times in Grenada and that really isn’t acceptable to me. I also purchased way too many produce items that were subsequently tossed out after going bad. I needed to get better at this, and decided to tackle the problem while we were in St. Thomas. This is a real issue for many cruisers; after all, we can no longer stop by Beale Street Barbeque in South Portland and grab two bowls of their chili du jour to go – with Cole slaw on the side. Mmmmm. None of us are near our favorite take out option from home, and no one has yet delivered pizza while we are on the hook. Popcorn became the option when I didn’t feel like cooking.

So, if popcorn is the result, what is really the problem? I like to cook (sometimes) and have tons of recipes and cookbooks on board. The challenge is to find a meal I wanted to make for which I had stuff on board. On hot Grenada afternoons,  I would languidly peruse recipe after recipe and think, “No, I don’t have that,” or “This needs to marinate 2hours.” And I would make popcorn.

OK. So, lack of planning is the problem. What was the solution? That Excel spreadsheet. (Laugh if you will, but it’s working for us.) I spent an afternoon going thru my recipes, from cookbooks, cruising cookbooks, my files, and those shared by other cruisers through email. I pulled out twelve recipes that could be considered Quick Meals, and noted what ingredients they needed from my on-board stores and what ingredients were “special’ items, such as fresh veggies, protein, and perhaps a special cheese. On La Luna parmesan cheese is a staple, feta cheese would be a special item. Most of the Twelve Quick Meals only require a salad or some veggies. A few need special fresh veggies, such as broccoli, and chicken. My definition of “Quick” in the Twelve Quick Meals is that I can prepare it in the time it would take for EW to pick up a pizza – about 20-30 minutes.

 

 

My plan is simple, with only two goals:

1. Every day, I will have on board all the ingredients for 3 of the 12 meals.

2. Each recipe must always make at least four servings.

That way, I can participate in a pot luck or have food for unexpected guests – or have left-overs for another meal. By only having three meals, I’m not purchasing too many veggies for the week and there is less waste. We don’t eat out a lot, and try to do so at lunch more than dinner. On days when we eat out at lunch, no dinner meal is required – except a salad, fruit, appetizer or, (OK) popcorn.  I also keep on hand a few items that allow me to make any of my staple five or six appetizers to share at impromptu sundowner parties.

I’ve been using this system for a month or more, and it works. I also added another spreadsheet with 10 not-so-quick meals, such as home made pizza, chicken satay, and fish tacos, and I try to keep stuff on board for two or three of those, as well. When the mood strikes and I’m feeling more creative, I’ll look through my recipes and cookbooks for something else. So far, we aren’t bored with the list and we are eating a lot less popcorn.

As for organizing the recipes, I simply noted on the spreadsheet where I could find each recipe – which page of what cookbook, or which file in the computer, or which of my two three-ring recipe notebooks. (Told you I have a lot of recipes.) I hope to change out the top Quick Twelve Meals every so often as I find other recipes that fit the requirements. in the meantime. We are eating well.

FLASHBACK: EW has never complained about my cooking or popping, although there are meals he would prefer not to eat a second time. Usually we both agree on those. Let me tell you about the first meal I made for him.

We’d been dating for a few weeks and I was already smitten, so I invited him to my tiny apartment for dinner and decided to make Fettuccini Alfredo. I’d never made Fettuccini Alfredo before, but I had a recipe (of course) and figured it would be hard to mess up. Right.

We had wine, I made garlic bread, and salad. The instructions were clear. Once the pasta is done and you pour the cheese on, you must only heat it for a very short while – just until the cheese melts. But the bread wasn’t quite done and I figured I’d better keep the pasta and cheese mixture hot, so it stayed on the burner some minutes after being perfectly done.

Have you ever eaten natural peanut butter – the kind that you have to mix because the oil is separated from the peanut gunk? And have you ever not quite mixed all of the oil in so you have really sticky peanut gunk that refuses to spread? Well, that is roughly the consistency of the Fettuccini Alfredo that I served EW that night. I couldn’t eat it. He kept at it, chewing each mouthful. When I protested that it was inedible, he said, “Hm ----- um ---- n ----“ holding his index finger up for time as he worked on masticating and swallowing the cemented noodle mixture. When he had finally cleared his mouth, he said, “No, it’s fine. It’ wouldn’t taste bad at all if you didn’t have to keep it in your mouth for so long.”

That’s when I knew I wanted to marry this man.

When a VHF Net Goes Bad or Garbage In-Garbage Out

The other day I had a conversation with a woman who mentioned that she felt there was a lot of “childish” behavior on the Grenada Cruisers Hailing Frequency, Channel 68.

I hadn’t thought much about it, but she’s right, and most of that behavior can’t be attributed to the children on the boats. I’m not talking about the delightful fun on Halloween when the children aboard in Hartman Bay traveled from boat to boat Trick or Treating. The cruisers really got into the “spirit” of things, many took a trek to town for goodies and some dressed up in costume. On channel 68 during the witching hour from five to six, we heard a number of screams and spooky laughs. We smiled at every deep-voiced “Bwaaaawaaaa”.

