The winds have kicked up and I really ought to relocate but it is nice to be in dinghy range of things rather than have to rent a car and drive. The dinghy, now that I can give a bit of gas without having to worry about decapitating myself or otherwise wreaking havoc I remember that the dinghy has a bit of cavitation problems and that I’ve got to install the fins – but that is a bit of work involving using a drill. Nonetheless I zipped across the lagoon to the Dutch side in the late morning hours and got the rest of the screws and bolts to attach the fins and to complete the (as yet not started) task of the lines for lifting the dinghy. I dropped off the Scuba Pro octopus to let the dive shop attach it, since I gave it a go and had no luck at all. I don’t know what magic they are going to do since I have no idea how the high-pressure hose will fit through that narrow opening. They said I should pick it up tomorrow sometime.
Back aboard the boat I decided I really needed to get those stabilizing fins onto the outboard and got to work. The outboard had to be taken off the dinghy and I had some mats laid out on the transom. Despite the rolling around of both dinghy and boat I got the engine up on the transom and then immobilized it with some line. While it was drying out I cleaned the engine exterior a bit and gave it another dose of WD-40 and then put together my complicated Dremel gear. It starts with a 220V extension cord to a massive 220V/50Hz to 110V/60Hz convert and from there a 110V cord goes to the Dremel. Of course, after I got everything readied I realized that my bolts are 5/16″ and the biggest Dremel drill I have is a mere 1/8″. I finally got the 4 holes drilled into the dinghy’s aluminium housing and then used the Dremel router to expand the hole size. I found out while drilling the 3rd and 4th holes that my drill bit was for wood, not metal since it no longer did much except make noise. The next size down drill bit had to see some use and is probably now shot as well. But the 4 holes were now drilled and the bolts fit into them so the project was complete, except for the lengthy cleanup process which I am effectively procrastinating by writing this blog entry.
I took the dinghy for a quick test run and am a bit disappointed that the handling hasn’t changed appreciably, but that could be due to the heavy winds and chop in the anchorage. There is still an occasional revving of the engine with a corresponding loss of speed which indicates cavitation to me. With the big fins I doubt that the propeller is getting air from the surface, so if it is cavitating it means that the propeller isn’t pitched correctly for the speeds I want to travel. This, too, is unlikely so perhaps the propeller has damage; one of the blades looked a bit flatter on one edge than the others which might be the issue. I’ll give the dinghy a spin later on today when I head ashore in conditions that are less boisterous than now.
While the weather didn’t calm appreciably after sunset I went ashore and walked around the waterfront for a bit, then opted to eat at Le Spinnaker inside Port Royal and was surprised to see a small floating dock attached to the Capitainerie with some musicians playing music for the folks at the various restaurants there. The saxophonist was excellent, as was the food.
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