Navegantes, SC, Brazil
Its not everyday that you step out to see an overtaking Pirate Ship :).

Itajai, SC, Brazil
Another pretty church in Itajai.

Itajai, SC, Brazil
Church in Itajai

Navegantes, SC, Brazil
This is a work-in-progress picture of what’s changing in the cockpit. The sliding companionway hatch has been replaced by a stainless steel frame covered in 1/2″ (12.7mm) polycarbonate (and plywood on the top piece). The stainless steel straps across the door are part of the hinges, making it strong enough to handle a lot of weight hanging on the far edge. The door is 1″ (25mm) marine plywood. A window in the door is still to be added. The bolts in the middle of the door are for the handle that is on the inside (not visible in the picture). There are two handles to hold the door closed (top and bottom), which press against a rubber gasket making it watertight.The outside steering wheel, which was always too large to be easily used, would have obstructed the door, so it was modified to be the same size as the inside steering wheel. There are now rope clutches (by the red rope at the right side of the picture) on each side to make the preventers (ropes that prevent the boom from moving) easy to use. Not well shown in the picture is a larger main halyard winch, which was moved from the foredeck (where it was never got much use).

Itajai, SC, Brazil
Museum in Itajai

Itajai, SC, Brazil
Itajai is a larger city, across the Rio Itajai from Navegantes. I was there on Friday doing the clearing out process (several offices need to be visited to get permission to legally leave Brazil). It seems a clean and pleasant place.

Navegantes, SC, Brazil
A rope on a cleat holds down the inboard end of the anchor. New roller (white) is same shape as old roller (black), just farther over so the anchor doesn’t hit the roller-furling drum (the dark grey circular thing).

Navegantes, SC, Brazil
Locking pin added to bowsprit to hold Raya 2500 anchor.

Issuma is the red boat behind the white-and-blue fishing boat, Adamantina. Adamantina has the kind of anchor (Northill style) typically seen on Brazilian fishing boats. These anchors are made to order by boatyards. I had wanted a bigger anchor for a long time. I tried to buy a Rocna, because their 55kg (120lb) model seemed the size I wanted, but Rocnas are not really available in much of South America. In Florianapolis, quite near to where I am now, Ancora Latina makes their Raya anchors. While the very helpful Ancora Latina folks did not have an anchor size that was as heavy as I wanted, their 40kg (88lb) anchor seemed like it would work well for my boat, AND they were willing to bring the anchor over and put it aboard to see if it would fit. Fitting a new anchor can be a big deal, so I took them up on their offer, they drove over with their Raya 2500 and we put it aboard and saw that it would fit with some work.The boatyard added another anchor roller beside the existing ones, made a lock mechanism to hold the anchor securely in place, and made a cleat (in Brazil, cleats tend to be made, not bought) to tie the anchor down for additional security (it is very important not to have a heavy, sharp anchor ever get loose at sea).

The picture is looking down into the forepeak. The white rope (polyester) is wound onto a stainless steel reel that was built for this space. There is 70m of anchor chain in the chain locker, and not really room for any more chain. The purpose of the rope is to attach it to the anchor chain, so when anchoring in deep water, 70 metres of chain and up to about 100 metres of rope can be used. This should make it reasonable to anchor in up to about 50 metres of water. As the anchor winch is not designed for rope, anchoring in water that deep is expected to result in good exercise bringing the anchor up :).