WORKIN’ ON Sea Star at TIJAX July 22, to August 8, 2010

WORKIN’ ON Sea Star at TIJAX July 22, to August 8, 2010

Thinking about rainy season in the tropics.

Here on the Rio Dulce in Guatemala we are out of the “cruising” mode and into the “just biding our time” mode. Last year we were in Bocas Del Toro, Panama during this hurricane prone time, and not worrying too much about the weather as we were far enough south so that insurance company was happy. I recall being at the anchorage in Panama and having rain begin to intrude on our ability to do what we wanted, when we wanted to do it. By late July we felt like drowned water rats hoping for a little sunshine. Around August we were even wetter when Sea Star was at her slip at Shelter Bay, Marina in Colon, Panama.

I guess you forget about rainy season from one year to the next because here in the Rio Dulce it’s rainy season. It just snuck up on us, going from some light rain every few days, to more and well More, to finally MORE rain. (In my pictures I try to show you some before/after shots in only a two week time) Dan and I might have noticed the rain less last year because Sea Star required a different kind of work. Dan had to replace many electronic pieces inside the boat after the lightning strike. But here at Rio Dulce it was time to complete some needed cosmetics. The cap rail teak and teak rub rail strip around the boat needed re-coating.

A complete teak job for Sea Star

A few weeks after we came into the Rio we saw a woman varnishing the boat next to us at Tijax. We admired the job she was doing..so meticulous. We quickly hired her to begin on Sea Star.

And yes, it is beastly hot here every day, easily into the high eighties in the morning and building higher from there. When I had time-ie: not working or too tired from working I would go to the Tijax pool. No time for that in last few weeks.

Every day, early, 7:30AM or so Lupe came to our boat. We first asked her to clean and polish the stainless steel. We had not been good keepers of Sea Star and some minor rust was beginning to come through and show on the stanchions, especially the bases, the windless and above our Kato arch. Lupe, an obvious professional at her craft, agreed that the best sequence was to complete the stainless and then begin the teak to keep the chemicals and polishes off the wood as she worked sanding.

After a week of stainless cleaning we were ready to move on to the teak cap rail and rub rail. She had begun sanding the grayish strips where the Cetol was worn off, to then recoat grayed wood. Lupe began the job but quickly suggested that there was a need take the old coats of Cetol off and strip the wood to bare wood. We readily agreed when it was obvious how much gray-black staining there was and that there would be a patchy appearance when completed. [Cetol history-IPY factory 2006, recoats 2007 and 2008, professional patching October 2008, 2009-2010 tropics- sun and rain]

Lupe began to use Dan’s heat gun to slightly heat the Cetol, two different shaped very sharp scrapers, and the curls of old Cetol were flying. She was clearing off the old Cetol so fast and exposing like-new teak, that we knew the complete job would give us a much better result. Lupe cleaned the stripped, bare wood, sanded with three grits of sandpaper and had one coat of new Cetal Marine on the starboard side. Her hubby, Oscar, was working on another boat. When he came over to visit her she told him she worried about water under our stanchions and Dan and he removed the stanchions to find WATER filling up the tube.

Weird, we thought, we aren't leaking inside the boat- but why not? Well, water seems to enter the little holes the life lines go through and then drain into the stanchion base where it can’t get out. (Must be because of all the rain?, Heat causing caulking to crack?) Lupe had to stop her painting, sand and remove the caulking at the base of each of the removed stanchions and then fix up the mess and put more Cetol on the again bare wood to seal the base.

Meanwhile , as I mentioned above, rainy season was sneaking up on us all. About 5:00PM and again in the night the rain starts. Many days it’s a tropical downpour featuring our new enemy- lightning!

Lupe is practically running all day to be able to coat one part of the bare wood leaving enough time to dry in the sun before the storm. Her husband, finished on our friend’s boat, helps. He cuts her sandpaper and works at a normal guy pace. He’s good, but not quick and meticulous like she is. After Lupe leaves for the day Dan and I watch and wait for the Cetol to dry. Finger touch here, touch.. I run around in the evening and after every rain to dry the entire project from the bimini down to stop water from just sitting on the cap rail ,or too near the paint on the tape. This usually takes an hour to dry the whole boat before the night rain-then again in the morning, early.

SOO- I digress- back to the job. The six stanchions were off on the starboard and sanding, cleaning and Cetol were re-commencing nicely. Every morning we passed out through the companionway about six bucketfulls of working gear, many rags for drying and various tools; sanders, heat gun, cords and brought them back in each night. My other jobs (self-claimed as I see how hard Lupe works in the blazing sun) cleaning the backside rust off the stainless steel strips removed from the sides of the rubrail, cleaning rusty screws (there are about 250 holding on all the metal protective strips and the stanchion bases) and holding on to the boat lifelines to steady the dinghy while Lupe stands on the inflated sides holding a can of Cetol in one hand and the brush in the other painting, while motor “lanchas” pass by regularly making waves and bouncing us around. Her looks of hate toward those drivers were powerful, but most would not slow down.

