Time is flying, and we like it here in Cartagena. The marina has 310 berths, comprising national and International customers, both long-term and transient. We have met some of the long-term customers and even some of the transients. At this time of the year, many cruising boats are stopping in, on their way to Gibraltar, the Canaries and west to the Caribbean (typical Atlantic crossing is mid November to mid January).
There is a weekly pot-luck BBQ every Sunday, and a Tapas night (restaurant) on Wednesdays. We regularly go the BBQ, but so far, have skipped the Tapas nights, simply because it’s too late for our digestion.
One big job that I have undertaken (and finished) has been to remove and replace the aft port light frames. I built JOANA with 23 hatches and port lights. All of these were bedded down over an epoxy coated hull or deck (as the case may be) in the summer of 1997. When we were in NZ, in 2016, I removed and re-bedded the 7 hatches in the deck. When I did this, I took care to refinish the deck and properly bed down the hatches in Sikaflex. Now, in Cartagena, it was time to do the same treatment for the 6 aft port lights.
The aluminum frames of these port lights were hiding a bit of rust (a dirty word on a steel boat, but it’s the truth).
So, taking advantage of the empty berth space next to us, so that I could work from our dinghy, I removed the frames, cleaned away the underlying hull area, and put on some primer.
Next, I repainted with many layers of epoxy and polyurethane – and then re-bedded them down with UV resistant Sikaflex. Well, not exactly, It was more cost effective, and much more pleasing to the eye – to have new 316 SS frames made, rather than re-using the old aluminum frames. This is the finished product.
While doing this job, of course I had to buy some materials – including this Scotch tape. I thought this was interesting. This tape is clearly “made in Canada”, but I am very certain that I bought it in Spain.
It’s not all work though. We went for walks downtown (only a hundred metres away) and visited the Naval Museum – with our friends Kevin and Sandy.
The downtown pedestrian area is absolutely stunning, beautiful architecture and very clean streets.
At one of the weekly BBQs, we met Mike and Glenda (from the Toronto area) on SV INNISFREE. They will also be here “for the winter”.
Another big job that has garnered a lot of attention is the repairs to the bow, from the anchoring incident at Palma in August. I did the paint repairs to the bow area myself, and used my grinder to cut off the broken bits from the bow roller assembly. I contracted with Manuel (a local welder to do the TIG welding for me).
When this job is finished, I will post more about it. As usual, I am not just repairing the bow roller assembly, but making it stronger and more functional.
One of our neighbours, for a few nights – was this catamaran. It is reported to be the largest aluminium sailing catamaran in the world with a total length of 47m, an exceptional beam of 17.30m and an impressive all-carbon sail plan with a 55m mast.