January 2017 | MONTH IN REVIEW

 

Here's a quick summary of what we were up to this month.

• First off, here's wishing everyone good health, wealth and happiness in 2017!

• We attended a pot-luck New Year's party for all cruisers that were here in Trinidad. It was organised by the Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) and Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) at the Trinidad and Tobago Sailing Association (TTSA). Alex and I aren't the most sociable people, we mainly keep to ourselves (I blame it on.. too much boat work!), but we appreciated the invitation and had a good time.

• Our boat projects and repairs continue. The list is never-ending. A boat is like a can of worms. You try to fix one thing and then you find out you need to fix a million other things in order to fix that one thing!

• We sanded and re-painted the freezer door, re-sealed the drainage in the cockpit, modified the battery rack to accommodate the new batteries and added straps to secure them.

• I missed celebrating Chinese New Year with my family. It's definitely hard being away from family and friends during the festive holidays. Even though it's almost always hectic and chaotic, even a little stressful at times, but at the end of the day, when I'm back on the boat (watching the sunset/working on the boat), it's the good times that I recall and can't wait to go home and do it all over again.

• Lastly, so so happy we met our dearest friends Daniela & Rolf on S/Y Yelo whom we first met in South Africa, then in French Guyana and now here in Trinidad! :)

Check out our posts this month:

Dealing with Vesco Plastic Sales

Festivities in Trinidad

 

December 2016 | MONTH IN REVIEW >>

February 2017 | MONTH IN REVIEW <<

 

Sanded and re-painted the freezer door

Till next month! ;)

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Festivities in Trinidad

4 months in and we're still working hard on Raptor. The list is never ending (but we're still hopeful). We celebrated Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year's here. Just thought we'd share some photos of the festivities.

A new friend in this holiday season at West Mall

On Christmas Eve, we met a local Trinidadian from a mutual friend in Singapore via Facebook. Thanks Kwanieze for meeting up with us. It's always nice to meet a local wherever we are and always happy to make new friends.

Alex beaming from ear to ear with his Christmas gifts

Christmas Day - You must be a true sailor to smile so brightly when you get a leveler, a knife sharpener and a set of drill bits as presents. (p/s: these were gifts to himself). Unfortunately the leveler did not work as expected so we had to return it.

New Year's Day Celebration for Yachties

A pot-luck style New Year's Day event for cruisers from around the world organised by the SSCA, OCC at TTSA (I hope I got it right). For the uninitiated, the SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association), OCC (Ocean Cruising Club), TTSA (Trinidad and Tobago Sailing Association). A little ashamed, I had to google these acronyms too.

We almost won a prize during the lucky draw but we lost it because we did not know that the national bird of Trinidad and Tobago was the Scarlet Ibis! That'll teach us to learn more interesting facts about the country we're in.

Welcome 2017!

I just realised Alex was wearing the same T-shirt and shorts combo on Christmas Eve and New Years day! Such is a sailors life and his wardrobe. 

28th January 2017 - It's Chinese New Year! Even though there are lots of Chinese (shop owners) in Port of Spain, we didn't see any celebrations. It was business as usual. I guess the Chinese here are business first, celebrations later?

Alex & I wearing red to usher in some good luck for the New Year!

Here's wishing everyone good health, good luck, happiness, prosperity and abundance in the Rooster year!

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Dealing with Vesco Plastic Sales

Just wanted to share our experience of dealing with Vesco Plastic Sales in South Africa.

We ordered some Vesconite for our gearbox in August 2014 sent to Brazil, then 4 Vesconite bushings for our rudders in March 2015 to Trinidad. This time around, we ordered a customised bushing in Vesconite Hilube for our gearbox.

On 20th December 2016, we sent them our design requirements in a pdf format (see below). After a couple of calls and re-quotes later, we confirmed our order on 3rd January and made payment via PayPal the next day. They confirmed receipt of our payment on 5th January and the package was sent via UPS from South Africa on 12th January. Within 2 weeks of payment, we received our customised bushing at the Power Boats office on 17th January.

All in all, we've had good experiences dealing with them and they've been consistent in their service.

Custom Design Requirements

Shipment Tracker

Order Received

What's Vesconite?

Vesconite and Vesconite Hilube are low friction materials for long life bearings, designed to operate with little or no greasing. Up to 10 times the life of bronze bushes. No swell. Use where nylon unsuitable. Low wear. Outlasts acetal bearings. Under water bushes. Thrives with water as lubricant. Best material for dirty and poorly lubricated conditions. 

VESCONITE has high dimensional stability and does not swell in water, in contrast to most synthetic materials which swell in water. For example nylon absorbs up to 9% water by weight with consequent swell and softening.  

VESCONITE combines a load carrying capacity greater than white metal with self lubricating properties better than nylon. 

*copied from www.vesconite.com

It's good stuff if you ask us!

In case you're wondering where we installed it? See photo's below:

Upper Gearbox

Front

Back

Our custom made Vesconite bushing now sits between the engine and the flange of the upper gearbox - hopefully there'll be no more vibration & abrasion & constant destruction of our damper plate.

Have you used Vesconite? We'd love to hear your thoughts.

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