MORE MASTHEAD NEWS; DASH TO MANTA
Bahia de Caraquéz, Wednesday, 13 June 2007
Carl has been addressing the rotten wood at the top of our mast as it is laid out in the yard at the Club de Yate in Bahia. It has definitely been a good idea to get the mast off the yacht and into the yard. The metal corona at the masthead (i.e., where all the shrouds and stays come together and where the masthead light, antennas, and various other marine doo-dahs are located) was removed. The wood underneath was soft as putty. Carl started sawing off sections of wood until he got down far enough along the mast to have healthy hard wood all round. The mast is therefore about a foot or more shorter than it was last week.
His plan is to build up a masthead with wooden slats epoxy-glued into place with the same grain alignment as in the original mast. This should not be difficult except for one or two supply problems. First, nobody in Bahia carries epoxy in amounts or quality suitable for the work. Second, nobody carries the right kind of wood. The mast appears to be fir or spruce with a tight and straight grain, from the sort of trees you get at medium or higher altitudes along the Pacific Coast of British Columbia or Alaska. Everywhere we asked, we heard from the same observation from every lumber yard and carpentero: what we need is pino (pine?) or maybe teko (teak). Nobody has a call to stock these woods along the coast. But, without exception, they all say it is quite commonly forested and used in the sierras. We could get close-grained wood up there for sure. “Go up to Quito and get it!” Thanks. Quito itself lies at 3,500 metres. But, it’s nine hours away by bus. The last resort is to ask around in Manta when we go there to renew our visas on Wednesday.
Dash to Manta
Kathleen and I need to visit the Migración in Manta. When we arrived at Guayaquil after seven months away in Venezuela the officials there did not give us 90 days as we had confidently expected: we only got 24 days. This was exactly the number of days left under the old visa year. In Ecuador as in most countries you can only stay in the country for a total of six months in any one rolling year. That’s why we left last November 2nd and did not come back in until May 24. The immigration guys at the airport underlined that we should report to Manta before the 24 days ran out or risk a $200 fine each. So, off we went today, three days before our 24 days expired.
The upshot is that the uniformed immigration lady in Manta was only going to give us a further 30 days (y nada mas). Had we come on this Saturday we could have had 90 days. Go figure! We protest mildly but there seems to be no recourse but to accept the 30 days and try to work something out later. We shuffle dejectedly off to get photocopies made of our passports. When we get back, the same lady gave us a big conspiratorial smile and a wink and says soto voce that we have been granted 90 days. Smiles all round! One less problem and now we can work on the boat in peace.
We had hired Manuel’s taxi for the day ($30 + tip and a light lunch). He knows Manta well fro taking cruisers like us to Migración so often. So can chauffeur us around quite efficiently. We make a dash to the main marine paint shop to get bottom paint (Hempel Olympic 89600, up in price from $48 last year to $73 this year) and Sika two-part epoxy (about $15 a litre). Also bought plastic gloves, mixers, silica filler, putty knives, etc. We got some tips on at the paint store about lumber yards that are sure to have pino. After some shopping at a super market, we stop at the lumber yards on the way out of town. A lot of head shaking. “No call for pino or teko hereabouts. Go up to Quito! They grow lots of it in the sierras!”
Well, I guess being able to check off a few of the To-Do’s on our list for the Manta trip makes the trip a success. We got a 90-day visa, we got a charger for William’s I-pod and we picked up bottom paint and epoxy. Also did a little provisioning at a big supermarket.
But we still have no wood. Our only recourse now seems to be Carl’s parents who headed up to the sierras today. They have a copy of the diagram Carl made up for the pieces he needs and they told us before they left that they would be glad to find the wood for us up there if we needed it still and send it down to Bahia on the long-distance bus. Well, they didn’t actually say they would be “happy” to spend part of their vacation visiting lumber yards. But, properly seen, a vacation trip should be an adventure, don’t you think?