The childish part that irks me are those anonymous complainers and curmudgeons who feel compelled to broadcast their displeasure (and their supposed superiority) without identifying themselves. Be warned, if you tick me off and I know who you are, I will answer with your boat name. I’m often wrong, but I’m wrong out loud, and accept responsibility for it. I make apologies when they are warranted. I do not take well to anonymous criticism.

A bit over a week ago we moved from Prickly Bay to Clarks Court Bay. In Prickly Bay, we were invited to leave our garbage in the containers at Spice Island Marine, a service for which we were extremely grateful. While in that garbage-convenient anchorage, we grew used to hearing this broadcast on Sunday mornings around eight: “For those of you in Mt. Hartman, Raymond is in the area to take your garbage.”

Now garbage is an issue on these islands, as you can imagine. In every anchorage, we’ve made sure to confirm the appropriate place and method for disposing of our waste, The French islands have a recycling program and  when there we separate our the tins, glass, and plastics. Some of the other islands have separate bins for cardboard. We ask, and we comply. Before we moved to Clarks Court Bay, we had talked with a cruiser who has been here for years who pointed out Raymond one day. “He’s the guy with the garbage business in Clarks Court and Mt. Hartman. I suggested he provide this service.” I asked, “So he takes it to the dump, or makes sure it goes to there?” and was assured that Raymond handled it correctly.

So, when in Rome … on the first Sunday after we anchored in Clarks Court, I eagerly awaited the announcement that Raymond was in the anchorage. My bagged garbage reposed on the back deck. My $3.00 EC was in hand, and I waved Raymond and his helper down as they came by. There aren’t a lot of opportunities for entrepreneurship in Grenada, but there are a lot of canny self-employed people who provide good services to the cruisers. Whenever possible, EW and I support local businesses and service providers. On my second Sunday in Clarks Court Bay, I again waited on deck with my bag of garbage and money, flagging Raymond down, gently tossing my garbage onto the pile and handing him the money. I thanked him and wished him a good week.

Ten minutes later came a broadcast on VHF 68, “Those of you who just gave your garbage to the man in the red dinghy. He has taken it ashore south of the blue steamer and tossed it into the Mangroves.” That would be a bad thing, and that started the conversation on the net. Full disclosure: The gentleman who made that anonymous broadcast is a friend, and EW was actually on his boat at the time. EW had seen it as well. Folks came on the net to question whether we were talking about the same garbage guy, as Raymond pilots a small, brightly painted local workboat, not a dinghy. Others defended Raymond, without actual knowledge of what does happen to the garbage. One person came on, unidentified, and commented on people who were “too lazy” to deal with their garbage properly.

That just ticked me off. We all have some one thing in our core that defines us or our background. For me, that thing is a work ethic. My dad was a sweet man, who rarely judged others, but he had no patience for lazy people. On the other hand, there could be no higher praise from him than, “He’s a workah.” He would sometimes use it as a qualifier, “She sure talks a lot, but she’s a workah.” (Believe it or not, that wasn’t said about me – but it could have been.) Now, I may not be the best housekeeper, and I have been known to serve popcorn for supper, but I, too, am a “workah”. All of my siblings are as well, and I married a “workah”. If you’re going to call me lazy, you’d better do so to my face, or at least identify yourself.

I reached for the VHF mic and broadcast: “This is La Luna. I think we should discuss the garbage issue and suggest we all go to 67, including the anonymous person who thinks I’m lazy.”  I clicked over, as did a number of others, including our friend, Tony, who had started this. We all expressed opinions, and ideas. Many supported Raymond as a local man who they wanted to recommend. Others told us of alternative and appropriate ways to dispose of the garbage here. I listened to all, commented on some, and made sure to ask Tony of Ragin’ Cajun to clarify exactly what he’d seen, taking away his anonymity. (Tony is an Australian, with a distinctive voice, who has ably run the Cruisers’ net. He wasn’t really anonymous. He also later apologized to me for not identifying himself during his initial broadcast.)  After everything had been said two or three times, we all agreed to find out for sure what happens to the garbage left with Raymond. We’re going to check, talk with Raymond, and go  to the beach where he unloaded it to make sure it isn’t simply left there to rot. None of us want to prevent someone from making money by providing a service, as long as he disposes of the garbage properly.

On the Monday Cruisers’ Net, Tony stated that he’d gone to the shore where he’d seen Raymond take his garbage and had found that it is left in a large pile, under a tarp. After some weeks, it is taken away by truck, but the opened bags are not cleaned up. As you can imagine, plastic bags of garbage are inviting to dogs, birds, and wild animals. I imagine many bags are broken open over the course of one week.  Being curious and an interested party, I took the dinghy to shore on Monday and took this photo:

That isn’t acceptable to me. As I write this, I don’t know of any other cruisers who’ve checked out the site, but I do know that there are cruisers who’ve known Raymond for a few years and who plan to talk with him. One has said he’d like to see if they can help Raymond retain his business, and handle the garbage more correctly. I hope they can.

