We decided to spend the day up in Sayulita to revisit some of our old haunts there. Right as the road turns from a two-lane highway into a one-lane jungle track the rain started to fall. Twenty minutes later, as we turned into town, we knew the day was shot. The rain was coming down so heavy we couldn’t see ten feet. In rains like this Sayulita becomes flooded almost instantly. Ankle to shin deep water runs down every road. Even if the rain does clear you don’t want to go anywhere near the ocean because everything in town has just washed into it. The rain wasn’t stopping this time, so we turned around.
Boats, man. Unless they are a Grand Banks, they all leak. We got home to find water dripping in from five different places around the boat. Five! Ugh. Four were obvious hatch leaks. Pretty standard, and easy to fix. Pull the hatch, clean the caulk off, lay some butyl tape, screw back in. Thirty-minute job. I can’t believe there was a time that I used caulk all over a boat. Caulk sucks. Butyl tape was sent from heaven by an angel with tiny little waterproof wings.
Or, in this case, delivered by Amazon Mexico five days later, after I’d searched all over town for it without any luck. This was our first time using Amazon.mx and quite frankly, it is a game changer for a boat owner down here. Five orders, and a week later, I’m starting to wonder if it may also be a curse. There was a time that if I couldn’t find something down here in Mexico, it’d get put on a to-buy list for our next trip to the States, by which time I would almost certainly not need/want it anymore. Instant gratification is not always a great thing. But, like I said, butyl tape comes from heaven, so it’s okay.
The other leak, dripping out of a light in Lowe’s room, is one of those leaks that require flashlights, mirrors, and a lot of luck to find the source of. There are dozens of potential culprits.
Morning coffee as we get settled. Cockpit still full of stuff that needs to get off the boat, or find a place on it.
Gotta love having a view of the water through the “escape” hatches. Gives you the opportunity to see sealife that would otherwise go unnoticed. Big fat bloated iguanas, for example.
Slowly getting situated. Cockpit is looking a lot less cluttered. Looking forward to cooler temps in a few weeks. Right now it’s smothering, and any sun is bad sun, so the shades stay up.
This boat has two forward “rooms” that they somehow claim are crew quarters, when in any sane world, they are storage rooms that double as a space that can take an impact at sea, get flooded, but stay separate from the rest of the boat so the whole damn thing doesn’t sink. I suppose the term is watertight bulkhead.
We tossed the bed cushions that would absolutely NEVER be used, and then sifted through the rest of the stuff.
There are fourteen fenders on this boat. I’ve never had a boat with more than four, mainly because I’m too cheap to spend the money on them. Glad someone else did. This picture gives you a good idea of just how much space is in those rooms. These fenders only take up about half the space in one of them.
Kind of nice when one of your most pressing needs on a new boat is where to stick a garbage can.
Again, just slowly plugging away at things around here. Enjoying Mexico, hanging out with friends, eating tacos, and having a new boat that doesn’t need too much tweaking.
16 Comments on “Slowly Settling In”
Congratulations on your new home! You always chose amazing modes of transportation/abodes!
That boat looks fabulous, congratulations! I’ve had only good experiences with Amazon MX, not so much with Mercado Libre.
Since I spent most of the pandemic in the DF and couldn’t get into Europe for 2 years, I’ve been making up for lost time. But I’m starting to get incurable cravings for street cart al pastor, reliably mild weather and just general CDMX goodness.
Also thinking about checking out Puerto Escondido. I’ve only ever spent a lot of tropical time in Playa del Carmen and I think I’d prefer the west coast. So might run into y’all out there at some point.
Wishing all of you the very best!
Can never have too many fenders.
New to your site, what is the boat you bought? I remember seeing some of your thoughts about a GB Andre years ago.
History of their vehicles is here; newest from the top. https://www.bumfuzzle.com/adventure/
Hi Garrett, and welcome! Boat #4 is a 2015 Nautitech 40 Open, 4 cabin, 2 head, galley up. We just moved off our 1986 Grand Banks 42′ Classic in Aruba. Should have this catamaran ready for crossing the Pacific in a few months.
Wonderful. Your new digs are spectacular! Slide out for your garbage can.š„°
Hmmm fancy. It’s so funny how simple I am. When I’m cutting up fruit or whatever I just take the whole can out and put it next to me. It works.
I don’t what’s more mind-blowing, the insane amount of space this boat has or AMAZON MEXICO?!?! #gamechanger
Ohhh Mexico for sure! But must admit we are desperately wanting it to be October already. But not complaining! š
As we used to say on S/V Tolo and S/V Phoenix, āYou canāt have too many fenders, too much ground tackle, or be too rich or too thinā.
Woop Woop…onward to gunkholing, swimming, snorkel and scuba! Yay
As an ex-Grand Banks dealer I appreciated the no-leaks comment; however when they do leak, itās never a straightforward fix.
Yes, I’ve followed threads on other owners leaks – a nightmare. Ours had always been dry, the entire 5 years onboard her.
Happy you and family are getting settled…Everyone looks happy and healthy…We will be down looking for you end of November early Dec. Stay safe….Marilyn
Things are changing…
Starlink just became available at our place in La Ventana BCS. They promptly lowered the monthly fee from MXN 2200 to 1100, $55 is quite the deal!
But we still don’t actually have mailing addresses or any kind of postal service in our town. We could probably get Amazon deliveries to our friend’s coffee shop.
I know your kids are citizens by birth, I’m surprised you two haven’t applied for permanent residency? We’re looking to get that squared away this year and start spending summers on the mainland. From what we hear and read the last year they are not automatically issuing the 180 day visas anymore especially to airline arrivals, but it varies.
I look at the blog every few months and it’s astonishing how much the kids change in such a short time! Congrats on the new boat and the new adventures…