It is normal to paint the boat bottom every two to three years, in order to prevent marine growth. We have the boat hauled out in La Cruz shipyard in Mexico. The mast has been removed for corrosion/repaint work. Sails are being inspected and repaired by “North Sails” loft in Puerto Vallarta. For other projects, we hired contractors. The rest including the bottom paint, we do on our own. Strangely, I am enjoying doing physical work. It feels rewarding when a task is done.
We carry lots of tools on the boat. Some tools are based on inches and others are millimeters. John has two full sets of wrenches (about 50 different sizes). Although, we still need a different size of wrench. This happened while working on the “Propeller Shaft”, we needed a bigger wrench. In Mexico, US stores like Home Depot, Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Costco are around, about bus/taxi distance away to us. Not wanting to stop our work in the middle of the project, John used a pair of pliers instead of a wrench. He remembered that his Colombian worker used to call it “Macho Solo”. I immediately liked the term “Macho Solo”. It is much better than the term “snowflake”.
For a change, we are living in an air-conditioned rental house and experiencing local life. We often eat Tortillas, Burritos, and Tacos. Local laundromats are convenient and inexpensive. Paying a few dollars, I get the whole clean and folded clothes back. Drinking water is delivered by a waterman. It seems they purify water in their own place. A bottle of 5 gallon is 16 Mexican Pesos (less than US$1) delivered to a house. For groceries, I daily walk to a small store in town. The internet speed is fast at the rental. During non-boat work hours, we just like to rest and surf the Internet watching lots of the US news. Blah-blah-blah… but it is addicting…
“Every moment is a fresh beginning.” – T.S. Eliot (a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor, 1888 – 1965)