In the  meantime, when in Clarks Court Bay, we’ll be taking our garbage to shore at Island View. It’s a short walk up to the main road where I’ve been told by a in the nearby convenience store that we can just leave tied bags next to others on the curb on Tuesday mornings.

As for childish behavior on the radio. There has been one cruiser, in particular, who has abused the radio, threatened cruisers on air and in person. That isn’t childish behavior; that’s rude bordering on abusive. But those folks who sit back, and make snarky anonymous comments are behaving childishly. They remind me of Jr. High School – and I pretty much hated Jr. High.

Another Project with the Honda 2000i

Oops! EW said it wasn’t my fault. He was off for the day, and I had to wrestle the Honda Generator up to the cockpit and aft to the cabin top, and start ‘er up. It was rolling quite a bit and getting “Jenny” up the ladder was no easy task. I persevered, and with little lifting hops I moved her aft to the cabin top, then turned the appropriate switches and stood on the side deck where I grasped the handle and pulled—and almost flew overboard when the cord broke about 5 inches in from the handle.

That’s not good.

I left the machine where she was and went back to my tasks for the day, knowing that I’d have to inform EW that he had “Another Project”, an unexpected task that was bound to take up some of his valuable guitar or regular project time. (Who am I kidding? Except for the 1 hour he spent a few days ago, neither EW nor I have worked on any expected project for some time. We’ve been having too much fun in Grenada. We frequently say that, “This is too much fun!” in the same manner as an acquaintance in Maine, who identified herself with folks from Mainline Philadelphia, and who therefore has an interesting way of talking that pretty much excludes everyone else from her “too much fun”.

Anyway, back to Jenny.

The owner’s manual is no help here. Throughout our cruise we’ve heard other folks offer the Honda 2K repair manual on a disc, but we’ve been negligent in taking any of them up on their generous offer. That’s a mistake. EW opened Jenny’s side and discovered he had no access to the pull cord housing. EW opened her aft end and discovered a fuel tank and all sorts of other things, but no access to the pull cord. I went online and Googled “broken cord Honda 2000 generator”, and found a cruising blogger who had struggled with the same issue, figured it out, and—bless his heart—posted directions in his blog. I love people like that.

While I continued to write about dinghy repair projects, I was frequently interrupted by EW waiting for the next set of instructions. I’m  not going to repeat them all here, if you have the same issue, check out Jim and Deb’s Adventures for these instructions. (Thank you, Jim.)

EW started this Another Project at 2:30 PM, and Jenny was up and running by 5:15. What transpired during those nearly three hours? One must--well, not this one, but those like EW and Jim who tackle these projects must--remove side screws, handle screws, three electrical connectors, the back of the generator and the fuel tank, in order to access the pull cord housing. Words were uttered, mumbled, and shouted during the process. I, in my newly softened manner, ignored him unless he asked me for further instructions. At one point, I heard him mumble, “It makes no sense to shout at inanimate objects.” “Hmm.” I couldn’t resist asking, “So why do you?” “I just can’t help myself,” he said.

Poor baby.

In his post, Jim cheerfully mentions that if you use the Honda, you will have some seized screws. The implication is that if you don’t use it, you won’t have to repair it. EW had to drill one out of the screws in the handle, and wasn’t as cheerful as Jim seems to have been. EW also had trouble disconnecting the third electrical connector and told me to “have at it”. I was successful, mostly because I dared to be more ruthless than he (after all, I wouldn’t be the one to fix it if I pulled too hard).

He got her done, and then said, “Now, what’s he say about putting it back together?” I’d been waiting for this, smiled, and read the following: “Finally, put everything back together and you are set.”

“That’s it?”

“Yep.”

EW wasn’t thrilled. “Don’t worry, Honey, I’ll talk you through the steps in reverse order, OK?”

He mumbled, but I was his only option, so that’s what we did. It worked.

This project cost nothing but time: 2 hours and 45 minutes. How’d you spend your Friday afternoon? EW fixed our Honda 2000i and I helped. Thanks, EW. Thanks, Jim.

The Year’s Project Totals to Date:

Projects	Another Projects	Total Time	Ownership	Items lost overboard	Total Cost in US Dollars
	3	6 hrs., 5 min	EW	Patch kit tube (recovered)	$26.96
3		1 hr., 20 min.	EW	None	$49.68

A Year of Boat Projects–The Old Grey Dinghy

The Old Gray Dinghy ain’t what she used to be. EW’s spent a lot of time with her over the past two weeks. We’ve also spent time researching a new dinghy and will purchase one before the end of the year. In the meantime, EW patches.

