An Unpleasant Surprise……….
Barnacle Bashing!
As we started do do some chores on board, there was a faint smell that became evident when we opened the engine compartment hatch. The bilges were full of diesel, and it took a while to find that there was a leak from one of the copper fuel lines. We pumped around 75 litres into our jerry cans, yuck!
Even once all the offending liquid had been extracted, there was then the unpleasant task of cleaning the bilges, which Annemarie tackled with her usual cheerful approach. Fortunately it had not risen to the level where all the stowed items were also coated…… That she did so after an emergency visit to the dentist after a filling came out was more to her credit.
Paying the dentist was another minor challenge. No, his new premises had not yet had a card machine installed. He gave her a lift to the cash machine. Card did not register. Lift to the marina to get my card. Go to cash machine, forgot PIN code. Text Me who is on conference call to Africa. Gets reply, gets cash, pays dentist! Exhausted!
Time is an elastic concept in the Caribbean. ‘It will be here on Tuesday’ has no fixed relationship to the calendar, other than to reduce the probability of 6 out of 7 days for the next period of eternity. Having ordered a new generator before we left in early May, it has yet to appear. Latest promises are now for Tuesday next week, but then there are Customs….. Convention would suggest that it would be here on Thursday, but that is another holiday……(Monday this week was one as well..). Who was it that said cruising is waiting for parts in exotic places?
Never mind, it was warm and sunny and time to get out of the marina. Escape meant anchoring in a pleasant breeze, and jumping overboard to cool off…….. only to discover a complete forest attached to the hull. The combination of warm water and the boat not moving for 4 weeks had produced an explosion of wildlife below. Clearly the need for a ready home overcame the creatures’ distaste for our anti fouling, or maybe it was because it was more freshwater in the harbour.
So out with the scrapers and get to work. The first session went well, until we got out and discovered we were covered in small biting shrimps. Yuck! The 2nd bout of scraping was to each other with the aid of the shower on the transom. The second session saw us beat a rapid retreat after being attacked by voracious jellyfish! Big ouch! This morning went better until the jellyfish smelt blood and reappeared.
The saga continues……
Freebooter 
Steve – If the leak was just in the line, the USCG article probably isn’t pertinent, but you may find it interesting nonetheless.
Click to access BSC79.pdf
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Many thanks, Dick. It makes for interesting reading, if a little concerning as we have stainless fuel and aluminium water tanks. The fault here was a pinhole in the copper fuel pipe. However we have no idea why a relatively new pipe, (about 5 years old) should have suffered this, especially as it was within a larger diameter plastic hose.
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