South from San Diego

Ensenada: in the Boat Yard

Wednesday, 19 November 1997

I am sitting on the boat, high and dry in the Baja Naval boat yard. It looks like we will not be back into the water until mid to late next week. They are real busy here and when we got the boat out of the water we discovered blisters that need some fixing before any painting can occur. They will eventually need some major repair and drying but with what they are doing we can put that off for 3 or so years and then plan to be out of the water for at least four months. We will plan that for a time when we plan to be away from the boat for a few months. Anyhow it will take us a little longer here than planned but we should still be on our way south by the end of the month.

We had a very peaceful sail down to the Coronado Islands from San Diego and then had a rolly night anchored off the south most of the islands. The next day was a pleasant sail to the bay here but the wind kept increasing all day and by the time we turned to head in to Ensenada it was gusting like in The Dalles and we had a rather wild 2 hour ride into the harbor. We were suppose to be hauled out the next day, Monday, but the yard was extremely busy so we were not hauled out until the following morning. The diver had done a great job on the bottom before we left Chula Vista and the bottom was real clean so they got to sanding it right away. Because of the blistering they are having to sand it real well and will open, clean and patch the largest of them before painting.

Thursday

Today is a Mexican holiday so there is no work going on in the yard. We took advantage of that and sanded our new boom crutch that Bill has almost finished. There was a parade in town and it passed down the main street in front of the boat yard. It lasted over 3 hours and Bill and I watched for about an hour toward its end. It seemed like every group of any sort was represented marching down the street in varied bright costumes. Then we went out for an ice cream cone and sat and people watched. A cruise ship was in so in addition to the local crowd there were tourists off the ship.

Friday

They started to grind out the blisters this afternoon and are about half done now. Bill got the notches in the boom crutch cut out for the boom to sit in and I got more sanding done on it but we spent much of the day just relaxing and reading some. We went to a great restaurant (CasaMar, just across the street from the boat yard) with a group of boaters tonight and had a great fish dinner for only $6.60 US each. It was sure an interesting group and we had a great time visiting. Here in Mexico you are never rushed at a restaurant and they do not bring the bill until you ask for it so we visited for well over an hour after we finished eating.

Saturday

Today they did not get any work done on our boat because they were painting the shinny paint on several other boats here and did not want to create any dust. Bill and I spent much of the day just watching the work in progress with the owners of the boats being painted. Then in the mid afternoon we took a long walk through a different section of town than we had walked before. We discovered some real stores and shops that were not just tourist traps. We also found a place to get some Xeroxing done as we need more copies of our boat documents for all the ports that we enter. We will probably do it on Monday. We also found a real grocery store. Monday morning we will also check it out and pick up some more supplies. We have been told, by other gringos, that the city water here is ok to drink although it is even harder than the San Diego water.

About dinner time those of us in the boat yard decided to pool our resources and have a barbecue next to our boat. We found some short 8x12 chunks of wood to use as seats and the neighbor brought his barbecue down from his boat. I baked up a few potatoes, we cooked up some steaks, a salad was made, and we all had a feast. We then nibbled on cookies while visiting until after 11. Since we were all getting cold we decided to head for warm blankets.

Sunday

Today the yard was closed so I got the sanding finished for our boom crutch and Bill got the new blocks on the toe rail track; including the slight enlargement of the many holes.

We again barbecued in the yard and this time we had the addition of the French couple from the docks. They are very interesting having traveled by boat from Europe to Florida by sailboat then picked up a motor home and traveled through the US for 3 years, even taking the ferry to Alaska before purchasing another boat in Portland, Oregon and bringing it down the coast to here. She is also a great cook and brought two delicious pies to the barbecue. We cooked up some of the fish from Rusty and Bill’s fishing trip and it also was delicious.

Monday 24 November

They got to work on the boat early today…grinding by 7:15 and finished with it by lunch break. They then painted all the ground out blisters with some straight West System epoxy before filling them with the same stuff thickened with the microballoons. They did not finish the filling until almost 6 PM and by that point there were three workers spreading the epoxy.

Bill and I spent part of the day tracking down some bolts to attach the cleats, that we picked up in Seattle several years ago, to replace those that had been on the toe rail track. Since we removed those cleats from the track yesterday, when we replaced the sail blocks, the new cleats now need to be installed on the deck. Anyhow we spent several hours walking all over town in the process of looking and never did find what we wanted, although we did find some interesting bolt stores. We have bolts to attach two of the cleats and may get that finished tomorrow. In our walking we ran across the big "Gigante Store", which is like a Fred Meyer with everything. We picked up a few rolls and some pop to drink, after making a quick explore of the store.

