Home Office
Today has turned into a busy Monday. As usual, I had a full day at work in the virtual office in the morning. It began just before 6 AM, and my first conference call started at 7:00; it would have been nice if the Europeans hadn’t reset their clocks, robbing me of one hour’s worth of sleep.
I’d fired off several e-mails to various chandleries around the island regarding the very special connectors required for my fuel filter, and I received one positive response. Semi-positive, it stated that they might have the correct fitting in stock, but I should come by with the fuel filter to make sure. The Chandlery is located at the shipyard, a 30-minute walk from the boat. I didn’t expect much except for some exercise, but after searching through dusty drawers and shelves, they found 2 fittings for the Racor. Only €20 apiece for the little connector, but beggars can’t be choosers.
Water pump
I’d ordered a water pump online and used the French parcel service Chronopost to expedite delivery. It arrived today, but the courier left again because I wasn’t there to pay the €160 Duty. I’d been told that if I used “ship in transit,” this wouldn’t apply. I was wrong; this pump has a French 20% VAT, plus an additional 20% for Martinique, and an extra €150 for shipping. All in all, that makes it very expensive for parts here, and I’ll keep that in mind in the future.
I had to get the cash from an ATM, put it into an envelope, and give it to the Capitainerie so that they could pay him tomorrow. They can’t e-mail me when it is done, so I’ll have to repeat the 15-minute walk each way tomorrow afternoon to find out if it has been delivered.
Setting up the filter
My tubing for the fuel pump is 5/8, and the Racor connectors are 3/8. Adapters were not available in the first 3 chandleries I tried, but I found it in the 4th one.
Sailors
from Europe and the USA generally don’t understand the problems of maintenance in the Caribbean. In those places, overnight delivery from online stores with a huge selection is available. And a single local chandlery such as West Marine or AVN there is bigger than all the local ones here in Le Marin combined.
According to my Fitbit, I’ve already reached 13,400 steps today. All that just from walking around from store to store. Today is Monday, and the local restaurants are all closed, so I’ll rack up some more steps walking across the way to the main docks and restaurants. I haven’t done any shopping yet, and I’m not allowed to use the BBQ here at the dock.
Filling up the tank
I’m going to put 100l into the tank and see if it leaks. I’m taking a break from setting up the filtration and pumping system now, as it is hot and sticky in the aft cabin.
(Note – another trip to the chandlery added to my daily total. One adapter fitting I’d purchased didn’t fit. At least this chandlery was close by, and I made it just before 17:00 closing time.)