The last 2 days on the boat yard are spent doing more jobs. Ian has finally drilled the hole in the comms mast and fitted the lead back in to the control… hard job pushing these wires in. We bought the semi flexible solar panels (100 watts each) and started the installation of these, more wiring to do. This should really make a big difference to our energy production, coupled with the wind generator, it should change our lives…we will be able to run the fridge even.
The anchor has been swapped to the bigger anchor chain we had. This should ensure we do not drift. Will it fit on the windlass? We’ll have to try.
The batteries in the wind instrument have also been changed, ready to go back up the mast when we are afloat.
For my part, I take care of the domestic side of things, 2 trips to the launderette and trips to Carrefour and leader price food shopping. I got some help there too. Lynn and Peter are back from the UK, they have rented a car and an apartment for a few days and very kindly, they take me shopping… so much easier with transport.
We are scheduled to be hoisted back in the water on the 18th May at 10am. As per usual, the timing is a bit adrift and we are not in slings before 11:30am. All goes very well until we are in the dock, Ian needs to reverse out and when he does the boat moves forward which is not a good thing as we only are a metre away from the concrete edge of the dock. Heart in the mouth moment. Fortunately he was going so slow that we did not touch. Going forward had the desired effect of moving the boat backwards….we have a problem and it is definitely the prop. We will need to be hoisted back out of the water, there is no way the investigation can be done while afloat. The hoist is booked up for the rest of the day, until 4pm so we park ourselves by the side of the dock and march up to Altec Marine to try to figure out what is going on and how we are going to resolve it. High octane drama in the office above the workshop. Nathaniel, the nice young man who serviced our prop is sitting on a chair not looking too hot, white as a sheet. His hand is pressing a bloody handkerchief on his eye. Fortunately the eye has not been touched, only his forehead has a nasty gash of about 10 cm. Both the boss, Frank and Laurence, his secretary, are making frantic phone calls to doctor and pharmacy. It transpires that the doctor would be able to suture the wound if he had surgical needle and thread but he has run out. A pharmacy has been called and they have not got any in stock so Laurence is calling all the pharmacies around. We have some on board so I offer to go and get it, by the time I get back with our suture kit, they have located some so it is not needed any more. In the middle of all this, we are asked what brings us back here and when we quickly explain, not wanting to delay the treatment of the emergency, we are told to get the boat back out of the water and that Franck will have a look at 4 pm this afternoon. Back to the yard to arrange the lifting out for the end of the day so it can be left in the sling whistle it is put right. Of course this will be at an extra charge as it will be out of hours; the lifting out cost around 450 Euros, steep. Franck did not have the courtesy to come and talk to us to sort anything out although we saw him at the end of the pontoon. I am spitting feathers, we have gone through all the possibilities and it seems pretty obvious that the prop was not reassembled properly. Max prop are a bit fiddly and the skills to service or repair them are not found in all the boat yards. Altec Marine was supposedly the expert in le Marin. Ian had watched them the whole time and asked questions, trying to learn so next time he could either assist a mechanic to do it or even do it himself if necessary. He had the instruction manual and was following their every move. And just as well, he noticed when they had oiled and reassemble it that the position of the propeller blades was not as per the book, so they did change them, but obviously now we were wondering if this was correct. To be fair, the guys had called their boss to have him check it all up and even Ian had chased him to come and have a look just to be sure. He did not bother to turn up on both counts. So come 4pm we are hauled back out, and we wait and we wait. The lift drivers want to know when Franck is going to turn up or if he is going to… they gave us till 5pm and then they will have to put us on struts for the night (more cost looming!) and there it starts, I get Maggie in the yard office to call him, once, twice, three times…he is always 10 min away! I can’t believe the lack of respect of this man, holding up everyone. He finally arrives at 5.15, with Erwan, the prop is dismantled bit by bit. All the while he is saying there must be a fault with the prop, nothing to do with the work of his guys, trying to exonerate them and not taking his responsibility. I translate back and forth, even Ian is outraged, the prop was working correctly when we gave it to service and it is not now. All the while, there are people coming and going adding their 2 pennies worth (we are positioned just in front of the shop/bar, plenty of people having a drink at this time of the day), and the lift drivers hovering around trying to speed up the process so they can go home. Maggie turns up with an invoice for the lifting out and back in…she wants to know who is going to pay so she can go home, it is 6:30pm after all. Franck won’t commit to settling the bill; he is not convinced that it is his fault. Much to my unbelieving ears he actually suggests we go half and half on it! I just glare at him… There is no way we are going to pay for this, but to keep Maggie happy, Ian surrenders his passport and the boat papers until it is all sorted. It is nearly 7pm by the time the prop is reassembled. Again Ian has been watching like a hawk and following the manual. He noticed a difference in the latest reassembling, using tape to avoid the shaft slipping. When questioned about it and looking at the booklet, Franck concedes that if tape is not used then the shaft will move and the numbers and letters will not align correctly. When pushed, he admits that the tuning is so fine that it could have slipped and changed the whole thing with the result of moving forward when it is in reverse. Still he won’t admit that it is his fault when I say in this case he will pay the bill. Back in the water, the prop is behaving correctly. I called out from the moving boat that this is the proof of the pudding, the prop was obviously not put back together right and that the invoice goes to him…instead of agreeing gracefully and apologise profusely, he replies that we’ll see tomorrow, he will have a think about it! Well by this time I am really wound up but Ian is driving the boat away and I am just left simmering not so gently. We park ourselves on the pontoon so we can be there tomorrow first thing. Lynn and Peter have been very supportive all day and Christine is now back in the water but they made us the kind offer to have a sleepover at their place in St Luce, 10km away. Guess they can sense we could do with a night away from the boat, chilling out with a pizza and a few drinks. And it was just lovely, we had a great evening catching up on their news after my venting.