On October 1, EW had repaired a hole in the inflatable floor of our dinghy, but hadn’t checked for other holes. (Bummer.) When a new one surfaced less than 24 hours after the fix, he used duct tape to hold it for a few days (it’s a Maine thing) and decided that using the 36 hour cure stuff took too much away from our play time. We were heading in to town for a concert at the museum on Friday, so he suggested we stop at Island Water World to purchase a repair glue that would set in three hours. Flex Set is a two part epoxy from Marine Tex. You can mix a bit at a time, so it doesn’t all go “off” at once, and the three-our set time is crucial to my social life. So after breakfast on Tuesday, EW got back into the dinghy with soap and the water sprayer, and checked the floor for holes, finding only the one he’d packed with duct tape. He made the repair, we let it set for the afternoon and went in to the jam session at de Big Fish. Unfortunately, a day later, the floor was flat.

For a couple of days we pumped the floor with each use, (Honestly, EW pumped the dinghy with each use. I pumped it if I couldn’t absolutely get away without it.) Friday afternoon became “Another Project” day, and EW started the list by tackling the dinghy floor for the fourth time. (But who’s counting?) Though the glue cures in 3 hours, he wanted to give it more time to set up, so we had a quiet evening at home on Friday letting the holes cure.

Total active time for the dinghy floor repair described here: 2 hours. Cost: $72.00 EC ($26.96 US)

He also had to glue the foam around the outboard. From Rodney Bay to Grenada we had to hand wind the outboard, so the top was removed frequently. That caused the foam padding on the inside of the top of the outboard to become unglued, and that would prevent the lock from remaining closed. Salt water on the engine is a bad thing, so EW tried a new glue on Friday, clamping the motor to allow it to cure.

Active time for the motor foam: 20 minutes. Cost: 0.00

Finally, on Saturday morning I had to walk to town so EW took me in and stayed tied up to the dock while he changed the zinc on the outboard and once again cleaned the hose of salt so that it would pump and keep the engine cool. Now, I can drive fast again. He had thought that the motor needed a new impeller and water pump gasket, so he’d purchased those when he purchased the zinc. We didn’t need them, and they’re in the spares locker for dinghy parts, but the cost will be documented here.

Active time for dinghy fix on the dock: 20 minutes. Cost for zincs and motor parts: $132.67 EC ($49.68 US)

Project Totals to Date:

Projects	Another Projects	Total Time	Ownership	Items lost overboard	Total Cost in US Dollars
	3	3 hrs., 20 min	EW	Patch kit tube (recovered)	$26.96
3		1 hr., 20 min.	EW	None	$49.68

Boat Projects A Year of Cruising and Repairs

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Living on a cruising sailboat allows sailors to repair their boats in the most beautiful ports of the world.

In our second year of cruising, I’ve decided to document all boat “Projects” and “Another Projects”: those big and small projects; the cosmetic ones and the structural ones; the ones we plan and the ones we didn’t anticipate; the free ones, low-cost ones, and the budget busters. “We fix,” EW says, “It’s what we do.”

In 2010, we’d planned to leave Maine early in September, but due to unanticipated projects, we didn’t leave until October 18. Since many of our new items were still in boxes, from Maine to Nassau in the Bahamas we installed parts, waited for weather and delivered the boat. From Nassau to Grenada, we sailed, cruised, repaired, and sought parts. Although the second official year at sea starts on October 18, this account begins on October 1, 2011.

Year Two of The Harts At Sea, We Fix!

October 1

Dinghy Floor. The last two weeks have been dinghy focused. We have a dinghy for Maine sailors, it’s PVC, has an inflatable floor, and wooden transom, and is designed to be used a few months a year and bagged and stored over the winter. We’ve abused her by taking her to the Caribbean, and running her hard for the past year. Two weeks ago the transom started to separate from the hull on the starboard side. We quickly removed the motor and hoisted the dinghy to the deck and relied on the kindness of our neighbors and friends while EW worked up a repair. This will not be part of the official 2011 repair list, but I must share EW’s ingenuity. He purchased long bolts, big fender washers, nuts and 5200. He cleaned the dinghy, drilled holes through the transom and the rubber material that attaches the transom to the pontoon. Then he sealed it with 5200 and inserted the bolts with fender washers on both sides of the transom. Look Ma, No leaks! The whole process took less than 24 hours.

That brings us to the first project of the 2011 Cruising Season. On the first of October the dinghy floor sprang a fast leak. How fast was it? We had to pump the floor before starting the engine, or every fifteen minutes if we were on a jaunt. So, we hoisted the motor, and EW set the dinghy floor on the aft deck and got out his repair kit. It was a windy day. He still has a basket of heavy windlass parts so he used that to hold the floor down and to press down on the patch once it was completed. First, I sprayed water on the floor and added a little soap, and the leak bubbled like a miniature fountain. EW cleaned an area around the hole to prepare for the patch. This is only the second hole in the floor, but the fourth time we’ve patched it. I patched the first hole twice with the glue provided by the manufacturer. EW patched it the third time using ADECO’s Adegrip for PVC. It’s a two part glue, must be mixed in a cup, and is supposed to have 72 hours to cure. We’ll give it 48 hours and it’ll have to be happy with that. We have places to go. Actually, in this heat, 48 hours seems to work.

