Boatyard Time

We decided after our incident in Mustique that even though Andrew had repaired the rudder, it’s a long way home to Australia and rudders are kind of important..... So we had Oyster fabricate a new one in the UK and ship it out to their team here in the USA, we also had a few little jobs at the end of our warranty period so we booked into the Hinckley Yacht Yard at Portsmouth, RI to tackle all these jobs in one.

Who is that at the wheel????

Bright and early on Tuesday morning Matty arrived with his guys and just took over Askari – Andrew didn’t know quite what to do as no-one else drives our girl, but things happen a bit differently in the US and before we knew it Askari was in the slings and out of the water – no hanging around! The guys dropped the rudder out supporting it with a forklift truck and within a couple of hours the new one was in. We had ordered a new rudder bearing too, however when that was checked it was totally fine so we sent that back to Oyster. However, there was a slight wear on one of the cutless bearings so we decided to stay out the water and get both changed out as a pre-emptive measure – the parts arrived the next day and then Rudy was on it. Getting the bolts out was quite a task and there was a lot of groaning and moaning from our man, in the end Andrew snuck in and loosened them – ha ha.

And she's out

Fork Lift Action

The quadrant is under our bed so alot of protection was put in place

If in doubt use a bigger hammer Rudy

While we were out Andrew scrubbed the antifoul – no need to replace it thankfully. And I polished the topsides. Steve and Fi stopped by for a dockside drink to brighten our mood – a burger at the local grille hit the spot. On the way out we checked out a few of the amazing yachts in this yard – supposed to be one of the best on the whole east coast. Askari was parked up right next to a two time Americas Cup winner. We also saw incredible race boats that popped out to have the underneath polished with a buffer in the middle of the night and huge yachts that towered over our Askari.

Askari alongside Courageous- nice new rudder

Another boat yard gathering with the Tramps!

Next AC contender??

On Friday morning the job was complete and as Andrew fitted the zincs to the propeller shaft Matty was there, it was a bit blowy but Andrew parked her perfectly into the marina berth, for the rest of the work to continue. We hired a car for a few days over the weekend but also got loaned vans by Hinckley and Oyster - both did an amazing job in supporting us and we are especially grateful to Will from Oyster who was there for Andrew to consult on everything we did, nearly every day - pretty amazing service.

While we were at Hinckley the list of jobs included:

	Hinkley & Oyster	Andrew and assistant Carolyn
	New Rudder fitted	Main Engine Service
	Replace Cutlass Bearings	Replaced Secondary Fuel Filters on Generator and Engine
	Rear Step – changed fittings and repair paint and gel	Replaced V belts on Main Engine
	Polished Propeller and shaft	Replaced Gear Box Oil
	Replaced door seals	Replaced Impeller on Engine
	Gel coat repair from the furler job in Antigua	Fixed slight coolant leak
	Replaced woodwork around microwave	Replaced aft holding tank sender (yuck)
	Repair and refinish main steps (ipad bouncing down the steps)	Replaced genoa strop, now the sail has settled
	Repair and seal bathroom door – had some water damage	Replaced wifi antenna, fell off during a bad tack (probably my fault….)
	Replaced trim to washing machine door	Replaced covers on light switches and plugs that had slightly tarnished
	New BBQ cover	Cleaned inside and out
	Installed fan to microwave cabinet to improve ventilation	Replaced all anodes
		Laundered everything from pillows to cushion covers
		Fixed slight leak on water maker
		Provisioned
		Polished hull and stainless steel

During the long weekend we popped over to Bristol to pick up Steve and Fi and we all went to Mystic Seaport for the day - this is such a cool museum which is a complete historic working port complete with restored old ships to explore, re-anactments, a ship yard with works underway and buildings that have been relocated. It was a really fun day and ended up with trying out the Stoli Boli at one of our fav Bristol bars. Monday we had a lovely afternoon at the home of friends Nicki and Tim, a really relaxed BBQ was such a treat in the middle of our boat yard time.

Bridge to Bristol, RI

At Mystic Seaport

Mystic Seaport

Mystic Seaport

Mayflower Replica

Lovely Tramps at Mystic

Rope making at Mystic

Mystic Seaport

Stoli Doli in Bristol

Another task that has been challenging us since we got to the US was how to get a prescription filled - simple things we just do at home without thinking can be a reall issue overseas. We finally found a walk in clinic and for a fee similar to our private GP in Australia we got the prescription. Next stop CVS pharmacy - bill $969! Seriously oh my gosh..... our shock lead to us decided to phone around to see if it was cheaper elsewhere - Walmart came up trumps with a saving of $200, but then as we were chatting to Amy (now known as amazing Amy), she suggested a site called GoodRX. Before we knew it we had some codes and the bill was now $190 saving $780. I have no idea how this happened but we are so grateful to her; the locals in Rhode Island really do go out of there way to help visitors and they all love the sailing community here - Thank you Rhode Island for being just great! 

Our last few days at Hinckley ended up being really social, I love it when this can just happen out of no-where. Our friends Bruce and Jane were having there boat lifted out and came for a glass of wine. Then the owner of the Oyster next to us came back to the boat, while two other boats arrived and before we knew it there was a full dock party. Such great fun.... although the owners of the lovely Hylas on the other side of us were flying home to Florida the next day directly into the path of Hurricane Irma which is bearing down on the hospital where he works. What amazing people to leave the safety to RI to get on the last flight into a such terrifying storm. Meanwhile our evenings have been spent reading reports of the devastation in the beautiful islands we have spent the later part of this last season - it just breaks my heart to think if the people we met and the places we visited- we are hoping we can do something to help when we get back to the Caribbean at the end of this year.

Happy face replacing a fuel filter! (he wasn't really that grumpy1?)

When the tools are out - chaos!

We also have had a chance to make a map with links to our more recent blog posts - see it here 

So we finally left Hinkley at Portsmouth for 'sea trials' this morning and trundled down to Newport for the night before we head off on the next part of our trip; carefully moving south. If I say we are monitoring the weather right now that would be an understatement - it's virtually full time! This is the time of year hurricanes can make landfall anywhere on the east coast of the USA so we have mapped out places to hide and haul down to the Chesapeake which is where we will be until we are happy the hurricane season is over.