Bringing Tin Tin back to life after the Hurricane season

Stuart and Paul arrived on Monday night in Trinidad and over the last four days I have been trying to get all the contractors who had agreed to do work to show up and complete it before launch on Monday 26th November.
The interior of the boat smelt fresh and mould-free as the dehumidifier has done a good job. On deck everything needs a good clean. The awning that Mark fitted has done well, hasn't ripped in strong winds, and has kept the torrential rain from filling the cockpit. It's also kept the boat shaded so that wasn't too hot. Having said that it's 35*C or more inside.
We were met by our Boat guardian, Dwayne Shuffler, on Tuesday morning. He's done a good job of send8ng me mphotos and updates by WhatsApp every two weeks.

Stuart got stuck into dismantling winches to relubricate them, two of which had seized solid. I got the old washing machine out today, emptied gallons of rusty water, and then with help from Dynamite Marine hoisted it out of the hatch and dropped it to the ground. I also screwed in grease nipples and lubricated the Maxprop. Other challenges have been to get electrical things to work where fuses have gone such as chargers for hand held VHF radio and dinghy inflator.

Curtis and Silva from Dynamite Marine have been working in terribly hot conditions to replace toilet hoses, which have become so constricted by calcium deposits that's hard to pump anything out. Ian Hong of Windlass Services has been refitting the anchor windlass that he had to dismantle and service, and has had to take it out and refit it a couple of times to solve a gearbox oil leak.

Curtis the Hydraulics man has finally serviced the hydraulic steering ram and topped up the system with oil. Meanwhile Jesse Gangasingh from Caribbean Marine Electrics has replaced the solar panel charge regulator so that it no longer boils the batteries. Could this be the answer to the long running mystery of battery failure? He has also and rewired the fridge with higher spec wires, and dealt with the coolant water problem by re-routing it. He has been trying to find better battery solutions, but in the end I chose the only one that fits, and Christian at Peakes Chandlery got five for me immediately. We will load them once we are back in the water.

Lenora's daughter, Mackenzie, from Speedy Sails came round to finalise bimini and sprayhood repairs and drove me to the sailloft to pay the deposit by card. Then Rishi took us round to Jonathan Outboards to see our two motors freshly serviced, and finally Kevin took us to the bank in Peake Yachts' shuttle bus to get cash to pay all these people. It's very hot and humid so that I am drenched in sweat just sitting still! We don't have much appetite, but need to drink a lot!

Finally, on Friday afternoon, Samantha from Econocars picked us up and drove us to the dépôt to rent one for the weekend. Almost on its last legs, suspension like a bouncy castle, but at least this time the wing mirrors are attached. It felt good to be able to drop in at a supermarket to stock our room fridge so that we don't have to eat at Zanzibar restaurant every meal. I bought a pawpaw for breakfast and was amazed that Stuart calls them the Vomit fruit. Clearly he's never experienced a cold one with fresh lime for breakfast!

On Saturday we will have an expedition into the hinterland and visit the Asa Wright Nature Réserve.