Type of Project: Another Project. Not anticipated.

Active Time: 1 hour total, including getting the tools together, putting them back, and the time I spent getting in the kayak to retrieve the patch kit tube after EW lost it overboard.

Cost:  $0.00  Used product we had on board.

Opportunity Cost: Couldn’t use the dinghy Saturday and Sunday. Stayed on the boat Saturday, and found a ride to the jam session on Sunday. Went without chocolate during craving on Saturday. That’s just as well.

 

 

Year to Date October 1, 2011

Projects	Another Projects	Total Time	Ownership	Items lost overboard	Total Cost
	1	1 hour	EW	Patch kit tube (recovered)	$0.00

NOTE: In Harts At Sea, Projects are those we plan to do, Another Projects are unanticipated.

It Takes a Village–or - Networking in Paradise

Back in Maine, I was an active “networker”. I attended Chamber events and even held seminars to teach new members how to get the most out of networking breakfasts and after hour meetings. I Tweeted, helped folks make connections, and gathered and imparted information. When my girlfriend’s parents wanted an accordion player for their anniversary, I knew just who to call – and we found one who knew the Maine Stein Song. (I am that good.)

That’s nothing compared to networking in Grenada during hurricane season. Folks don’t Tweet much down here as we aren’t sitting at a computer most days and our iPhones and Blackberries are stored away. We do have a Facebook page for Grenada Cruisers, and instead of business cards, we have boat cards with contact information that includes email addresses. Most of us have access to Wi-Fi at anchor or on the dock, some of us go into various restaurants or cafes to get on line, and we have the VHF Radio tuned to a designated harbor “working channel” through which we can all contact each other. Most of us keep our radios on 24/7.

The other day, I had errands to do in town and EW had to have the dinghy to ferry Jim Cottles to La Luna for the Windlass Project. Our hand held VHF awaits a new battery, so EW told me to have friends call him on the radio when I was ready to head back to the boat. Here’s how that went.

 

I walked to FoxSea, (left) which is on the hard getting repaired after a hard grounding. It’s been hard on them, but they are coping well. (Sorry, this was hard to resist.)

Vicky got on the radio. “La Luna. La Luna. This is FoxSea.”

Nothing. Again, “La Luna La Luna. This is FoxSea.”

Still nothing. I figured EW was on the bow with Jim and couldn’t hear the radio, so I settled into FoxSea’s cockpit to wait it out. Again she tried. “La Luna. La Luna. This is FoxSea.”  Just as she finished the call, another boat came back. “FoxSea. FoxSea. This is Celebration.”

Vicky didn’t want to miss EW’s return call, and we both though Celebration was still at Port Louis, so she put them off with a “Celebration, can I call you right back?”

We waited for La Luna. Nothing.

Then, “FoxSea. FoxSea. This is Puma.” Well, since we hadn’t just called EW and since we knew Puma was anchored off La Luna’s starboard bow, Vicky responded to Puma. “This is FoxSea. Pick a channel.”

They selected a clear channel for conversation and we found out that yes, indeed, Puma could see La Luna.  (Puma's view of La Luna is at right.) The generator was making noise on the stern, Jim was running a grinder on the bow and EW was crouched nearby. There was no way he would hear the radio. Puma offered to dinghy over and let EW know I’d been trying to reach him. We thanked them, and I climbed down the ladder to head back to the dock, reminding Vicky that she still had to call Celebration. She reached them as I reached the ground.  It turns out that Celebration had moved to the Prickly Bay anchorage and  were now near La Luna, so they’d been calling to relate the same information as Puma. EW picked me up – but it took three other boaters to make it happen. I like our village where everyone “pays it forward”.  (Celebration had a clear view of La Luna, too.)

We were able to pay it back right away, as when I arrived at the dinghy dock, we met up with the First Mate from Aqua Viva. She’d just returned with groceries and laundry and had left a message on the Captain’s cell phone. Because she was sure he was on his way in she wouldn’t accept a ride with us, but. I told her that we’d check the location of their dinghy and confirm that he’d gotten her message. We met no other dinghies on the way to La Luna so we turned to port and headed for Aqua Viva. The Captain was below and the dinghy was tied astern. We let him know that he had crew and provisions awaiting his arrival.

I loved the symmetry of this. Networking is much simpler out here, but the basic premise is still the way I described it in my seminar: Givers’ Get. It all works when we simply strive to help each other. 

By the way to those of you still attending Chamber events, always wear your name tag, high on your right shoulder. It’s been a long time since I’ve had occasion to provide that tip. 

