The Breakdown of Rio Dulce

I know many of you are wondering why we’re still in South Carolina. No, it’s not because we’ve fallen in love with the area. That was Idaho, not Dataw Island. We’re here because each day brings a new surprise in the what I call “The Breakdown of Rio Dulce.”
It all started so well as we arrived and got right down to provisioning. After a few days we were loaded for bear, ready to cut the ties to the American economy for a good six months. I was putting things away and tidying things up as there was nothing to do. I had left the boat in such great shape last May, so I thought. I even splurged and had the marina crew compound and wax the hulls to give them that showroom shine. Things were looking up. Then it rained and we realized several of the windows were leaking. Nothing a little caulk wouldn’t fix. Let me warn you now, black caulk on white fiberglass isn’t a pretty sight. I was afraid to look into the mirror to see where the caulk ended up. Finally got one window leak stopped, then another popped up. Hit that one, then another one started dripping. I’ve been running to the hardware store everyday to buy more caulk. I feel like I’m Christopher Walken on Saturday Night Live screaming “more cowbell, give me more cowbell.. I mean caulk, more caulk!”
I had brought the parts to fix the anemometer at the top of the mast. You should all know how much I like going up the mast. When I got up there I realized the wind instrument was jammed on. Nothing a very large wrench couldn’t unbudge. I knew something was wrong when I saw the entire thing start spinning. Oh well, fortunately they’re readily available for a small price. Just think Best Buy pricing times three.
We had decided that we would splurge and buy a new dinghy engine. The Mercury POS (piece of …) had been a problem since day one, so we planned to pick up a Yamaha. The only thing that had provided more headaches than the Mercury have been our batteries, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. Buying the Yamaha was easy, it only takes money.
Now with new engine we prepared to mount it on our trusty dinghy. Something looked a little wrong as the piece that holds the inflatable tubes to the fiberglass hull had pulled apart. That didn’t look good. No problem, nothing a little glue couldn’t fix. Hmmm, seems the other side was coming apart also. No problem, just more glue. I quickly realized this was a job for a professional. Yes, there are companies that do nothing but repair dinghies and life rafts. I drove the tubes up to Charleston for a quick repair. One look at the tubes and the guy says they were shot. The good news is the new tubes are in stock, the bad news they’re in stock in France. The French say ‘no problem monsieur, we can ship in three weeks’ (I can just see the cigarette dangling from the side of his mouth.) My experience with the French tells me the tubes should arrive sometime next summer. It’s off to look for a dinghy replacement. After realizing there are no used dinghies on the East Coast, I decide to buy a new one that can take us through the season. Next summer I’ll order the tubes from France and then I’ll have two like new dinghies. Thinking the new one may get here before Thanksgiving, I start making plans to leave the day after. What an optimistic fool I am.
I’m told the dinghy won’t arrive til the following Monday. Again, no worries mate, just gives me more time to go down the to do list. I figure it’s time to change the engine fuel filters. Three years per set of filters is ok isn’t it? During the process of changing the filter I decide I’ll bleed the engine. The bleed nut takes a lot of pressure to loosen. Time to break out the big wrench. What’s the saying? Lefty tighty, right loosey? It’s amazing how quickly you can torque the thread off an aluminum housing. Good news its in stock, bad news Vovlo isn’t feeling very generous these days. Really bad news, I never needed to bleed the !$^%$#%^*! engine in the first place.
It’s now time to attack the non functioning depth sounder. I work my way back from the transducer through all the connections to the main computer. As I look at the display, I notice a large number of functions missing from the screen. Shades of lightning strike cross my mind. A quick call to Raymarine confirms what I’ve got can’t be fixed on the boat. Oh well, I’ve already ordered a new anemometer, why stop there? Yes Mr Raymarine, I’ll send you my data computer for you to replace.
Since we’re waiting for the dinghy, I figure I’ll check to see how the batteries are doing. I unplug from shore power and watch my nine batteries drop to nothing. I hook up the shore power and it appears they aren’t charging. Six years of dorking around with this system. The batteries onboard now are only two years old. I decide to separate all the batteries and load test them. The load test shows they’re all good. Now I’m more confused than ever. Which isn’t saying much. Sometime during this cruise I’ll install the big alternator I’ve been carrying around to see if that makes the batteries any happier.
Still waiting on the dinghy gives me time to clean the bottom. Trust me, a shorty wet suit doesn’t work too well in South Carolina on Nov 27th. The marina folks were entertained watching me surface and singing soprano. I have never seen such marine growth in my life. I’m not exaggerating when I say there was a foot of plant life hanging off the bottom. It’s a good thing I got that speed brake off the boat.
The big day finally arrives as the truck brings the dinghy. Wow, it sure look big. There’s another saying I should remember. Measure twice, cut once. In this case it’s measure twice, order once. Seems the dinghy is over a foot longer than our old one and won’t fit on the davits. At this point Marianne is starting to look for flights home. Fortunately, the dinghy is an inflatable. I figure it’s like a balloon and I’ll make it fit.
During all this time we have been having our mainsail cover, bimini window, and cockpit cushions redone. This is one project that doesn’t catch us by surprise. I contracted this job to be done in the summer. And like every good contractor, what’s one month late between friends. So as various things are breaking about, our canvas man shows up at all hours with a cushion here and a window there. Fortunately, our to do list has dragged out so his delays are a non event.
Well the boat looks a lot better even if she does sit lower in the water. With any luck, we’ll be leaving in a few days. From here we plan to sail directly to Fort Pierce, FL. We’ve already had all the shipments sent there. They must be wondering who we are with all this boat gear showing up and no boat.
Did I mention it’s been unseasonable cold? The locals are telling us it’s more like February weather. That gives us more incentive to shove off. Rumor has it, it’s in the high 70’s down there. Dataw Island is a bit of southern heaven, but it’s time to go. We’ll fill you in when we get to Florida.