We came into Montenegro over a month ago with the intention of leaving the boat here until next April 2022, all going well we would get home to Vancouver for a much needed family visit with the kids for me and Noel gets another cold winter but just in case we couldn’t get to Australia we can always come back to the boat here and live aboard. To be away from the boat for that long of course means tidying up and taking care of all the little … and big … chores that we have not been able to do while sailing into all the little anchorages we found throughout Greece. Porto Montenegro offers us the chance to take care of these things. A full blown marina with all the trades handy, but of course what we have found is that there are a lot of things that you just can’t get and if you can get it be prepared to pay through the nose. The chandleries here are not very well stocked so we have had to be a little more resourceful in finding what we need.
One of the items was sourcing out a washing machine. The one that was on the boat originally didn’t work. We tried a number of times to get it going and did a lot of research for that particular model with no luck. The error code that was displayed just said “call a technician” Yeah, good luck with that one. Cost of getting a techie compared to a new machine, easy decision. Finally found one that we figured would work at a local Kips (think small version Home Depot) with free delivery.
Did all the measurements for the space it would occupy and the doorway getting it into the boat and figured we had it sorted. Turns out we needed to disassemble the washing machine door as well as take the door off the hinges for our “garage” in order to get it in. After spending most of 2 days taking everything out of the garage, getting the old machine out and the getting the new one in. We were golden. Got it all back together with a couple of hiccups, put a load in, turned it on and we thought it was going to take off. Tried strapping it down tighter. No luck. If you ever have the chance to install a new washer, a little tip. Take the transportation bolts out of the back of the machine! (Mike, you friggin genius!). I can say the only thing I have really missed living on a boat is being able to laundry, in Australia most marinas have washer and dryers but over in the med no such thing as laundry mats, we have had to drop off our laundry for dry cleaning shops that have washer and dryers to do our laundry that drove me even more insane….. so happy to be able to accomplish myself.
Podgorica
Some of the other items on the list were mattress toppers, new Smart TV because the one we had here was old and definitely not smart. In looking around the local shops we couldn’t find what we wanted so rented a car and drove the hour and a half to the larger city of Podgirica. There we found a tech shop and managed to get a Samsung 32″ (Smart TV). Also picked up the mattress toppers. Hard to find things as, obviously there is the language barrier, and the shops are not as obvious. Not a lot of store window display that makes it easy to figure out. Had to rely on Google Maps a lot!
Stayed overnight in Podgorica at a maybe 2 star accommodation. We were looking for an economical stay and chose a place in Old Town Podgorica very close to the city centre. Next time we will choose maybe a 3 or 4 star, but it was a comfortable sleep for the one night at least we had our own bathroom.
Podgorica is the capital city of Montenegro and features the century old clock tower built by the Turks. As someone on Tripadvisor said “worth a look and a picture”.
The mattress toppers that we found needed to be in the shape of the existing mattress. So Jacqui got the scissors and needle and thread and put together a matching topper for the forward cabin. Great job!
Sails
We removed the foresail for winter storage and also got all the sails on the boat out and laid them on the parking area to review, I couldn’t understand why we had a spinnaker but no spinnaker pole! Turns out it is a asymmetrical/gennaker yippie but still need a pole eventually! We knew that MAD 2 had a inner stay sail as we had the furling system onboard, we found the sail had the old fashioned clip hanks and not the furling luff so we found a local sailmaker to do a minor stitch on the foresail and talked with him about getting the inner foresail changed to a furling sail. He was not able to do it here but put us in touch with a sailmaker in Split, Croatia. This was a 5 hour drive away and I guess we could have waited till next May or June as we will head that way with the boat, but we wanted to get it done so rented another car for a 3 day trip to Split and a stop in Dubrovnik. The sailmaker was great. Told what was required, he measured it out against the part of the furler that we brought with us and had it done by late afternoon the next day. We stayed 2 nights there close to the palace constructed around 305 AD.
Miscellaneous
Some of the other tasks were to paint the top side windows as the paint had worn away and looking old. Removed all the plastic covering on the safety lines around the boat and got two bent stanchions straightened (not done by us) but looks great now. We had a bilge float switch installed and met a really knowledgeable fella Jeremy (through Miho the sailmaker) who has gone on to help us fix the aircon pump and salt water foot pump and now helping us convert our top loading fridge to a freezer hopefully. We removed the portable generator from the back locker and removed all the extra wiring that some “jack of all trades” had installed. Removed the stern cabin stand alone aircon unit and associated fans etc and the marina nicely helped remove all to the garbage…. phew it is never ending.
We have sourced a quote for new cockpit seating cushions, spray dodger, bimini with side sunshades and winter cockpit enclosure…. kaaching!! but I think we will get good use making the cockpit watertight in rainy weather it would be more comfortable for us… whilst we were getting quotes we reviewed changing interior cushions, fabric, curtains and shades but decided bit by bit for this year and whilst we are in one place we are going to splurge on the cockpit 🙂 next year re rig, new sails, upgrade solar it goes on and on. B.O.A.T is exactly right bring on another (few) thousands.
Wow that’s a lot of work you have accomplished. I’ve always understood boats to be a money pit snd I think you have confirmed that for me. But then so is a home!!?
How long will you be in Vancouver?
Sure hope to see you both while you’re here!!!???