Record breaking repairs. (Panama)

 



We’re back tied to the dock at Shelter Bay marina. Landlubbing once again.. though not through choice.
This morning I shaved four and half days off my previous record… managing to drop the rudder with the boat still in the water in under 2 1/2hrs. Not bad considering my previous best was 5 long days back in Crete.
The damage from our recent encounter with a submerged rock, doesn’t look all that terrible now that I have the rudder on the dock; only a small section at the base of the rudder has been shredded.
More goodish news followed when I swam down to look at the keel - other than a few scuffs to the base it’s all good down there. No water coming in. Considering the hammering the boat sustained, this isn’t a bad outcome.
The rudder will need to be repaired here before we go on, and fibreglassing isn’t a skill I possess just yet.
More record breaking followed the next day: I fixed the outboard, dropping and refitting the lower leg in 2 hours, vs 2 days previously. That turned out to be a component (a woodruff key) which hadn’t been fitted by the previous owner. This meant cooling water was not being pumped round the engine block. Very satisfying to finally get a job that starts with a problem and ends with a solution!
It’s all getting a bit tight with the repairs all needing to be completed before this coming Saturday when our transit of the canal is booked - and of course there’s a public holiday midweek! We took the damaged rudder along to the marina workshop today. Met a really nice guy, another Richardo, who sort of assured us that it’d be finished in time, fingers crossed he’s right! Later in the day he sent photos through of his rapid progress - looks like we might be OK: fingers crossed!
Next job is to secure some line handlers - each boat going through the canal needs 4 people to hold a rope which goes ashore to keep the vessel in place in the locks. I posted on the marina WhatsApp group and got a reply from a Canadian couple almost straight away.
We invited them over for coffee the next morning, and really could not have hoped for a better fit. They’re warm, friendly, have transited before and we all got on really well. They then recommended another couple, who also joined us for coffee - a younger Swiss pair, who are also a good fit for us and the boat.
Glad to get the line handlers sorted out - one less thing to worry about.
….and there’s a few at present!



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