Gosling’s Pre-sail Refit: Week One

It has been a long week of hot days and buzzing (mosquito) nights but we are progressing well. The mechanic arrived as scheduled and worked the better part of Tuesday removing components for rebuilding. It was a bit disconcerting seeing a good portion of my engine being carted off including: injector pump, injectors, heat exchanger, and salt and fresh water pumps. All were returned in pristine condition by Friday. Omar is reputed to be the best mechanic in the area and he is living up to his reputation. After several hours of toiling after a seized injector he had a custom puller fabricated and had it out within minutes. Tomorrow he should be back to reassemble the engine and trial it.
I have had to charge up the batteries in preparation. The generator we brought with us wasn’t powerful enough at 1300w. I had to borrow a neighbour’s Honda 2000 and it worked a treat. The Canadian Tire Special will be on the sale table at the next cruiser’s swap meet in a few weeks along with a number of things we have removed from the boat or have brought down in excess of our needs.
I have rebuilt the wind vane from all of the new spares that were on the boat when we got her. I should have eliminated that irritating wobble that kept us awake at nights when anchored or tied up in a current. Another task this week has been taking apart most of the thru-hulls and servicing them. They all worked last season but the hot summer temps must have baked the fittings.
Fran has been busy cleaning, storing, knitting and getting cushions re-upholstered. She has also been designing a new mosquito net arrangement with the German girl next door. The bugs are voracious during the night but the net we brought from Ottawa has been put to good use. They are even biting Fran who normally brags about being immune. Well, these are Mexican bugs, Duh!
Last night we had our first “Yard Potluck”. It was quite fun with2 German boats, 3 Canadian, a Dutch girl, an Aussi and an American who showed up with enormous shrimp and a complete gas cooking kit on the back of his pick-up. His tempura shrimp were the hit of the night. Next week he’ll be doing onion rings and zucchini strips as well. We are in the best shrimp fishing waters of the coast and the shrimp are cheap and plentiful. We bought large ones, head on today for $8 a kilo. They were even better than the ones we had fished for ourselves in Desolation Sound last summer. Conversation took a definite downturn when Elke (German) proudly displayed a rat that they had just trapped. It had been pestering them for a few days and after comparing notes with other boats found that it was a common problem in the yard. All out war had been declared earlier that day with new traps and Ron’s (Canadian) peanut butter. Shortly after calling it a night Marion (Dutch) came back with another prize dead rat, soon to be followed by Ted (US). Ron, who declared immunity with his dog aboard reluctantly admitted that one had been running all over his deck during the night and knocking over water bowls while his dog slept peacefully at his feet. Hope we aren’t next!
Rosie is adapting really well. She seems to be closer to us these days, probably fearing that we’ll leave again in that dreaded car thing. She loves her short walks and we have been letting her off-leash for brief intervals where there are no yard dogs around. She does her puppy thing and stays close and is always ready to be leashed again. She is even starting to bark and gets lots of applause.

Well, it's past cruiser's midnight (9PM) so off to bed. Tomorrow will be the start of a long week.