Our Grand Adventure

25th September 2025 | Grenada

The engine parts were installed, the lazarette was painted and the training captain was coming in 2 days! We still had crap all over the back deck and miscellaneous things everywhere after weeks of working on the boat.

We wanted to protect the stringers in the lazarette to stop the paint chipping when we put parts in and out so we spent a few hours capping them with plastic hose. Then we rushed around for two days packing everything in the lazarette, checking all the systems, tying up chairs, findings our flags and and lines and snubbers and and and and… haha.

Training!

Two prep days later, and our training captain, Mark, arrived. We had a fantastic two days with him. We learnt how to manoeuvre the boat properly, picked up mooring balls, practiced anchoring, navigated a passage round the island and back. He had extensive experience through all the islands we are planning to travel through and he spent quite a bit of time going over charts and helping us think through our plans heading north. Coming back into the marina and doing stern-to docking was definitely the most challenging part and the first day was quite stressful, but the second day went much more smoothly.

We took the boat way out offshore to empty our holding tank and had had a running bet going for weeks on whether or not the mascerator pump would work – I was convinced it wouldn’t (because nearly every other pump on the boat had needed fixing) and Ryan was sure it would be fine.

I owed Ryan a beer after it all went smoothly and pumped out just fine on the first go! 

We now have a working toilet AND we can use it! We have rejoined modern society!

Overall, we were super happy with the time we spent with Mark. It really gave us both loads more confidence and the feeling of freedom and being so ready to go was intense! I would highly recommend paying for the training to anyone who asked in the future.

Only one thing happened to mar the great time we had with him – on the first day, we had the floor open to check on the stern gland while we were underway as we were worried about the temperature of it. I had my sunnies on and walking back through the saloon, the combination of bright exterior, dark interior and sunglasses on, well, I fell right through the floor onto the rotating shaft.

Thankfully Ryan heard me yelp as I fell in, came to check on me, and quickly had Mark put the engine in neutral.

I don’t know how it happened, but I was incredibly lucky, and I landed sideways without my weight on the rotating part. I suffered a badly bruised heel, some scrapes on my legs and back and a large egg on my head – but was otherwise ok. A true near miss, and both of us get the shudders thinking of how much worse it could have been. Really, really lucky I wasn’t caught in the engine. 

We have some new rules now about floors being open underway – they aren’t. And if they are, they are supervised and immediately closed after the work is done.

I couldn’t walk so well after that, but managed to push through for the rest of the training over the remainder of the two days.

Recovery

The day after the training finished I barely moved, I was sore from falling in and still sore from the lazarette painting job. I also then caught a cold, so needless to say Ryan had fun looking after me while I whinged constantly about being sore, limped around and sniffled and snuffled and sneezed and generally felt sorry for myself. He’s a good man haha.

Despite the general malaise that was me, we were both feeling really excited about the upcoming adventures. We pored over the cruising guides for the next few islands, made plans about where to go and what to do! 

PV Installation

Our PV Panels had arrived, along with the aluminium bars to mount them on and the MPPT. Ryan had printed test brackets and tested installing the bars, made adjustments and reprinted the brackets with the final material.

It’s a bit unfortunate but it’s hard to explain how complex the design of these brackets and mounts was, we had to be able to mount the rails, without removing the bimini canvas, onto a non-square bimini, with one of the bimini bars being at 45 degrees to the rest. We had to be able to slide the panels on, prevent them from falling off sideways and be able to secure them down from the side of the boat. 

Ryan took all of this into account, and when we fit the bars and panels onto the roof everything fit perfectly… it was actually really impressive how well his design had worked. 

It all went smoothly, we adjusted where one bolt went, mounted the bars, slid the panels on and wah-lah! Panels were installed.

We were working super late into the evening and our wonderful neighbours at the marina, Bobbie and Craig, came by and brought us the most delicious Chilli Chicken dish. It was so delicious and so needed after working late that night! Bobbie and Craig have been great neighbours to us! Sunset drinks, meals and lots of pointers and advice after they have been cruising on their catamaran with their dog, Seven, for the last few years. Thanks again guys!

Next up Ryan installed the MPPT into the lazarette, connected up the battery and the PV Isolator. We ripped the ceiling off to run the cables and bonus moved that stupid mystery switch (for the stern light) over to a more sensible location (on a switch panel).

We connected the panel wires after dark and then the next morning, with great excitement, the panel isolator was switched on, and electrons, glorious electrons, started flowing into our battery. 

We now have energy freedom and will be able to spend days at anchor without running out of power or needing to run the engines!

We are now ready to go – and are excited and terrified!

Also… the neighbours left their lights on under the boat… this was definitely interesting to watch!