12/8/2011 - Getting ready to go

Our moorage at Marina del Palmar is up on December 18. That means we have up to 10 days left to get our various dockside-type projects done. However, we don't have that many left to do. We finished one of the most important ones today.

When we were sailing across from Isla San Francisco to San Evaristo last spring, we hit a patch where we were taking a fair bit of water over the bow. Didn't think much about it since that's certainly happened many times before. However, that time, when we got ready to crawl into bed for the night, we found the bedding was wet. All we could figure is that the caulking between the caprail and the hull was pretty much worn out and ineffective. Water got in under the caprail, ran down the inside of the hull and, as some of it seeped between the ceiling boards in the v-berth, the bedding just proceeded to wick the moisture on out. So, a priority job has been to remove the old caulking and recaulk. Didn't need to bother during the summer since it was always hot and dry and the seas were never big when we were sailing on them. But, we're likely to get some seas on our upcoming crossing to Mazatlan so it was definitely time to do the job.

Removing the old caulk went pretty fast with a screwdriver drug along the crack. There were a lot of big dry chunks that came out. Behind that, in most places, I could feel that the old caulking was still somewhat pliant. Dug out as much as we could, then Lulu wiped the whole area to be caulked down with acetone to make sure there were no oily residues to screw up the job.

We started with the port side day before yesterday. I squeezed the caulk in and Lulu came behind and smoothed it out and wiped up the excess. One side was plenty for one day. That squeeze handle gets very hard to squeeze after awhile and the boat yoga positions are nothing short of tiring. We finished the starboard side today.

Armed with only a broken popsicle stick and a rag, Lulu managed to make my sometimes considerably less than stellar job look downright neat.

Other jobs include epoxying a couple of unneeded screw holes in the tiller and the caprail, change the engine oil, finish varnishing the bowsprit (another couple of coats should do it), fill the diesel jugs, and clean the bottom of the dinghy prior to stowing it on deck. There are a couple of minor jobs as well but none that would keep us here.

The crossing to Mazatlan is about 240 miles from La Paz. We need to grab a weather window between northers. Once a norther calms down, they say you need to wait another day until the seas calm down unless you like a really bumpy ride. Then it's time to go if another isn't predicted immediately following. The last few northers we've had have lasted a long time and were spaced very close together and there's another coming this weekend. With that in mind, we're trying to get our stuff done so we can split as soon as we get a good window, whether our moorage is up or not.

So, a couple projects to go and we are outa here.