On the hard…Marsh Harbor Boat Yard, Marsh Harbor, Abaco, Bahamas:
Today marks our tenth day on the hard. “On the hard”… did you know most of you live “on the hard”; of course not, you thought you lived on land. Well, if you are a cruiser and your boat is on land, assuming your boat has not gone aground or been thrown up on land by a hurricane, you live “on the hard”. Hopefully, your boat is in a boat yard by intent at which time you can announce you live on the hard. It’s a different lifestyle on the hard; for starters, there is no movement, at least not in our current world. I found that when I heard a boat coming by the yard I had the expectation and sensation of rocking that would normally be created by a wake. This is where Pavlov’s dogs conditioning came into play and started messing with me. It took me about a week before I stopped rocking all together. Of course there are some disadvantages to living on the hard; if you fall overboard your chances of breaking a leg are greater. Since you can’t dump your toilet or get it pumped out your goal is to try and put as little water in your holding tank as possible, this causes air pollution that requires an air quality alert. So instead of the old, sick, and young having to stay inside until conditions improve, all are required to stay outside until further notice (a true disadvantage at night). Your air freshener bill increases as you count the days before your departure, which you can’t really predict because everything depends on how long your body holds up under all the work.
We spend our days grinding, sanding, patching, sanding, painting, sanding some more and painting again… actually Carey spends his days this way while I mix mine up with making new hatch covers to replace the ones we lost while submarine-ing, cleaning, de-molding from the same said event and reorganizing. I am also looking at what we need to move to take weight off forward and move more aft. While in Hope Town we noticed how far below the water line the bow of the boat was sitting. I figured we had to be taking on water somewhere and was concerned we might slowly sink. Carey checked forward and could not find anything so he felt sure we’d be OK for while anyway. Of course this type of thing is what my dreams are now made of… or more accurately my nightmares! Once we were out of the water I opened what are suppose to be air tight compartments for flotation at the very front of each of the amas (how’s that for a term? These are what the hulls are called on a catamaran). Sure enough the starboard side was full with about 70 gallons of water! We aren’t sure if the locker floor cracked while we were pounding our way to “the cut” or if it had been going on for some time, but either way it was a lot of weight and explained the “sinking”. One more thing to repair.
I recently discovered the difference between a rope, a line and a sheet, although they all look like what I have called rope my whole life. I can only hope to get it right in the throes of some unforeseen stressful situation and not embarrass myself in the process. When a rope is connected to a sail it is now called a sheet and if a piece of rope is in use on a boat it is now called a line, everything else is a rope until further notice.
We are now in a fight with the local flies and no see ums’… those nasty little bugs you can’t see but are all teeth. They like this place and enjoy coming inside out of the weather. Another thing we do is examine the bottom of the boat… a lot. The more Carey looks at what needs to be done, the more he finds to do, so is considering quitting now.
It’s two miles to town, and floods when it rains. It costs $5 and hour to be online if you bring your own computer and $10 an hour if you use their computer. Salad dressing is $11 a bottle. Everyone here is very friendly; we were sitting down taking a break while looking at the map when some kids pull a U-turn in their car to ask us if we needed help. The only pay phones in town are at the phone company office, there are three, they never all work at the same time. Laundry is $2.50 per wash and 25 cents a minute to dry. There is no social life in the boat yard. There is no produce at the grocery store on Tuesdays, until late in the day. There is no public transportation but anyone will pick you up and give you a ride if you stick your thumb out.
On the news this morning the announcer urged parents to be sure to send their kids off to school with a jacket and not just a sweater, since the high temperature was only going to be seventy-two degrees today and not to worry, this cold snap would only last a couple of days.
Everyone smiles and says, how are you. There is not a lot of cussing here and kind words are many. Christianity is the national religion and all the locals believe God smiles on the Bahamas… we think they’re right.
We miss our kids terribly!!
So there you have it, nothing new, nothing exciting and nothing much to report. Just workin’, grindin’, sandin’, patchin’ and paintin’ and livin’ the life on the hard.
