New Place, New Projects, Post 26-23

Our first week in Guatemala has been a great experience with new sights, new cultures, meeting new people from all over the world and opportunities for practicing Spanish as we settle into our home for the remainder of the year and start thinking about projects.

Friday, May 29 – Thursday, June 4, 2026

You will probably notice our format will change some now since the boat is not actually moving any longer.  Also, this week was more of a settling in and thinking about upcoming projects and also planning to leave the boat for a couple of months as we head back to the states.  Also, a common tummy bug hit Sondra, so we had a sort of low energy week. 

Walking around the grounds at Tijax

For the most part the weekend was a wash on Utopia.  Sondra came down with a pretty bad stomach bug Thursday night and she was out of action until Sunday. I spent the days on the boat taking care of her and doing the odd chores around the boat that can be done with one person. Chole, our rigger returned our repaired sails on Friday one week after dropping it off at her loft.  She did an excellent job it was very reasonably priced. I also made a solo trip into town to do some shopping and speaking Spanish poorly. 

Here at Tijax, free coffee is available starting at 7 am. Also, the breakfasts here are good and cheap (i.e., $6 for omelet, toast, and fruit). I have been starting to make it a habit of going down to the little open-air restaurant in the morning and chatting with some of the other sailors (that are also partaking in the affordable breakfasts). I think I am probably going to start making this a habit a few times a week. 

Monday, Sondra was feeling a bit better, so we had breakfast and went on a hike in the morning and then did some boat chores in the late morning and early afternoon.  Even though we have 3 weeks before we head to the states, we have a lot of button up projects that we need to do to the boat to get it ready. Since the boat is not going to move for some time I put some bio-bore in the diesel tanks to keep bacteria from growing.  In addition, Sondra started taking some items off the mast, like the radar reflector.

Daily visits from Murphy the dog

Tuesday was a busy day where we put the dinghy on the deck (since we won’t really need it due to the free shuttles from our marina) and removing the mainsail (and it’s stackpak in which it resides) and stowing it down below. In this climate it really isn’t a good idea to leave your sails on if you are not regularly using them. If we didn’t do this, we would probably find very moldy sails when we finally did raise them in a few months. 

Wednesday, we did some more chores like cleaning the dinghy and stowing other items we won’t use for many months. We also went to dinner with the guys from SV Nikki, Pegasus, and Alali.  Scott and Deanne from Nikki are heading back to the states until February and we were having a celebratory dinner before they head out. We will miss them, and their dog Murphy.

Dinner with SV Nikki ,SV Pegasus, SV Aloli

On Thursday after saying goodbye to Scott and Deanne, we went to town and did some shopping for various projects (with a lot of Spanish speaking in the stores!) and then came back to the boat in the afternoon to sit in the air conditioning for a bit.

Overall, it was a pretty non-eventful week so it seemed like a good idea to end it with some projects we will be working on. 

Possible and Definite Projects

A lot of people come to the Rio Dulce for high quality, affordable boat work. Our original intent was to come to visit the country, but since we are here in a mecca of specialists, we are starting to build a wish list, like having our sails refreshed. Let’s go over some projects we are working on, or might work on.

Genoa (head sail) and Stay Sail

When we checked into Guatemala, we stopped at Cayo Quemado for a few days to break up the trip up the Rio Dulce.  There is a rigger there (Chloe) that we spoke about in the last post. We dropped off our Genoa and staysail with since they needed some repair. She fixed it very quickly and delivered it to our boat in less than a week. Since we won’t be sailing while in the marina, we went ahead and stored those two sails in the cabin. 

Oceanaire Screens issues

We purchased some nice (and expensive) replacement hatch screens while we were in Daytona. These screens are pretty important when you are at anchor since they let you keep the hatches open, to let the breeze in, while still keeping the flying critters out. Unfortunately, only a few months of use, they are starting to fall apart. I kept repairing them under way so we could still use them, but they do need replacing. I have been in contact with the manufacturer, and they will honor the warranty but being in Guatemala it makes it difficult to ship them off. Also, I had to uninstall them (which required me taking apart a fair amount of wood trim) to get the lot number. Hopefully, they can get us replacement screens while we are here. While at the marina (and when they have power), we have AC now, but we to absolutely need the screens at anchor later on. 

Uninstalling the Oceanair screens

Bimini Enclosure

Skilled labor is very reasonable in Guatemala, so we are looking at a total reconstruction of our Bimini enclosure. In the next couple of weeks, we will start talking to people to get some quotes.   

Interior Cushions

At the same time, we will be looking at re-doing our interior cushions.  The existing ones are originals, and they are showing their age.  Also, they are beyond firm, almost to the point of sitting on rocks. If we can get a decent price, then we will go ahead and replace them here.

Outboard issues

The last few weeks in Belize, the dinghy outboard engine was not getting up on plane the way it had used to do.  We either have a dinged prop, bad gas, or something else. We are mothballing the dinghy motor for a few months since we can get around via free launch service, but this is something to address while we are here.

Solar items

We had a breaker between the panels and the charger go bad a few weeks ago. Once we got to Guatemala, we quickly found the item I was looking for and have it ready to install.

Fridge Doors

In this humid and hot environment, the wood fridge doors have swelled to the point that Sondra was finding it impossible to open. I did a test and sanded the doors down somewhat and they are working much better. I am going to sand them down a bit more and put some varnish on the after we decommission the fridge (for the months we are gone) and allow it to dry without the moisture of the fridge for a bit.

Misc. Projects

Caulking

We need to caulk the shower and some areas in the kitchen.  This is just a preventative maintenance thing you need to do ever few years.

Staysail furler

Our furler got really fouled a few weeks ago in Belize. I did an initial fix, but I need to look at it a little more to make sure it is truly fixed. 

Aft head toilet leak

There is a back flow issue in our aft toilet. I need to just take it apart and rebuild it.  Not my favorite thing to do but I’ll try to get this done before we leave for the states. 

Solar vent (Master berth)

We have a solar vent in our bedroom hatch that is failed, and is leaking onto Sondra's side of the berth. We will need to replace this eventually if we can source out the right part.

Holding tank vent

I need to replace all the hoses on this vent since they are very brittle and partially blocked. After we purchased the hose with our limited Spanish, we now have the material, so I do this sometime in the next week or so.

Portlights

One of portlights (a window in the hull, or "wall" of the boat that can be opened) has a leak when it rains really hard (which it does here). It needs to be removed and rebeded this once we can find the bedding material locally.

Well that about does it for this week. Stay tuned next week to see what we get into.

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Post 26-23