Applying epoxy in the dark
It’s 9:00 AM and we have already moved the Leopard to Road Harbor to complete one more step for our boat registration. We travelled to the Moorings’ Phase Out facility at Hodges Creek yesterday where we had our long-awaited new rub rail installed. As you might imagine, they did not recognize the boat from the last time we were there in August.
The guys did a valiant job in the bright afternoon sunshine, earning themselves a nice cold Stag beer at quitting time. We were even able to trade our massive 12-man life raft for a more manageable 8-man raft, a big plus IMO.
While the work at Hodge’s Creek was going on, we hitchhiked in to town to meet with our lawyer to pick up the hard copy of our radio operators licenses and to discuss the remaining steps for One Love’s BVI registration. In order to finalize things the name on the stern and the official placard both need to be inspected (the letters designating our home port as White Bay need to be at least 4″ high and the placard needs to be permanently affixed to a bulkhead with epoxy). That will take place moments from now (Rebecca just left to pick up the inspector). As soon as the inspection is completed we’ll be making our way to Cruz Bay to clear out of the BVI and then continue on to the USVI. More fun and games await us there.
Applying epoxy in the dark… yeah, we must be boating.
Is the placard something the BVI government provides, or do you fabricate it yourself? When we applied the Coast Guard documentation number to our vessel, we had the numbers cut from 4″ vinyl, applied them to the hull inside a cockpit lazarette. and then glassed over them with a layer of wetted out fabric, which turned transparent once it was epoxied. Very very cheap, effective, and only took about 30 minutes to do.
The plaque was provided. Inspection passed. My late night epoxy worked.
You can self certificate to say that you have permanently fixed the boats registration number to a bulkhead and the home port lettering meets with MCA’s guideline……………..Carribean Surveyors didnt tell us that as they wanted another fee to return to the boat………..luckily Jan found this out by talking to someone at MCA
Saved us a bit of cash out of the rum rations
This is a BVI thing. They would allow that?
When you wrote about the autopilot chain in SXM, I was thinking about Moorings phase-out and if they would cover that replacement. In that type of situation, do they compensate you for repairs that you effect away from their facility?
On another topic, I’m trying to make sense of your AIS track from between UTC~15:36 and UTC~18:44. I’m wondering – Will this be part of your post for tomorrow or is it left up to us to guess….. Poor conditions? Lost a cushion overboard (I hope not)?
Issue one, why would they? It’s not a new boat under warrantee. It’s a used boat and things break.
Issue two, I’d rather not talk about it. 😉
Wouldn’t it be funny if we (landlubbers) all had names painted on our houses, with our original home town printed underneath?
That would be kinda funny.