Cruising Etiquette

Walking through Nelson’s Dockyard in English Harbor last week, we ran into a cruising couple we’d first met at the Seven Seas Cruising Association Gam in Maine. We’d seen them again in Georgetown, and now we’re both heading south for hurricane season. They were anchored in Falmouth Harbor and let us know that cruising friends of theirs were anchored near us in English Harbor. We all met up in Guadeloupe on Sunday and FoxSea invited the crews of La Luna and Celebration over “for drinks” last night.

We immediately accepted, and I offered to bring an appetizer of some sort. As EW and I were getting ready to head over in our dinghy, I asked him, “What do we do about drinks? When we met those cruisers in Nassau, they brought their own to the gathering.” “I remember that,” EW said. “I’m not sure what’s the right thing to do.” We decided to waffle. The food went into the Officiant bag and mixings for Cuba Libras went into the red tote bag. EW asked me to, “Bring the topic up for discussion, tonight.”

When we got on board FoxSea, the crew of Celebration was in the cockpit, clearly drinking from traveling mugs. “Hand up the red bag, please, Stew.” As I made our drinks (with ice and glasses from FoxSea) I told them of our discussion.

Vicky and Bob have been active in the SSCA for years and she told me that long distance cruisers have a system. “When invited to drinks, brink your own drink and a food to share and take your garbage with you when you leave.”  This makes sense and allows us to gather more often, and in greater numbers, without causing a burden on any cruiser. We had a great evening and got to know and enjoy these four people who will be our neighbors this summer – and we learned more about how to be good neighbors in this new lifestyle.

Just so you know that we contributed to their knowledge base, Lynn from Celebration asked about my laundry blog post and how the ammonia works. Vicky provided the testimony as she had washed two loads “"my” way that morning. “It works great!” she said.

I love cruising.

  The view from FoxSea’s port side: north shore of Deshaies Harbor, Guadeloupe.

Laundry at Sea

NOTE: This post is dedicated to my Twitter friend and Maniac, @bexmith who got me thinking about laundry when we had a Twitter exchange one day. It began when she tweeted  the following:

“The phrase is not all intensive purposes. Just so you know.”

A few of us found this funny and started a conversation going to show how witty we were. We decided that “All Intensive Purposes” was a great name for an organic cleaner that would take could be used for anything from washing your dog to brushing your teeth.

It was funny at the time. Since @bexmith has visited the boat and likes to hear how we live – this one’s for her.

 

You know you’re from Maine when your 5-gallon Home Depot bucket has duct tape on it to repair a crack. (That works, by the way.)

You know you’re a cruiser when you do your laundry in that bucket. 

While heading down the US coast from Maine, I did our laundry at laundromats (or the very occasional marina) from New Jersey through St. Thomas. The cleanest facility was  Ida’s at Black Point in the Bahamas. The one in the worst condition was on Main Street in Atlantic Harbor, New Jersey. Twice during the last six months I spoiled myself and EW by having the laundry done (and folded) by an attendant. I don’t know where they learn to fold but I need lessons – especially since we left the iron with Goodwill.) In some areas, even do-it-yourself laundromats are expensive, and in other areas laundromats of any kind don’t exist. Such are the joys of anchoring out. In Antigua, the sheets and towels were done on shore, but I did our clothes in the bucket, a system I’ve been perfecting since the Bahamas.

While in Nassau, we met a cruising couple who were heading north, to swallow the anchor after over 25 years of cruising around the world. I’d like to have talked with them for three days with a tape recording running, but was able to glean good information during drinks on board one evening. Somehow the discussion turned to laundry and I was stunned to learn that she had an  automatic washing machine similar to this Avanti model.  They’ve had two or three of them over the years, upgrading to a slightly larger one when the old one fails. They call it “the guest” as it is stored on the berth in the forward cabin; when the admiral wants to do laundry, the captain puts “the guest” in the cockpit and laundry gets done. The machine is filled via a hose to one of the faucets and is drained down the cockpit scuppers. These boaters also had a water maker and a generator, and both were needed for regular use of “the guest”.

We didn’t have a generator until recently and we still don’t make water, so EW was glad to hear that I had no desire to purchase our own “guest” right away. In fact, the storage of said unit would be a challenge for me as EW’s guitar is “the guest” and I’m not inclined to add any more clutter to the forward cabin. I’m embarrassed to say that a few years ago, friends gave us a hand washer that they’d no use for, which I kept it in the storage locker until we set sail, but did not bring with us. My bad. It just seemed … inconvenient, hard to store, too much work … really what was I thinking? For my sins, I’m doing laundry in a bucket.

The experienced cruising couple told me they use non-sudsy ammonia for laundry detergent aboard. They wash their clothes in the machine, the spin dry gets most of the moisture out, then they hang the laundry on the boat and let it air dry. Non-sudsy ammonia allows them to wash and not rinse, saving time and precious water. After some experimentation I’ve found a system that works for us.