Today marks our tenth day on the hard. “On the hard”… did you know most of you live “on the hard”; of course not, you thought you lived on land. Well, if you are a cruiser and your boat is on land, assuming your boat has not gone aground or been thrown up on land by a hurricane, you live “on the hard”. Hopefully, your boat is in a boat yard by intent at which time you can announce you live on the hard. It’s a different lifestyle on the hard; for starters, there is no movement, at least not in our current world. I found that when I heard a boat coming by the yard I had the expectation and sensation of rocking that would normally be created by a wake. This is where Pavlov’s dogs conditioning came into play and started messing with me. It took me about a week before I stopped rocking all together. Of course there are some disadvantages to living on the hard; if you fall overboard your chances of breaking a leg are greater. Since you can’t dump your toilet or get it pumped out your goal is to try and put as little water in your holding tank as possible, this causes air pollution that requires an air quality alert. So instead of the old, sick, and young having to stay inside until conditions improve, all are required to stay outside until further notice (a true disadvantage at night). Your air freshener bill increases as you count the days before your departure, which you can’t really predict because everything depends on how long your body holds up under all the work.
We spend our days grinding, sanding, patching, sanding, painting, sanding some more and painting again… actually Carey spends his days this way while I mix mine up with making new hatch covers to replace the ones we lost while submarine-ing, cleaning, de-molding from the same said event and reorganizing. I am also looking at what we need to move to take weight off forward and move more aft. While in Hope Town we noticed how far below the water line the bow of the boat was sitting. I figured we had to be taking on water somewhere and was concerned we might slowly sink. Carey checked forward and could not find anything so he felt sure we’d be OK for while anyway. Of course this type of thing is what my dreams are now made of… or more accurately my nightmares! Once we were out of the water I opened what are suppose to be air tight compartments for flotation at the very front of each of the amas (how’s that for a term? These are what the hulls are called on a catamaran). Sure enough the starboard side was full with about 70 gallons of water! We aren’t sure if the locker floor cracked while we were pounding our way to “the cut” or if it had been going on for some time, but either way it was a lot of weight and explained the “sinking”. One more thing to repair.
I recently discovered the difference between a rope, a line and a sheet, although they all look like what I have called rope my whole life. I can only hope to get it right in the throes of some unforeseen stressful situation and not embarrass myself in the process. When a rope is connected to a sail it is now called a sheet and if a piece of rope is in use on a boat it is now called a line, everything else is a rope until further notice.
We are now in a fight with the local flies and no see ums’… those nasty little bugs you can’t see but are all teeth. They like this place and enjoy coming inside out of the weather. Another thing we do is examine the bottom of the boat… a lot. The more Carey looks at what needs to be done, the more he finds to do, so is considering quitting now.
It’s two miles to town, and floods when it rains. It costs $5 and hour to be online if you bring your own computer and $10 an hour if you use their computer. Salad dressing is $11 a bottle. Everyone here is very friendly; we were sitting down taking a break while looking at the map when some kids pull a U-turn in their car to ask us if we needed help. The only pay phones in town are at the phone company office, there are three, they never all work at the same time. Laundry is $2.50 per wash and 25 cents a minute to dry. There is no social life in the boat yard. There is no produce at the grocery store on Tuesdays, until late in the day. There is no public transportation but anyone will pick you up and give you a ride if you stick your thumb out.
On the news this morning the announcer urged parents to be sure to send their kids off to school with a jacket and not just a sweater, since the high temperature was only going to be seventy-two degrees today and not to worry, this cold snap would only last a couple of days.
Everyone smiles and says, how are you. There is not a lot of cussing here and kind words are many. Christianity is the national religion and all the locals believe God smiles on the Bahamas… we think they’re right.
We miss our kids terribly!!
So there you have it, nothing new, nothing exciting and nothing much to report. Just workin’, grindin’, sandin’, patchin’ and paintin’ and livin’ the life on the hard.
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