Mods and improvements in St Martin

Since we left Grenada on our “multiple passage shakedown sail” we have had St Martin in mind as the place to visit to stock up on parts and services. When you see the price comparison between the duty free St Martin (Dutch) vs the other islands, it wins hands down and makes it worth the trip. In actual fact St Martin is a very pretty island with a lot going for it other than just marine services.

The “to do” list is an ever changing beast with one ticked off and another added almost at the same time. One never does all the chores but constantly re-prioritise the list to ensure that we stay ahead in the maintenance part. We have also been tweaking the boat to suit our purposes and preferences.

So, what did we get done while we were here?

1. Main element was to fix the oven. Sally has been amazing at cooking / baking with just a stove top over the last 3 months, so it was my turn to get her a proper working oven.
2. Replaced the halyards. In an ideal world I would have replaced all the running rigging, but we took a pragmatic view of our current sheets, halyards etc and decided on the major items. We replaced all the halyards and lazy jacks. We now have a couple of good strong spare lines (as although the outer covering of the halyards were a bit manky, the cores were all in great shape.
3. Manual bilge pump was repaired
4. Manual salt and fresh water in the galley. No more washing dishes in a bucket in the cockpit for us! We are fresh water misers and try make a tank last as long as possible. Hauling water in jerry cans is not ideal and neither is having to come along side to fill up. Not to mention the cost of water on most of these islands can make your eyes water especially when you consider it falls out the sky for free a lot of the time.
5. Guardrails – were replaced with Dyneema.
6. Our No 3 genoa had a few repairs done to the luff.
7. We bought a number of spare parts and tools to ensure that we had a better selection of gear on board for repairs and maintenance. Did you know that a little rubber impeller for the salt water cooling pump on the engine can cost you $90. Not to mention all the fuel and oil filters, oil etc There are a good few thousand dollars of spares on board this boat that I hope I never have to use.
8. Also with boat and parts from different places I have learnt that having both metric and imperial tool sets is a good idea.
9. While we were here, we also serviced the winches. All in amazingly good condition considering the age of the boat.
10. One of my most luxurious investments was a Penn rod and reel. My father had (still has?) the exact same Penn Senator reel when we first went sailing 25 years ago. If they are still making them exactly the same after all these years they must be pretty good. We are looking forward to landing some good fish on it!

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   Manual fresh and salt in the galley

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   New running rigging and guardrails

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