While trying to reason with hurricane season, projects get started on boats in the Caribbean and ‘Persephone’ is no exception. ‘Persephone’ has three projects underway:
1) I ordered an additional solar panel, the associated wiring and controller. The dealer shipped the panel by truck and the wires/controller via Fed Ex. The panel arrived at the port first (go figure) and the wires a week later. As a result, the panel and wires were loaded on two separate ships a week apart doubling the time and cost of shipment. The panel arrived first, and was installed while Persephone was at the dock. The panel wound up stewing in it’s own juice (pun intended) awaiting the wires/controller. The wires arrived last Thursday, but of course there was a local holiday last week (No, not July 4th...this is Grenada remember) and the container wasn’t stripped for an additional four days….there was nothing I could do, so, I decided to move on to another project.
2) The Sirius satellite radio antenna needed to be replaced, so a new one was ordered and shipped via Fed Ex. It arrived in 3 days which I thought was great timing. I immediately started the installation and discovered half way through that a special plug was not included in the box. A more careful reading of the box indicated that the plug was “available” not “included”…BIG difference. So, the adapter had to ordered from the states. It was shipped via UPS and when the package arrived at their hub in Antigua the union went on strike. The package sat in Antigua for 10 days while the labor dispute was resolved. (I called UPS to check on the status and was told: “No worries mon, strikes don’t last too long in the islands, relax, mon….” Yeah, right, easy for you to say !!) No problem, I will start project #3.
3) I wanted to install a loud hailer (sort of a loud speaker to yell at boats that anchor to close, usually French). The hailer had been ordered previously. I cut a length of stainless tubing for the mount, ran the wires through the bowels of the boat (a truly awful job), and installed the hailer; a two day project. (It was a masterpiece !!) I confidently picked up the mike and called “test one, two, test !!” All I could hear was static and garbled speech out of the speaker. DAMN !! I spent the next day checking all the connections….perfect. So, I borrowed a hailer from John on ‘Celtic Dream’ and it worked perfectly….my hailer was DEFECTIVE right out of the box !! The wires were run inside the tubing, so it took a half a day to dismount the defective hailer. It now has to be sent back and another one ordered…. You can’t make this stuff up !!
Strike Three !! I give up !! Wait !! I know what I can get accomplished….opening a couple of cold beers. It is the perfect solution....they couldn't get lost in shipment, as they were already in the refrig, a stike couldn't delay the opening as Persephone's crew is non-union; and finally, the first sip proved they were far from defective. (although it did take several gulps to make sure...) Yup, gotta love living in the islands ....ya, mon !!
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