A hole in the water

People say that “a boat is a hole in the water that you throw money in to.” After a few weeks in Tenerife, I fully understand what they mean.

Off Lisbon the genoa halyard broke and the local rigger explained that a lot of things had been rigged wrong in Scotand and needed correcting. In Tenerife we had a rigger (Nordest from Santa Cruz) make the necessary changes. New genoa furler and forestay. Complete rebuild of inner forestay. Improvements to the Vang. And it all cost money.

The team from Nordest in Santa Cruz

The engine had begun to pressurise the coolant and overheat so a diesel fitter came and eventually localised the fresh water heater as the problem. We have bridged the heater in the cooling system and paid another bill.

After 4000 miles and the rigging problems, both foresails needed some tender loving care so they both disappeared off to the sailmakers loft for a week. Needless to say he needed paying.

We needed a few changes to the electrical systems. The parts had to be ordered and flown from all over Europe to the Canary Islands. Luckily Neill could do this work himself but the components had to be paid for.

The last two days we have sailed from Tenerife to Gran Canaria and back to test that everything is working. The boat sails like a dream and the motor seems to be working. Now we are hoping that we have finished with repairs and improvements for the next few months.

Hopefully next week we leave for Cap Verde and a few months with no major bills.

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