1. Choose a day when no rain squalls are expected. (You’d be surprised how often I’ve gotten this wrong.) A breeze is good, but too much wind will whip the clothes off the line. I lost a towel that way.

2. Select two loads of laundry and separate them into “clean” dirty and “dirty” dirty. (We’re saving water here.)

3. Carefully inspect the laundry for stains, then treat said stains with nail brush and whatever you use for stains. I use an organic cleaning product that seems to work as well as anything else. Rinse much of the stain product out of the clothes.

4. Fill bucket 1/2 way and add about 1/3 cup ammonia. Plop the clothes in and stir with a boat hook. (Here’s the lazy part.) I just let them soak for a few hours. NOTE: if you let them soak together too long darker colors will bleed on the lighter ones they are packed next to. (I learned that the hard way, too.)

5.  Let’s discuss wringing. When I was a child my mom had a wringer washer. I don’t remember it much, but I do remember being about 4 years old when they purchased an “automatic” washing machine so she’d never have to use the wringer again. She was thrilled. Now I’d be thrilled to have an old fashion wringer, something I wished we’d purchased before leaving the states. (Really, I’d be thrilled to have that crank washer I gave away, but a wringer would make me happy, as well.) Since neither is available at this time, I’ve resorted to the “Mary and Barbara Wringing Method for Sweaters”. Mary, one of my roommates in college, and I had a lot of colorful, hand wash only sweaters. We would wash them in the sink, then wrap each sweater in a plush towel, put the bundle on the rug and stamp on it until the moisture from the sweater was absorbed by the towel. It worked great. On La Luna, I have a plethora of cham-like cloth purchased at a number of boat shows. They are great for drying dogs, so --- once the clothes have soaked for the proscribed amount of time, I remove one item at a time, wring it by hand and wrap it in a cham-wow-like cloth, then I stamp on it. The clean item no longer drips and I hang it on the line, wring out the cham-thing and tackle the next item. Works great.

6.  A word about laundry on the line. Hanging laundry on your boat is forbidden when on the dock in most marinas. Since we anchor out, I’m not restricted by anything except my own good taste and nice manners. I will rig a clothes line on the foredeck from mast to forestay and neatly hang my laundry with clothespins. I take them down as soon as everything is dry. EW rigged up a nifty retractable indoor line in the forward cabin where I hang our under garments. Whether one is on a sailboat or living in a million dollar home on shore, I don’t think he or she needs to look at my clean underwear so I draw the line at hanging our drawers and my bras on deck.

7. Now, back to the bucket. Once the first load has been wrung out and hung up, I place the “dirty” dirty clothes in the bucket, add a bit more water and ammonia and let ‘em soak until the first load is dry.

If I stay of top of the laundry I can do this every 5 or 6 days – less often if we’re living in swimsuits – and not be over-burdened by the job. When dry, everything smells clean and feels great – no ammonia odor lingers at all. We haven’t been kicked out of restaurants or off of neighboring boats, so I’m pretty sure we don’t stink. 

If I have the opportunity to get another hand washer, I’ll probably do so as I suspect that agitation is a good thing, and it would provide for more upper body exercise. In the meantime, our Mainah’s Home Depot bucket works just fine.

15 Easy Steps to Defrost a Boat Freezer in Paradise

 

Does anyone get excited about defrosting the freezer? I never did and was delighted with our frost free freezer/fridge combo in the Home By the Sea. (Confession, when we bought the house we called it Love Nest by the Sea. Really.) When we moved aboard La Luna, I remembered the “old” days of defrosting a freezer and believed that the chore had to be as difficult as possible and take as long as possible, so I made that happen. Here’s the process: 

1. Remove all food items from the freezer and take them to a friend’s house or to the boatyard freezer for safe storage. After all, the job is going to take hours. Here’s my friend Lynnelle’s freezer, used once when she was out of town. I had to remove two bottles of vodka to make room for my stuff.

2. Remove all of the food from the fridge, throw out the old, exclaim over the number of jars that are half full of substance, and store all of it in two coolers, with ice because it’s going to take hours to defrost the freezer and you don’t want anything to spoil.

3. Turn the system off. That’s done with the flick of a button. Easiest part of the job.

4. Place a bowl of warm water in the freezer.

5. Wait for frost to melt and do something useful while waiting such as clean out the fridge side.

6. Get tired of the frost not melting and pour warm water over the frost, creating ice, which will melt eventually.

7. Bail out the bottom of the freezer so that it doesn’t overflow as the ice melts and pour more warm water over the ice to help it melt.

8. Pry large chunks of ice off the front of the holding plate – carefully. Suggested tool is a plastic scraper. I used a table knife but don’t tell anyone.

9. Mop up water from galley sole (floor to you landlubbers) as the falling ice has caused the water in the bottom of the freezer to splash out.