Our neighbor’s boat was launched after dark and after watching the launch, we visited with the French couple from down on the docks.

Tuesday 25 November

Much progress was made today!!! The mechanic replaced the cutlass bearing on the prop shaft with much effort but all is back together again. The sanding and patching of the hull was also finished and the first two coats of barrier paint were applied. Three more coats will be applied tomorrow morning and the first coat of bottom paint will go on tomorrow afternoon. Rain is expected here by tomorrow afternoon, so we shall see how much really gets done.

Bill and I installed two of the big cleats, the forward two, just aft of the aft lower chain plates. I got the boom crutch oiled and we declare it finished. I also added paint to the first three marks on the anchor chain. We also finished up the anchor snubber line with a 5 foot chunk of fire hose for chafe protection.

Wednesday, 26 November

Today they painted more barrier paint on, 3 more coats, and it took all morning. The stands were all moved around and the spots under them were also painted. Then just as the lunch break was finishing the wind picked up (to 50 mph!) and it poured rain. There was a mad scramble to cover and pick up things and close boats that they had been working on. The also checked all the stands and then went to hide inside. The rain cut back and our new depth sounder got installed. Bill and I then ran the wires and finished the hook up….we can not test it until we get the boat into the water. We also got all the wiring for the old sounder out…we are holding off on the removal of display unit until the hole can be patched.

Earlier in the day Bill lowered the boom onto the new crutch for the first time. We needed to lower the gooseneck at the mast to the upper of Fred’s holes. All is level now and looks great.

After it rained I mopped the deck and hosed it down. The several downpours over the night really cleaned things off. Looks like our hope of getting back in the water tomorrow was washed out by the rain. Maybe on Saturday if it is dry tomorrow and they can start the painting again in the morning.

Thursday 27 November

It sure poured some early this morning with lightening and all, and it even sprinkled some until about 10AM. A light sanding was done on the entire hull and a coat of barrier paint was added before the first coat of bottom paint was applied. Bill went into town just before noon and went to the Internet Café house and sent and received our e-mail letters from home. It worked well so we will send and receive them again the same day that we check out with the port captain.

We went out to dinner with our friends that limped into here with a broken rudder. They are now out of the water with the rudder being rebuilt. Four friends of theirs that are out in the anchorage arrived to go to dinner too. One of the couples was the one we had met in Coos Bay last summer as we drove south after leaving one car in The Dalles. We had dinner at a little restaurant that advertised Thanksgiving turkey dinners. The food was great and the couple that owned the restaurant where people that had lived in Chula Vista at the end of our dock. They had come down here at the beginning of the year and set up the restaurant.

Friday 28 November

We were up early and so were the yard workers. The second coat of bottom paint was applied in the morning and the partial third applied in the early afternoon. Bill and I made a trip to the Panaderia in the morning and picked up some rolls then in the afternoon we picked up some tortillas and avocados after our long walk. Today we walked along Hwy 1 to the new Navy base and then continued on to Avenuda Reforma before turning back to the boat yard. About a two hour walk including the stop at the Ice cream store two blocks from home. Late in the afternoon the boat was lifted up in the lift so that the front of the keel could be worked on and tomorrow it is back into the water!

We went to dinner with Sarah and Darrell from Mavourneen, another boat that is high and dry in the boat yard, to the restaurant that served great fish dishes. We had another great dinner and a nice visit with our new friends. They are also on their way south so we will probably run into them again.

Saturday

The painting was finished on the keel and we were put into the water while Bill was in the office settling the bill. I was rather nervous as the boat was centered in the lift slip after launch and I could not get onto it to check the new underwater fittings. Bill finally came out and Darrell and Sarah helped us to move the boat over so that the two of us could climb on board. Then we were trapped there until Bill used the radio to call for line handlers to cast us off. We were out and anchored by ham radio schedule time. I had a great conversation with Craig and Bob. The signal was up and down but mostly armchair copy!! Bill got the engine room boards all back in and the tool boxes put away while I was talking. The two of us then spent the rest of the afternoon getting the rest of the boat ship shape.

Sunday

We tossed the dingy overboard and took a spin around the harbor then went into the docks at Bahia Naval to see if Clark would again take some letters north with him to mail for us. The rain arrived before we could get back to the boat and we both got a little wet. It rained much of the afternoon and cleaned most of the yard grunge off of the boat. After doing a little more "put it back together" we spent the rest of the afternoon reading.