STATE OF THE MAST
Bahía de Caraquéz, Ecuador, Monday, 09 July 2007
The good news is that the wooden mast repairs have now been completed. The actual work took about 20 hours and Karl from S/V Muk Tuk has done a great job.
By far the biggest problem was getting the materials. After exhausting all the sources I could identify around Bahía and Manta, I undertook an overnight dash (9-10 hours each way) by bus to Quito to return with several bundles of re-cycled fir or spruce.
Getting the epoxy was just about as problematical. But Brian Woodward of S/V Ikarion told me that George Stewart, the ex-pat Canadian manager of Stewart Yates & Servicios SA in Salinas, a boatyard, would sell me some. I gave him a call. A charming fellow from British Columbia. Brian then said that he himself would pick up the epoxy on his way back from Guayaquil.
That plan almost collapsed when Brian became the victim of a drug-caper in the big city. Several ladies slipped a “mickey” into his coffee one afternoon at a café along the very public Malecón in Guayaquil. In small doses this drug is used to treat seasickness. In larger doses it is like truth serum and makes the recipient more-or-less putty in the hands of someone else. There have been one or two incidents even around quiet Bahía and we have heard of the drug being used even in English pubs. It's called the Date Rape Drug in some countries. Fortunately, a security guard at a big store noticed the bizarre behaviour of the group and called the police. They arrested the three women who were busy making a lot of purchases on Brian’s credit card. He is all right, fortunatley, but has basically no memory at all of an incident that lasted about twelve hours. Who knows how what they might have done with him when they had maxed out his credit card! In a case here in Bahia last year, the robbers set the drugged cruiser adrift in his dingy with no paddles and no motor hoping he wold drift out onto the Pacific. I thought it was pretty plucky of Brian to stop by George Stewart’s place after all that and bring back the epoxy for me. He is taking a ribbing from other cruisers about how he is going to explain the three girls to his wife.
With both wood and epoxy on hand, by the time I myself arrived back in Bahía on Sunday afternoon, Karl had finished all the gluing-up and had only one or two small things left to complete. The twenty hours of actual woodworking and gluing have eaten up some five weeks.
Sure looks good though. It now remains just to give the mast lots of paint, reassemble the standing and running rigging and re-step the mast using again a couple of other sailboats. This is becoming almost routine.
Bahía de Caraquéz, Ecuador, Monday, 09 July 2007
The good news is that the wooden mast repairs have now been completed. The actual work took about 20 hours and Karl from S/V Muk Tuk has done a great job.
By far the biggest problem was getting the materials. After exhausting all the sources I could identify around Bahía and Manta, I undertook an overnight dash (9-10 hours each way) by bus to Quito to return with several bundles of re-cycled fir or spruce.
Getting the epoxy was just about as problematical. But Brian Woodward of S/V Ikarion told me that George Stewart, the ex-pat Canadian manager of Stewart Yates & Servicios SA in Salinas, a boatyard, would sell me some. I gave him a call. A charming fellow from British Columbia. Brian then said that he himself would pick up the epoxy on his way back from Guayaquil.
That plan almost collapsed when Brian became the victim of a drug-caper in the big city. Several ladies slipped a “mickey” into his coffee one afternoon at a café along the very public Malecón in Guayaquil. In small doses this drug is used to treat seasickness. In larger doses it is like truth serum and makes the recipient more-or-less putty in the hands of someone else. There have been one or two incidents even around quiet Bahía and we have heard of the drug being used even in English pubs. It's called the Date Rape Drug in some countries. Fortunately, a security guard at a big store noticed the bizarre behaviour of the group and called the police. They arrested the three women who were busy making a lot of purchases on Brian’s credit card. He is all right, fortunatley, but has basically no memory at all of an incident that lasted about twelve hours. Who knows how what they might have done with him when they had maxed out his credit card! In a case here in Bahia last year, the robbers set the drugged cruiser adrift in his dingy with no paddles and no motor hoping he wold drift out onto the Pacific. I thought it was pretty plucky of Brian to stop by George Stewart’s place after all that and bring back the epoxy for me. He is taking a ribbing from other cruisers about how he is going to explain the three girls to his wife.
With both wood and epoxy on hand, by the time I myself arrived back in Bahía on Sunday afternoon, Karl had finished all the gluing-up and had only one or two small things left to complete. The twenty hours of actual woodworking and gluing have eaten up some five weeks.
Sure looks good though. It now remains just to give the mast lots of paint, reassemble the standing and running rigging and re-step the mast using again a couple of other sailboats. This is becoming almost routine.
posted by rjb @ Tuesday, July 10, 2007
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