Trouble discovered!!!
3 November 2007
On his way to recovery, John discovered our latest boat woe. Captain discovered rust and corrosion at our stem head fitting. Yes, we had this once before when we were underway to Ecuador. At that time, the stem head fitting broke and we were very lucky that no heads, limbs or bodies were lost overboard when the jib and roller furling flew. We were down below when the boom happened, but the crash was so severe that not only did the head stay fall, but also the swing of it gauged the deck, punched a hole in the fiberglass dinghy and broke a corner of our butterfly hatch.
Obviously we don't want to face that again in 30 knot of wind. Our general philosophy in the face of danger is to avoid it at all costs! Luckily, there has to be someone who welds well in American Samoa especially with it being a major shipyard!!! So, we may be here a while.
We have several options, maybe others, too:
Option 1. Redesign the stem head fitting connection, have it fabricated and then cut into the deck, welded the new connection to the boat and reinstall the jib and roller furling. We have no idea how long this effort will take to repair. It could take 2 days, 2 weeks or 2 months. If this major boat repair is completed in two days or a week, we could conceivably, sail straight 1800 miles to Majuro, Marshall Islands. Most boats have already left for shelter up north so we are already behind the curve. We would sail pass the islands of Western Samoa, Wallis, Tuvalu, and Kiribati; bee lining pass the reef islands, to hover the Hurricane season in the Marshall Islands. We would live in the Marshall Islands, and above Latitude 5˚N, for 6-7 months and then leave for the 5,000-mile Pacific Ocean passage in late May for the California coast.
Option 2. Repair the stem head fitting. The longer we stay, the winds shift more to the northeast making it more difficult and less comfortable to get to Majuro Island. It also means we will need to pass up visiting Western Samoa, Wallis, Tuvalu, and Kiribati. In addition, even with three weeks here in America Samoa, John and I feel we have not given this island or the people the kind of attention that their culture deserves. This option means staying with a half dozen other boats through the cyclone/hurricane season.
We would hold out here in American Samoa and hope that the hurricane season will be a mild one and if not, then we “ride out a hurricane”. We have experience with hurricanes (some may remember our times with Hurricane Javier and Hurricane Adrian), but neither hit us directly. We were lucky. Will we be able to say that again?
On the other hand, the extra time enables us time to finish other boat maintenance and repairs, provision, receive mail & supplies from the USA, have Gaby’s new glasses adjusted, and aim the girl’s towards completing most of their school over the next five months. They would then have four months to enjoy traveling with no schoolwork responsibilities. We’d leave at the end of March, to visit the reef islands of Western Samoa, Wallis, Tuvalu, and Kiribati, thereby having a shorter time to visit the Marshall Islands. In late May, we would leave for the 5,000 mile Pacific Ocean passage to California, a 45 day passage (our longest yet).
So, for today, we are recalculating our options and plans. I have halted on the provisioning as we discuss the advantages and disadvantages to our options.
John will go to the Shipyard and meet with them to see if they can fabricate the parts and cut/weld the deck. Yes, in hindsight, we wished we had had this done in Salinas, Ecuador. Alas, however, we had our hands full at that time with all our other hull work. Certainly feels like we are rebuilding every inch of Encanto, piece by piece.
We'll keep you posted, but that is today's latest scoop.