Category Archives: Boat Details

Raritan Elegance King of the Thrones

The last indulgence was purely a creature comfort. The owners side already had a fancy crapper, a fresh water vacuflush. The vacuflush worked well, well sorta. Crossing the Mediterranean, the escape hatch came open and flooded the owners side, so the pump that draws the vacuum on the vacuflush definitely got a little wet. We brought some spares parts when we crossed the Atlantic and everything worked as it should.

In April, it blew a fuse as the motor was frozen, a couple hours of diagnosing and locating the fuse and a little help with the wrench it was all working again. Its kind of a scary flush, sort of like the airplane where you might be scared you going get sucked down there too. The port head was manual salt water, typical marine head with a stained bowl. So creature comforts and ease of use got the go ahead nod.

So some research showed the Raritan Elegance as the modern marvel, easy to install and self contained, no extra parts to install like the vacuum chamber of the vacuflush and would also run on fresh water. The fresh water eliminates a lot of the sulfur and scaling that happens when using salt water to flush the heads, and in order to only have to carry one type of replacement/repair parts replacement thrones were ordered for both sides.

For those who have never attempted international shipping, it is not an endeavor to be taken lightly. Buying things here in the USA is so easy, UPS/FedEx delivers the package to your front door, sometimes the merchant or amazon will simply pick up the shipping tab. International is a complete different story. First, the websites that deal with international shipping look like they were created in the 80s, and seem like they are a total scam. Settling on one shipper that seemed reasonable, fill out the form online, nothing happens then a barrage of emails with questions about LCL, FCL, Agents start flowing in as they assume you know what all that means. LCL is “less than a container load” of goods. They want size/weight of the box, they’ll gladly pick it up at your house for another fee of course.

Anyway, finally figured it out, decided to have good ole Defender deliver to Miami, and then on a boat to Trinidad. The USA Shipping was cheap, the rest of the journey however wasn’t so cheap, because we had to get an ‘agent’ to clear the package into Trinidad when they arrived there.

The whole effort was a learning experience, and the $50 USD for an extra bag on the plane ride down there is quite the bargain. Long story short we have brand spanking new John J Crappers that work with the touch of a button.

Port Head – Guests will sit in style

Port Head – Who will be first

Owners head

Starboard quiet Marine Elegance

Sugar Shack Found

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Very last pier, very last slip, very long walk from everywhere.

Happily everything checked out, exhaust hoses replaced, transmission seals looked good. Basically everything looks good, of course there is lots to do before we are really ready to bust on out of here.

Friday was a busy day, rented a car to make getting propane easier, except getting propane happens right at the marina, rented the car to make provisioning easier only to later find that there is a dingy dock near the grocery store. So driving on the left with a left handed steering wheel is sure the challenge. Every time I try to change lanes the stupid windshield wipers signal the lane change.

Working on boat projects all day friday, started the engines, fixed the heads – neither were operable, that would have made for an interesting trip, ordered the Propane, sent a load of laundry out, short provision run for beers and some snacks. Put the cushions back in their designated areas, some spring cleaning etc…

And Friday is also the Jump Up, er island party, thats basically a street vendor affair. We split a couple of Roti one veggie and one chicken as we knew we were going to the jump up street fair for dinner and more beers. The Piton and Red Stripe beers were flowing all day.

Showed and all cleaned up we headed to the Jump Up, stopping off at the Marina Bar for a beverage first then one for the Road, the Rum Punch packs a wallop. Its about a 15min walk to Gros Islet where the Jump Up happens, about one Piton long if you will. Getting there Christine had to have the chicken from the same lady we had last time, and found a nice lady who would give us closer to ‘locals’ prices than the rest. One Piton in the store is 2 EC locals get one for 2.5 EC the rest of the outsiders pay the 5EC for a beer, 5 EC is roughly $2 USD, so its all good. Rum punchers can go as high as 18 EC, but with some smooth talking Christine managed to get hers for 5 EC. It was Christine’s night, talked and danced the night away in the streets of St Lucia. Let me just say it was a long stumble home, was definitely a 2 beer walk, of which I only had one, the other hand was guiding Christine. We had planned on picking up some water for the morning’s dehydration that was inevitable, but the store closed by the time we stumbled by.

Good fun times were had by all. Once back at the boat, Christine took a quick nap, and Wayne and I sat on the bow and finished the rest of our beer and a rum drink to end the evening…

Sweet lady makes a mean Rum Punch

Water line lowered – and boat all cleaned up

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After days of cleaning, off loading and donating stuff to the St Lucia island locals, Sugar Shack now floats about 2 inches higher in the water. The growth that gathered on the hulls was 2 inches out of the water when we were done. Out with the old towels, bed sheets, tupperware that didn’t have lids, some old parts/food that were way beyond the life cycle and Sugar Shack looks like a completely different boat.

Of course there is always more to tweak and change to make her a part of the family but she is well on her way.