Bahia de Caraquéz, Wednesday, 13 June 2007
Carl has been addressing the rotten wood at the top of our mast as it is laid out in the yard at the Club de Yate in Bahia. It has definitely been a good idea to get the mast off the yacht and into the yard. The metal corona at the masthead (i.e., where all the shrouds and stays come together and where the masthead light, antennas, and various other marine doo-dahs are located) was removed. The wood underneath was soft as putty. Carl started sawing off sections of wood until he got down far enough along the mast to have healthy hard wood all round. The mast is therefore about a foot or more shorter than it was last week.
His plan is to build up a masthead with wooden slats epoxy-glued into place with the same grain alignment as in the original mast. This should not be difficult except for one or two supply problems. First, nobody in Bahia carries epoxy in amounts or quality suitable for the work. Second, nobody carries the right kind of wood. The mast appears to be fir or spruce with a tight and straight grain, from the sort of trees you get at medium or higher altitudes along the Pacific Coast of British Columbia or Alaska. Everywhere we asked, we heard from the same observation from every lumber yard and carpentero: what we need is pino (pine?) or maybe teko (teak). Nobody has a call to stock these woods along the coast. But, without exception, they all say it is quite commonly forested and used in the sierras. We could get close-grained wood up there for sure. “Go up to Quito and get it!” Thanks. Quito itself lies at 3,500 metres. But, it’s nine hours away by bus. The last resort is to ask around in Manta when we go there to renew our visas on Wednesday.
Dash to Manta
Kathleen and I need to visit the Migración in Manta. When we arrived at Guayaquil after seven months away in Venezuela the officials there did not give us 90 days as we had confidently expected: we only got 24 days. This was exactly the number of days left under the old visa year. In Ecuador as in most countries you can only stay in the country for a total of six months in any one rolling year. That’s why we left last November 2nd and did not come back in until May 24. The immigration guys at the airport underlined that we should report to Manta before the 24 days ran out or risk a $200 fine each. So, off we went today, three days before our 24 days expired.
The upshot is that the uniformed immigration lady in Manta was only going to give us a further 30 days (y nada mas). Had we come on this Saturday we could have had 90 days. Go figure! We protest mildly but there seems to be no recourse but to accept the 30 days and try to work something out later. We shuffle dejectedly off to get photocopies made of our passports. When we get back, the same lady gave us a big conspiratorial smile and a wink and says soto voce that we have been granted 90 days. Smiles all round! One less problem and now we can work on the boat in peace.
We had hired Manuel’s taxi for the day ($30 + tip and a light lunch). He knows Manta well fro taking cruisers like us to Migración so often. So can chauffeur us around quite efficiently. We make a dash to the main marine paint shop to get bottom paint (Hempel Olympic 89600, up in price from $48 last year to $73 this year) and Sika two-part epoxy (about $15 a litre). Also bought plastic gloves, mixers, silica filler, putty knives, etc. We got some tips on at the paint store about lumber yards that are sure to have pino. After some shopping at a super market, we stop at the lumber yards on the way out of town. A lot of head shaking. “No call for pino or teko hereabouts. Go up to Quito! They grow lots of it in the sierras!”
Well, I guess being able to check off a few of the To-Do’s on our list for the Manta trip makes the trip a success. We got a 90-day visa, we got a charger for William’s I-pod and we picked up bottom paint and epoxy. Also did a little provisioning at a big supermarket.
But we still have no wood. Our only recourse now seems to be Carl’s parents who headed up to the sierras today. They have a copy of the diagram Carl made up for the pieces he needs and they told us before they left that they would be glad to find the wood for us up there if we needed it still and send it down to Bahia on the long-distance bus. Well, they didn’t actually say they would be “happy” to spend part of their vacation visiting lumber yards. But, properly seen, a vacation trip should be an adventure, don’t you think?
posted by rjb @ Wednesday, June 13, 2007
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