After a three month layup, Intermezzo is getting ready to sail again!
I arrived here this morning at Marina Chiapas after spending the last month land-touring Mexico and taking two weeks of Spanish classes in Guanajuato. It was good to get back to the boat. Intermezzo is a little dirty outside and not quite fresh smelling yet inside, but all is well.
Today I unpacked, took stock of what needs to be done and then focused on finishing up work on the propellers. When I installed the port propeller after taking it back to the US to be repaired, I didn’t have time to tighten the main nut holding it on to the shaft properly. I have been worrying about it falling off ever since, so it felt good to get it on really tight today. The starboard propeller and saildrive just needed their sacrificial anodes replaced, which was easy. I also replaced that propeller’s worn flexible stops, three little pieces of rigid rubber that were a bitch to get in and took me a solid hour of pushing and prying.
I’m living on board, “on the hard” (on land) this time rather than staying at a hotel like I did when I was here in January. It’s not the most comfortable way to live, but it gives me more time at the boat, saves money and allows for emotional re-bonding between the boat and me, very important for our relationship.
The marina guys have prepped the bottom and the saildrives so that we can paint tomorrow. If that goes well we’ll launch on Wednesday.
The weather for the Gulfo de Tehuantepec is looking a little iffy for Thursday and Friday, with the forecast showing a patch of wind in the 25-35 knot range near Salina Cruz and some pretty big seas offshore. We could probably sneak our way across by hugging closely to the coast, but it will probably be more comfortable to wait to leave on Friday so that the windy patch has dissipated by the time we get there on Saturday.
It’s nice to be planning a passage again!
Renee arrives here on Wednesday morning after a red-eye flight and a month of working hard moving her Mom and Aunt to their new home in a nice retirement community and getting their house ready to rent. I expect her to be pretty exhausted. Another good reason to push back our departure until Friday.
