Coming back to Tunisia meant catching up with friends and traveling more to explore our host country, but it also meant boat projects. We stuffed four huge duffel bags full of all sorts of boat gear before we flew. Customs in Tunisia has a reputation for causing cruisers no end of grief, and we were prepared with all the paperwork and receipts to prove that our gear was legitimately for a vessel in transit and not subject to confiscation or fines or local taxes. Instead, we were waved on by and out the door by a friendly official, and the driver we’d arranged was waiting to take us back to the boat.
The main project (for me anyway), was doing a major repair in the galley. One of the stove burners had stopped functioning, and the oven wouldn’t fire up at all. I wasn’t too bothered by the oven in the heat of summer when I had no desire to heat the boat further, but the cooler weather had made me want to bake again. Luckily the repair went smoothly, or as smoothly as any boat job goes, and the stove and oven were back in business again.
One of the other major projects to tackle was varnishing the brightwork. Despite a solid week of scraping, sanding and varnishing back in the fall when we arrived, there were a lot of bare spots visible when we returned. Once again we broke out the scrapers, sandpaper and varnish to tackle it all. We managed to get several coats on, including one that had me holding my breath when an unexpected rainstorm came just hours later. Luckily the varnish had time to cure with no water spots, and we’re looking good again for the new season.
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