10-12, 13-15, and 16-18 Repeat steps 7, 8 and 9 for two to three or more hours. Ice will have formed on the back of the holding plate where no scraper or table knife can reach it. It’s also difficult or nearly impossible to pour warm water on that area. Try anyway.

18. Once the back of the holding plate is finally free of frost and ice, bail out the bottom of the freezer for the final time, clean the freezer and spray Pam or wipe a small layer of oil on the holding plate – this helps you pry off the ice next time.

19. Turn on the system.

20. Return the cold goods to the fridge side.

21. Hours or a day later, go get your frozen stuff and place it in the now cold and clean freezer. (Make sure you put Lynnelle’s vodka back in her freezer.)

Yeah, that was fun. Of course when I did this, we lived on the dock with easier access to a freezer. (I have really good friends) and a couple of coolers. Now, I’m traveling where I don’t know anyone on shore, and we only have one smallish soft sided cooler and two of those large, cheap, hot/cold bags you get at the grocery store. The old system wasn’t going to cut it at sea, yet I didn’t know of another way. I hate defrosting the freezer, therefore it must be difficult, therefore I hate it. It’s a vicious cycle. It didn’t help that a marine refrigeration expert told me that I should probably defrost every four to six weeks. Like that was going to happen.

Well, yeah, it was. We’ve been experimenting with how to better insulate our system (there’s a post coming about that) but even with improvements, we find that the freezer gets mighty frosty in this warm climate. When the frost is thick, the system isn’t efficient and eventually both sides get warmer. Warm is not a good quality for a freezer or refrigerator. I was discussing this in the Bahamas with some of our cruising buddies and found out that aboard two of the boats, the guys handle the defrosting. They entered into the task with fewer negative expectations than I had, and with some knowledge that I had missed somewhere. I’d heard of folks using a hair dryer to warm and melt the ice and I’d tried it on the dock but found it frustrating and cumbersome as I could not leave the hairdryer running and walk away.

These boaters use a fan, a normal household fan normally used to cool our persons on a hot day. Last summer, one of our neighbors in Harpswell had told me that she used a fan to defrost the small chest freezer on her powerboat. I didn’t get understand how it could work and never pursued it, but now I needed to know, so I went on-line for a little research: why does ice melt faster with a fan? I still don’t know.  I found out that ice melts quicker in room temperature water than in air – though one article mentioned that if you hung an ice cube in the air in front of a fan it would melt faster. (Who thinks of this stuff?)  Other articles discussed the steps for defrosting home and marine freezers pretty much as I described above, though they make it sound easier. (They lie, I speak the truth.) None of them used a fan. My mom had to defrost the freezer when I was growing up and she didn’t use a fan, either.

Today, I used a fan. Since we purchased “Jenny” our beloved Honda generator, I can run AC stuff when EW charges the boat. This morning, I requested that he get Jenny up and running because I had plans for her – big plans. I have learned that I can leave the food in the fridge side (we’ve pared way back on the numbers of stuff in jars this year) and clean the fridge on another day. The computer fan that circulates cold air from freezer to fridge still sends cold/cool air to the fridge side as I defrost, so though the temperature gets a bit warmer than I normally would like, it isn’t dangerous and will cool down when the system is restarted.

Here is today’s process.

1. Remove all food items from the freezer and pack in the blue soft sided bag, along with any ice and some of the cold packs used for picnics. Enclose filled blue bag into large hot/cold bag for added insulation.

2. Turn the system off.

3. Place the household fan (thanking Neptune that I brought it along for the trip – and remembered where it’s stored) over the freezer, blowing down onto the ice, and walk away.

4. Work on the computer or clean something.

5. Check the progress in an hour and exclaim over how much ice has melted. Bail out the bottom of the freezer, removing large chunks of ice as well.

6. Reposition the fan and go back to something else.

7 & 8, 9 &10. Repeat steps 5 and 6 one or two more times,positioning the fan where it will do the most good. When pointing it down the back of the holding plate, it easily melts the ice that has been so hard to reach. 

11. Wipe up the water spilled on the sole. (It’s going to happen. Deal.)

12. Once the holding plate is free of frost and ice, bail out the bottom of the freezer for the final time, clean the freezer, and spray Pam or wipe a small layer of oil on the holding plate – this helps the melted ice fall off in chunks the next time.

13. Turn on the system.

14. Return the still frozen items to the freezer.

Not only does this method have fewer actual steps, those steps require less of my time as the fan is doing the work I used to attempt with the butter knife, and – this is a big and --- the whole process took less than 4 hours from start to finish. Since this is no longer a job I dread, I’ll do it more often and bet I can “get ‘er done” in 3 hours or less, with only about an hour or so of active time. Under these conditions, I can easily defrost every four to six weeks.

You proof-readers will realize that the new way only has 14 steps. Here’s step 15:

15. Make a gin and tonic with the bag of partially thawed ice cubes. Waste not want not.