A few days after we took off the first six starboard stanchions Dad had decided we wouldn't touch the port side stanchions because: it's impossible to get what IPY recommends to rebed, Sillproof, it's a lot of work and the boat was not leaking, etc. Emails to IPY did not help to figure out WHY water remains standing in the stanchions.

Lupe, meanwhile was painting on the PORT side. She had two full coats of Cetol on when Dan saw the dreaded black stain around the stanchion bases we had told Lupe and Oscar not to remove. Dan decided we HAD TO take off the other stanchions, basically starting the teak job on that side again. After just a bit of sputtering everybody agreed it was the best way and we again moved ahead with the job.

But it still rained every night, and while the stanchions were off and the screws out, we had water problems. We tried many ways of keeping the water off the cap rail; tape and plastic, then dried the holes with q-tips and the heat gun. A few days the workers had to start late because the whole boat was wet and a few times they quit early so the Cetol wouldn’t be applied with no time to dry. We were Especially Lucky that the night we had 12” of rain in one night, the stanchions had been completed being re-bedded that day!

Hey, it’s a win-win situation. Lupe and Oscar have a full time job for the two of them. We’re getting a great job and heading off interior leaks (we hope) I run around filling their water bottles and providing a killer meal at noon. They worked 8hours a day for US $25.00 each, and just finished August 8th. The job looks terrific and so far, no leaks. From the bare wood we used two coats of Cetol Marine, one coat of Cetol Light as we had no more Marine available- finished by two coats of Cetol Gloss. Sikka Flex 1A was used to re-bed the stanchions and set in the screws. The complete sequence and how we bedded the stanchions is available on the IPYOA website. IPY440’s have chain plates for the stanchion screws allowing all work can be accomplished from the outside of the boat. We were happy to finally find that out as it was very difficult (actually impossible) to access the stanchion screws from the inside of the boat.


Our new Sun Awning

The second major job on Sea Star was the completion and installation of our new sun awning. Obviously it is also a rain awning..We had a canvas maker, Dillon, measure and sew a two piece awning that covers most of the boat. The forward bow piece joins the aft piece with a zipper in front of the mast and covers our three forward hatches above our bed allowing the hatches to remain open during rain. The aft part begins tied to the stern arch, extending over the boom to attach zippered around the mast below where the furled sail protrudes can be attached to the forward awning . Two halyards and two attached bridles raise the covers to a desired height. The sides tie to the life lines. Our awning provides coverage while the sun is in any position and extends the width of the bimini so it covers more of the cockpit than the bimini alone does. We certainly feel a difference when the sun beats down and we turn on the air conditioning. We can turn AC on later and turn it off earlier in the evening and still be comfortable. The AC costs $.50 for a kilowatt hour so any break from it is necessary.


Fun and Games

After our days of managing work we are tired – or it’s so hot I don’t want to cook another meal, so we have gone OUT to dinner each evening. There is an awesome restaurant- Las Mexicanas- with Enchiladas Suizas and Enchiladas Verde and other wonderful treats. Dan and I are hooked on those but we love the Vista Rio, too. The Rio restaurants, Kangaroo, Rositas, Marios are fun to try at least once and we still have the ones in town to check out.

Each marina provides some kind of entertainment at times. We went to Mar Marine to listen to a band, a local guy who plays guitar and his back-ups and accompanists are taped. His music goes way back to my highschool days and is good to dance to. Tortugal shows a free movie every Friday while we lounge in their wooden lawn chairs. We saw two recently and liked them both-Clash of the Titons, an epic Greek God movie and Meryl Streep in Mama Mia, a very entertaining musical. Mario's has had a pig roast and Fourth of July Party. Vista Rio will soon show US Football as well as keeping up with soccer for the locals.


We're keeping busy and between walks and various shopping trips hoping to find stuff before dropping of heat and exhaustion....... then running back to the AC on the boat. There has been lots of time for motorcycle research. We read the Huffington Post, and the local Chisme Vindicator on-line and listen to Sirius Radio; Oberman and Rachel Maddeau and I read books-a lot. Pretty low-brow this week-Clive Cussler “Sahara” a multi-themed ecothriller and McCullough “Angel” with an occult theme. I try to keep up with friend's boat blogs and write ours.

There are hundreds of cruiser folks here just like us. I think soon we will either move the boat a few miles into Lago Izabella or plan an inland trip.


See this month's slideshow by clicking on the picture.

Work, play August