We had been talking about how to get back to the BVI and cruising in the winter during our very enjoyable 2016 trip. We decided a Cat out of charter was the way to go, as we felt (maybe foolishly), that this would end up being a good deal! After some working with the brokers, we came on a "great deal" if we could move quickly and take the boat "as is".

March 6th, 2017 I flew to St Maarten to have a looks.

St Maarten was a nice place, and the moorings base was fairly small compared to the one in Tortola. It was going to be a busy day, with some time in the morning poking around the boat, looking for potential issues that would not be spotted by the survey, and getting a feel for how beat up the boat was.
After this time on the can we headed out for the test sail and haul out. The winds were a pretty brisk 15-20 knots, but that did not stop our 60 plus year old captain from going full sail and doing all the work himself. For whatever reason, they did not want me really doing much of anything, so I watched... The sail was around 7 miles to the other side of the Island (the dutch side I think), where there was a inner harbor with a few boatyards, protected by a bridge that only opened twice a day.
We made it through without to much trouble and used the wait time to test out the anchoring setup. This worked fairly well considering the lack of  much chain and what I viewed as a very light 55 lbs anchor. Fairly soon we were in the monster travel lift and could inspect the hull. This inspection showed a lot of issues, like no Zinc on the Starboard sail-drive, no boots on either drive, lots of chips and scratches in the sterns and a good deal of wear and damage from the anchor chain rubbing on the bows. I was also told as the boat was being power washed that it had had a serious grounding and the keel stubs, which are sacrificial, had been Sort of discouraging, and then it started to rain...
On the way back we pounded into steep waves with the wind over 20 knots. One engine seemed very loud, and when we got back to the marina, while trying to get the bilge pump lights to go off, we discovered the Starboard sail drive had a serious oil leak.

Over the next couple of weeks we were told it was a lower seal leak and a burnt out thrust bearing (both replaced in theory). The engine still made more noise that the other when we took delivery but it does not leak oil... Overall, the test sail created a lot of stress as there were many things that looked ugly, yet the boat was the newest model we were going to get out of charter and many things seemed to work well. In the end, we decided the price point allowed a budget to fix these issues and they were cosmetic (except the engine) and things we could handle back in Florida. We decided to push ahead.

March 26 Cheryl and I fly down to inspect the boat and then close. Things look mostly OK when we get there Sunday, but there are a list of items we need sorted like taking the name off and other small things. We sign off and sleep over.

March 27, Monday morning the head is clogged and they spend a good deal of time working on that (and making a mess), as many other items get checked off. I had arranged to get a new Dingy and engine delivered that day, and we also rented a car to head out shopping and getting some tools so we had something on the boat when we headed out. If this was not enough, we had to sign the formal closing paperwork and "clear out" of customs Monday as well if we wanted to leave Tuesday morning. It was a very busy day, but miraculously, the dingy and engine arrived at perfect times, so I could get the dingy inflated and at the boat and the engine delivery guy helped me put the new outboard directly on the dingy. The shopping was expensive and also hectic, but by 8PM, we had things sorted and were drinking a cold beer. We decided to leave around 6am Tuesday to get over to the USVI so we could spend a little time cruising there and PR before Cheryl headed back.

Tuesday, March 28, we head out for St John's. We enjoy a fairly uneventful trip, although we make the unpleasant discovery that the head clog cleanup was not complete and there was some nasty water in the bilge. After an hour of not great joy using a bad funnel to try to get the bilge dry, things are mainly under control. I decide a shop vac in high on my list of items to buy. We arrive at St John's after the sun went down, so it was somewhat nerve wracking to grab a ball in the dark with no radar and not great instruments. We managed it, and fell off to sleep. gen hours 7102. engine hours 0 at start on port engine, Star engine blower does not work.

