Dingy Motor and boat part day – 5 July

So in spite of our rockstar 4th of july we where up early to take the motor in to budget. i had to put the old one in the dingy on the floor and put a new end on the old hose so we could use the new tank with the old motor fun fun. we dropped off the laundry and then headed over to budget with our list, primarily bottom paint and the motor. of course the two motor guys where “out sick” and they where not sure if they would be in at all this week. i guess if i lived in paradise i would not show up to work everyday either.

while we looked at paint ($300 per gal x 4, yikes) and got some other parts the dingy dude arrived. i got off to a bad start with him and the manager explaining the “problem” and having them tell me it was “normal”. finally we got the engine open and i asked if the salt and corrosion all around the head gasket was “normal” and they said yes not usually this bad but we fix it at the 50 hour service. of course i had not read the manual and had no clue there was a 50 hr service but i said thats pretty crappy i buy a new engine and then i have to pay to get it serviced after 50 hours. “the 50 hour service is free” the manager replied, things where looking better! i said so you can do the 50 hour service and you will remove the corrosion and repaint and it will not come back. yes he said, great i said ill be back tomorrow to pick up the engine! i still think this is a pretty crappy design has anyone else heard of this?

we spent the rest of the day provisioning before heading back to palapa for a swim and rest. no sooner than we had finished our swim than the guy on a trawler next to us with “RESEARCH” printed on the side invited us over for happy hour at 5. crap that only gave us an hour for a nap. we managed to get everything including an appetizer plate together and where only a few minutes late. it turned out this guy was a “treasure hunter”, to use aimee’s word and had been working on a wreck from the 1800s located off of st marteen. he had found it many years ago when he ran “water barges” in the islands and had finally gotten a permit from the dutch to recover the wreak. he was quite interesting and aimee really wanted to ask to go dive it but held her tungh!

we still had to head over to barnacles for there shut down party of 2$ corona and 10$ burgers. this was quite fun and aimee made friends with a brett, a canadian doing a complete refit of an older 60 foot sailboat, cinderella, which was moored on the dock behind barnacles sans mast.

Cheers Roger