Year 3 -29 May 2026 -Port Louis- Mauritius
I woke again at 6.00am by the alarm for my first drop and made some tea. I had breakfast and then wrote the blog. I checked the hatches that I had glued the day before and there had been rain in the night and there appeared to be no leaks so I think the gluing had worked.
Jerome arrived at 9.00am and I almost fell off my chair as he had never been on time before but that was good. He had brought the brackets for the side ladder and first set about fixing these on to the top and it was soon fixed. That was satisfying. Job done.
I had got the new charger which I showed Jerome and we then set about replacing it with the old one. Once it was in place and connected we turned the new charger on and it showed the same fault. My heart sunk. Jerome thought it could be the cable or the controller. Inside the Mastervolt box there is a temperature sensor linked to the batteries so that if the batteries get too hot then the chargers shut down. Jerome checked with the other charger and that was fine. He concluded that the problem was the temperature cable to the batteries as he was able to bypass that and the charger worked. We had a new one in the box so we fitted it having to lead the cable through various holes in the boat and bulkheads to the batteries. Once this was connected it worked. It was not the charger after all but just the cable. However, I had now got a new charger so I have a spare. It was good that we now have both 24v chargers working as that means I will not have to use 2x the generator power to charge the batteries which is what would have happened if I only had one charger.
Jerome had not brought a new hatch handle for the forward hatch so I got out my spares and we found a spare one we could fit which should prevent further leaks from the handle. The final thing I asked Jerome to do was to service the port winch on the mast which was not clicking properly. This he did and it was soon working properly again. This completed the jobs that I had asked Jerome to do and so I thanked him and felt satisfied about this.
The fridge had yet to be resolved but Jerome had put me in touch with a man who initially was coming at 5.00pm but later said he will come at 8.00am tomorrow.
Once Jerome had gone I set about sealing and gluing bits and edges of the deck on the anchor locker and lazarettes. This meant putting down masking tape and then using a grout gun squeezing and putting the sealant along the gaps and it is also a glue. Once in place you need to use some plastic to get an even surface and to remove the excess. Once in place you then take off the masking tape before it dries to give a neat edge. No matter how much care you take doing this it is virtually impossible to prevent the black sealant getting on to your hands and other things. I was in a bit of a mess when finished and so had to use Acetone to get the worst of it off me and other things. I have still got marks on my hands now and tomorrow I will tidy up. It was satisfying to have got this done.
Although I had lunch in between this took quite a bit of the afternoon. I then cleared up and rested. I then cleared the deck and tied the ladder and oars on properly.
I had emailed my weather man Des about his help from Reunion to Cape Town and he had responded and will help all the way. The first step will be to keep monitoring the weather nearer the time of the planned departure from Reunion.
I enjoyed a sundowner as it got dark and apart from the fridge I will have a day off really tomorrow before the ladies return. After a while doing jobs all day gets a bit tedious. I had supper on board and watched another film which was relaxing. However, it had been a satisfying day.
The picture of the day is an early morning view from Stormbird in the Caudan basin.
Need/Opportunity Year Three
I am now in Mauritius and will be going to Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK.
I have now found additional crew for Mauritius to Durban. There may be space from Durban to Cape Town from about the beginning of July and we should arrive in Cape Town on about 25-30 July 2026. If at all interested contact me on my email below or WhatsApp +44 7931360372.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com