Wednesday, March 29 we headed over to Cruz Bay so we could clear into the USVI. This went smoothly and they asked me for our departure papers, which was a first. Glad we cleared out fully from St Maarten. Now that we were legal, we headed off to get some more supplies (tools, mainly). $600 later, we were lugging a good pile of items from the Ace hardware store (basically all we could carry, which was a lot!), most useful was the small shop vac. Now we could clean out the bilges and engine areas without any trouble. We also got sponges and other items that would help. Almost in cruising mode, we discovered the water hose on the star engine had a cut in it and was leaking. Cheryl also used the sail repair kit I thoughtfully brought with me when we closed to stitch back part of the Genoa cover. Seems like it is always something, but the new dingy is a solid boat and with the 15hp engine, something of a rocket ship. Which is nice !!!

Thursday the 30 we hang out in Francis Bay, one of our favorite spots. Swim and enjoy the views
I re caulked and tightened the star aft rail end, a tight fit, but got it done. This would leak for sure before the fix.
We also have a nice swim and dingy cruz

Friday, the 31st we get dingy fuel at cruz bay and head to Culebra (Ensenada Harbor) to clear into the US proper. We figure if we get there Friday, we can clear in that afternoon, or worst case head to the airport Saturday. I want to get cleared in cleanly so we don't have to worry about it in Farjardo. We hustle over and call in at 4PM. They tell us to call the main customs number, which we do. There is no answer but they say they will call us if we need to do anything, so we end up reporting our arrival, but no confirmation on the other side. Since we just cleared in, in person two days earlier at St John's, maybe we are already in the book and they don't want to bother.  Discovered the Star engine is leaking water at r=the raw water pump. I cut off the end of the hose and shorten it up to be past the leak. Problem solved for now.  Engine compartment is now dry.

We hang around Saturday just to be sure, waiting for a phone call from customs that never comes...
We do walk around town some and play in the dingy, so not an all bad day. Cheryl cleaned things up and I chased non-functional gages. Cheryl was much more successful than I was as I did not get any broken gages to come back to life. Chased the battery wiring, which was good, but decided the batteries are bad...

Sunday, April 2nd, we head over to Bahia De Almodovar, a very pretty anchorage with a great view of the Ocean across a shallow reef, and a very quiet spot. From here we also explore Isla Culebrita and get a nice swim in. We get a ball right off the south coast, very close to where we were just a couple of months earlier with the Beneteau. We enjoy a very pleasant day.   We also see a funky water spout that evening. It does not impact us, but is pretty interesting. Put bleach in bilges and rinsed them out, adjusted steering rod, and decide we have a few cockroaches. Had John order some serious medicine to kill them and we will keep an eye on things..

Monday April 3, we talk to a leopard 46 owner who is living on his boat and sharing the harbor with us (in Bahia De Almodovar). Very nice guy who is on his second leopard 46 as the first once caught fire and burned to the ground!  We get some tips and his contact info and are glad he is such a fan of the boat (gregwallick@icloud.com). There is time for a nice dingy ride as well as some speed work. The new Dingy tests out at over 23 Knots (vs 15knots for the Strider RIB), this seems very fast when you are in the dingy!  Tightened the autopilot steering cable, decided I need to grease the wire steering cable in the spring when we launch.

Tuesday, April 4th we move to Fajado and after waiting around for the slip to open up, get fuel and dock in SunBay Marina. Time to start some clean up, and do some shopping. Put in 62 gallons of fuel. Estimated we had used 75 gen hours and 25 engine hours, so maybe 1 gal/hr from engine and 1/2 gal/hr from generator. Picked up my Epirg from West Marine and bought $300 splitter cable for the power :-)

Wednesday April 5, Cheryl cooks a number of great meals for John and I on the passage back, and  heads back to the airport.

Thursday April 6, I  do some more west marine shopping on the way back. Between the 6th and the 10th when John arrives, I buy a number of spares and try to be ready for any issues that might arise on the passage back to Florida. Hard to guess what will break, but I try. I also take a stab at fixing some of the Gel Coat chips on the deck, with some pretty good success (See the before and after shots). I also wax the deck Gelcoat and flush the dingy engine and try to scrub the hull to get rid of the growth as the bottom paint is dead. Overall, the days go by pretty fast and on the 10th I need to get John. One of the many items I bought was a discount bumper. It was flat the next day, so after some fuss, I was able to get a refund and bought a good bumper at West Marine.. Saving money can be tricky in some areas...