Today I had to go shopping and leave Zanshin to the whims and vagaries of today’s exceptionally strong and gusty winds. The major item on my list was double-sided adhesive panels, and I spent 3 hours walking around different parts of Cole Bay looking for them, without success. I might have to use multiple strips of double-sided tape instead or end up ordering them from the USA. On the way I did some other shopping at ELECTEC, Island Waterworld, Budget Marine, ACE Hardware, Mr. Cool and some small Chinese grocery store; but fortunately most of the stores closed at 14:00 today and won’t be open tomorrow, so my credit card will have time to cool off between uses. I’d forgotten about the early Saturday closings until I had done my second shopping trip at 15:00 but quickly recalled the local hours when all of my favorite haunts were shuttered, chained and barred.
Back aboard the boat I proceeded to plan out the electrical connections for the solar installation, since it was far too windy outside to plan the solar panel installation position and prepare for drilling into the deck. Mark had already asked if I knew whether or not the decks were cored and I don’t know. If the decks are cored then I also need to epoxy any holes I do drill in order to prevent future water ingress into the balsa material, merely using 3M 4200 or 5200 as a sealant is not going to be sufficient in that case. The forecast is still for some gusty conditions tomorrow, so I will try to get all of my electrical preparations done so that once I do get my drilling done I can be up and charging as quickly as possible.
I went across to the 17:00 bridge opening, but there wasn’t much action on the water and I was soon back aboard Zanshin for a simple dinner and some time spent reading an e-book before turning in the for the night. The winds were still jerking the boat around on occasion and the very loud music from the Palapa bar kept overpowering the white noise of my bedside fan until about 3AM.
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