Since our last post we have flown back to the boat and had it hauled out once again for boatyard work. The boatyard at Puerto Escondido is not a full-service shop like Baja Naval was. It’s more akin to hiring workers with some experience working on boats but you have to supply not just all of the parts but even some tools. The trade-off is the labor rate is only $20 an hour! And of course for us, the reality was that we were unable to find a marina in La Paz that we could even get into at this time of year, much less get the work done. So it was either postpone these jobs until we could get a reservation some months down the road or take a more proactive approach and save some money. Not a difficult decision.
We had workers install three new lithium batteries and run all the cables. We had them run the cables for our new solar panels, added a through-hull for the air conditioning unit, repaired a big ding in the bow and a few other little things. We had to scramble to get a different (proper) through-hull and discovered that the brackets I had purchased for the solar panels would not work. Fortunately, an excellent gringo welder in Loreto was able to manufacture stainless steel mounts on short notice. Everything went well with one little exception, right at the very end of the work… While installing the solar controls under the aft bed, they use screws that were an inch and a half too long. Two of the screws completely punctured the fuel tank! Thank God the tank was only a third full and just a gallon or two seeped out. Unfortunately, that was enough to destroy two BCDs, three dive masks, two snorkels, a set of fins and miscellaneous parts. On the upside, it was all surplus gear and not our everyday stuff. And they made good on the value of everything as well as patched the holes in the tank.
Tess and I installed the solar panels and we had a refrigeration crew from La Paz spend two days installing the air conditioner. That’s a 4 1/2 hour drive each way plus the work day! Excellent work and very grateful to them. Special thanks to Mike and Renee on Reality Check for the references.
We rented a lovely house in Nopoló while the work was being done so got to enjoy our first expatriate community and all it had to offer plus a few more meals at Las Brisas, the marina restaurant. We have now been at anchor at Isla Danzante for a couple of days riding out north winds and getting the boat put back together. Of course, we have not had to turn on the air conditioner even once! But the extra solar and batteries sure are nice.
