As anyone who owns a boat knows, Murphy lives on a boat. There is always something that needs to be fixed or repaired. I've been dealing with the hose that connects the propane tank to the line that goes to our stove. Our propane tank ran out, and when we went to switch over to the other tank, the old line started leaking propane. Not only is this very dangerous, it also means we can't use our stove or oven. In the States, no problem, just go to the store and replace the part.
Well this happened on a Saturday here and many of the locals are 7th Day Adventists, meaning Saturday is the sabbath and everything is closed. I waited until Sunday and tried Ace Hardware and Madeyso (another hardware store) as everything on this island runs on propane with no luck. The one place that will have it (the amazing Parker Store) is closed on Sunday so I have to wait another day. Getting around for us isn't exactly easy as we don't have a car, so we either have to hitch a ride (thanks Sterling!!) or rent a car each time. But the rental car we use was booked for the week so our good friend Mitch saved the day and let us borrow his car! I finally get to the Parker Store on Monday and they made the part for me, great success! It only took 3 days of trying.
The other issue we discovered this week is that the refrigerator/ freezer isn't cooling right. It's only freezing on one side of the plate. I tried defrosting it completely and seeing if it worked afterwards with no luck. We posted to our Beneteau Oceanis 393 group and got some good information but nothing that was actionable. Next step, find a qualified person who can repair boat refrigerators in Roatan. Everyone I asked said Andre' at Cool Air was the guy -- honest, reliable and experienced. I stopped there on the way back from the Parker Store and he promised he would come later that day. I was really nervous because if it wasn't something simple -- I was dreading the thought of getting a replacement freezer plate or compressor. This is after all the original refrigerator in a 2002 boat.
Getting a replacement wouldn't just be very expensive, it would take weeks to get one down here. So Andre' came in the afternoon like he promised and checked the freon. It was low. This was the best possible scenario I could hope for. He added freon and we watched it overnight, bleeding the excess freon until it stopped freezing the line ... success! Now we have a working stove and refrigerator! It's the little things but I'm very happy.
Steve is over at Subway Watersports helping out with a PADI Rescue Diver course and today I'm making bread and relaxing with a little Shark Week. Tomorrow Steve is doing some DSDs at Subway. We have to get ready for our full day sailing trip on Thursday and then off to West End where we can clean the bottom and change the zinc. Hopefully we can dive and have a little reprieve from things breaking, but this is a boat!
Until next time. A