Peakes Yacht Services (#1)

I no sooner got back to Trinidad and Lorena then I hoped into boat chores for a full two weeks!
Some days were easier than others, with a break at the “study hall” to work, read or write, while Brian drew. A chance to get away from the noise, the chemical smells and the heat of the yard.
We had a lot of work done in Lorena:
- mast taken down and new rigging, new mast head (for code zero), Genoa wire halyard, fixed furler on intermediate fore stay and painted parts of the mast.
- painted lower half starboard and polished the boat.
- bottom paint (using Carolina riper) in a burgundy color
- had stay sail re-sewn and taupe covers for the windlass and mast boat made.
- had a worker shine the portals
- We had the transom, tea seats, helm floor, helm table and drawers, crows nest, forward hatches and vents all stripped. We then put 2 coats of primer, sanded, 3 coats of gloss, sanded, and 3 more coats of gloss.
- we had teak gaskets made for the helm windows and epoxied them in. We also replaced pieces of teak veneer in the crew head and bunk (which we had to prime and gloss).
- cleaned, painted and lubricated the prop
- washed the dinghy, upholstery, and carpet.
Except for hiring a taxi for a few hours to take us to the Macqueripe beach and the Bamboo Cathedral… we were in the Yard. I did escape for a grocery run each week, which was provided by the Peakes shuttle (Mr Errol). We went to Massey, Price Smart (like Costco), Westbees, and Blooms (frozen high quality meat).
We also frequently went to Patches, the restaurant in the yard, and had a mango (Brian’s) and passion fruit (mine) smoothies. Our server was Natisha a sweet lady with a big heart!
Tim & Babs, who we visited in the Chesapeake last year were at Peakes, and so was Jim and Arden. We went to the Wheelhouse with them once (and on our own another time).
I felt sick one day (after returning from grocery shopping) and the smell of bottom paint and varnish was too much… so I took a room for a night. The a/c was nice and I taught yoga the next morning and Friday morning as well. I continued to teach RWW classes on the boat too.
The best part of staying at Peakes was the great bathroom and shower facilities all over the yard. I truly enjoyed LOTS of hot showers in an air conditioned bathroom. We also had to pee in a bottle at night (on the boat, on land)…. So the gallon vinegar bottle got trekked to the toilet each morning.
We splashed on Wednesday, Jan 21…. And I got to drive the boat to the well. Brian posted a video of it on FB, but I felt bad as the guy could lose his job for doing such a thing. It was FUN though!! As soon as the boat went into the water, we hoped aboard to make sure it was ok…. I was particularly worried about a through hull fitting that we (I) had epoxied and put back it. Sure enough, it was leaking worse than before. We had to get hauled back out and with a wonderful crew (Shiva … who does glass work) got the problem fixed (we tore out the thru hull and replaced it with a valve), and we’re back in the water within 90minutes.
We got the premium dock, the facedock, which was awesome, as the rest were med mooring.
The riggers came back to the boat to finish up and of course we still had lots of varnishing left.
On Friday afternoon we checked out of Trinidad, took one last shower, said goodbye to Danielle, Purusha and Christopher in the office and planned to leave early Saturday morning (Jan 24th) and head to Curacao.Read more