Grenada Marine - Trading Views...

While we did enjoy a few days touring around Grenada, we spent the bulk of our time there doing boat work.

We had noticed a bit of play in our starboard rudder and after talking to numerous people about it we decided to slip the boat at Grenada Marine and address a number of items on our 'fix it' list before heading into the Pacific.

We anchored in St.David's Harbour upon arrival in Grenada.  The harbour is quite deep and the bottom foul, diving on our anchor in about 10m I was a bit scared we would be fouled when we tried to raise it and would recommend using one of Grenada Marine's moorings next time.

We were amazed throughout our experience by how quickly we were helped by Grenada Marine.  Without any reservations, we were hauled out the day after we arrived!

Immediately after being hauled, we removed the rudders.  It was somewhat reassuring news to confirm that the bearing had slipped - so we didn't slip the boat for nothing!

The rudders on our Lagoon 420 are fiberglass, with the stocks located inside a fiberglass casing that runs well above the waterline.  I've been told that the rudders float and can be removed while in the water ... but we wouldn't have been able to fix our bearing issue in the water!  

The rudder stock has two stainless steel rings, which rotate inside of brass casings which are bonded into the hull.  

This is the stainless steel ring built into the rudder stock.  There are also small plastic washers on the bottom of the rudder and rings at the top (probably Delrin or similar).

The brass ring is sitting around the stainless in this photo and the one below.

The brass ring on the starboard side had broken the bonds with the hull and was allowing the rudder to have some play and rub ... probably not a fatal issue, but over time it would have deteriorated the brass and allowed more and more play ... so we were glad to be able to fix the issue.

We engaged the fiberglass specialists of Grenada Marine to fiberglass the brass bearing closed around the stainless ring for a nice tight fit, then bonded the brass bearing back to the hull.

While fixing the rudder bearing was our primary purpose, we also addressed a number of other fix it issues.  We changed the seals & oil in the sail drives and engines (more quickly than required, but we did not have maintenance records from the prior owners and are taking as many precautions as possible to ensure Lazy Bones stays in great shape!).

Grenada Marine is a full service yard, with mechanical, fiberglass & electrical specialists (though the last were unable to help us with an issue we are having with our radio).

We decided to also take advantage of the great labour prices here to have the hulls compounded, waxed & polished.  Where the stickers had been on the hull the gelcoat had not weathered as much as the rest, but the guys did a great job and the hull looks good as new!

They also removed the paint over the windows (which you can see above was not the prettiest from the stickers).  There were also some scrapes in the gelcoat along the port side of the hull - and I'm glad to say that the gelcoat work was done to such a good degree that we couldn't even tell where the scratches were once the new gelcoat hardened!

While not part of the Grenada Marine company, there is also a sailmaker on premises - Martin Brown of Turbulence sails.  We took the opportunity to have our mainsail tidied up as there was some stitching that had come loose near the head of the sail - and we want her in the best condition possible before heading for the Pacific & Australia.

Martin's team were able to do a great job tidying up the sail, and we also engaged them to build us a new sun awning for the back of our boat (pics to come on that, but we think they did a great job for a great price!).

We also took the time to cross off most of our outstanding 'to do' list items.  We replaced the bridle for our anchor (Mike had a full afternoon of splicing fun!)

And we wired a new 12 volt plug onto the port side of the boat so that we could move our portable freezer out of the main cabin.  Mike's electrical skills are definitely getting up there!

 

 And of course ... the requisite toilet work ... there seems to always be something to do with toilets!

All in all, we managed to smash our jobs list while at Grenada Marine.  We know it was low season for them, which probably goes to explaining our great turn around on work, but in the five days we spent on the hard we managed to get through a long list of items and were ready to head off for Bonaire feeling confident that all the major issues we knew about were taken care of!

The Grenada Marine yard was also an interesting place to stay aboard.  There were a number of other cruisers getting work done, and we met a great Australian family on a Lagoon 440 who we hope to bump into again as they'll be crossing the Pacific with us this season.

The yard had a market on Saturdays, and a nice little restaurant where we had some drinks with our new friends.

  And of course, the goats walking through the yard added to the experience!

But ... we were very excited to get back in the water and head off to enjoy the rest of our time in Grenada and get ready to sail across to Bonaire.

Grenada - The Spice Island!

Grenada - our last stop in the Windward Islands was a very busy time. Knowing that we were heading into longer stretches at sea across the Pacific, we decided to haul out our boat and have some major work done. Separate post on the haul-out to follow. But, before the work started - we were able to enjoy some highlights of the island. 

Carriacou (part of the nation of Grenada but a separate island to the north) was our first destination.

A lunchtime stop at beautiful Sandy Island!

We had the sliver of beach to ourselves!

A night out on the town in Tyrell Bay (pop 750), Carriacou. To kick things off - rum punch with 

freshly grated nutmeg.

Then a few Caribs ... brewed locally in Grenada.

Local steel pan at the 'Lambi Queen' restaurant.

Starters; Callaloo fritters with tzaziki and salad. Delish!

Mains: Curried lambi - which is the local name for conch

Followed by a West African drumming session

After Carriacou, we sailed down the west side of Grenada and stopped at St.David's Harbour where we hauled out at Grenada Marine.

Following 5 days on the hard doing boat work, we headed for St. Georges - the capital of Grenada

Local fishing boats

The renovated Grenada Public Library - first opened in the mid 1800s!

After a day walking around the Carrenage (central St.Georges' harbour), we took a tour of some of the island's tourist destinations.  Starting with an encounter with the Mona Monkeys in Grand Etang National Park

 Greedy little suckers

We followed up the monkeys with a refreshing swim at Annandale Falls.

We then ended our time touring Grenada with a snorkelling session at the underwater marine garden at Moliniere Point.  This marine park is full of statues that have been created and sunk amongst the coral.  Very beautiful and definitely worth a stop-over dive ... unfortunately our underwater camera bit the bullet a few weeks back so ... no pictures, but trust us it was cool!

Now we head off for our first long passage, from Grenada to Bonaire - 380nm at sea here we come!