Yesterday was spent pulling our aft cabin apart in anticipation that the replacement autohelm part would arrive today, which it sadly did not. While not particularly difficult to do, the process of being able to access the autopilot linear drive was laborious as it involved draining and removing the hot water heater which sits on the white shelf above the quadrant (shown in picture #2). However, to remove the water heater, both the reservoir for the engine coolant had to be dismounted and the box for the ICOM antenna also had to be dismounted. All of these items are accessed from immediately behind our bunk so the cushions have been removed and the base of our bed is now a workshop (again). Aah well, it’s in a a good cause. We had been tracking the progress of the package on line and knew it had arrived in Santiago, Dominican Republic yesterday afternoon. However, it seems to have got stuck in customs where, even though we had the shipping company clearly indicate on the shipping label that it was for a ‘vessel in transit’ so we shouldn’t have to pay any taxes on it, it seems the officials think otherwise. By hook or by crook, one way or another, we will do our best to get it tomorrow, even if it means renting a car and driving to Santiago to pick it up ourselves. Keep your fingers crossed that it won’t come to that. The problem is that our weather window is narrowing and the sooner we can get away the better….
To take our minds off the matter, we decided to join our friends, Ralf and Stacy, who were planning to drive to Luperon before returning their rental car. Although only 17 nautical miles further West from the Ocean World Marina by sea, it took us about an hour to get there by car because you have to go quite far inland before turning off to Luperon. It is supposed to be the best hurricane hole along the N. coast of the DR and we could see why when we arrived as it is completely land locked. We had been put off the idea of anchoring there after reading a few guides that were less than favorable, talking about channel markers that may or may not be present, lack of water movement, muddy water, and some security issues. However, we met a former lawyer who has fallen in
2 Comments
Ruth and Nick
Sending positive thoughts and prayers your way that you get the autohelm part today or very soon. Looking fwd to rest of the story. Rx
William
Great pic of the steering quadrant. I can see it is currently nice and square on the rudder shaft. What I can’t see is if it is the correct height on the shaft so the cable and actuator feed nicely, but I’m sure that was all done properly in Nanny Cay.
If there was room – I can now understand why fitting the spare actuator to the other side of the quadrant would be a good place to store it – no fun doing this job at sea! But I bet you’ll have that wind vane fitted soon instead!