The Final Touchups

Now that we're exported (YAY) and have the boat, we had a few touchups to do ..... As part of our compensation we asked for the boat to be polished -- a dreadful job where you use rubbing compound, a grinder-like device with a foam pad on it, and lots of elbow grease. It takes about a day and a half to do .... an excellent thing to contract out. Then we re-painted the stripe, applied a couple of coats of wax, repainted parts of the keel and rudder, and generally did maintenance.
Another thing we negotiated for was a MAXProp -- a very cool piece of technology made in Italy. While the guys in Croatia would pay for it, I needed to go pick it up -- so Ross and I took a road-trip to Milano. Starting in Sibenik, we got on the A1 and headed north into Slovenia, then on local roads to Trieste, and onto the A4, a toll motorway that cuts Italy in half. Speed limit was 130kms, though it appears more of a guideline than a hard and fast limit. We averaged about 140-150 for most of the way to Italy.

Driving in Europe is the exact opposite of North America. It is a real pleasure to drive on the highway, everyone follows the rules, traffic moves very well. Inside the city it's anarchy. Drive slow, you'll be passed on the left and the right. In North America, driving in the city is civilized, but on the highway it's anarchy with people passing left and right, left lane hogging, going slow, being a blocker .... if we could mix the best of both -- that would be a great place to drive a car.

Ross and I stayed at a Best Western Hotel in downtown Milan for 65 Euros including breakfast, with an additional 20 to park the car. It turns out we were only a few minutes from the MaxProp factory that's in a very non-descript building that could be a condo for what it looks like outside. They make 2, 3, and 4 blade propellers -- the cool thing is that they rotate on the shaft so the prop is always facing the right way -- making reversing easier and also giving you better performance in forward gear. The best part is that when you shut off the engine the propeller feathers -- giving you about a 1/2 knot speed advantage when you're sailing and the propeller shaft doesn't spin -- dramatically reducing the noise in the boat.

On the trip home we spotted a Porsche 911 doing about 150km/h and we were gaining on him. Then in the rear-view mirror I saw a Dodge Caravan Minivan, like my friend Mike Fedak's, and they passed us and then the Porsche at about 165 or so .... how often do you see a Minivan pass a Porsche on the highway.

There are many long tunnels through the mountains -- the longest one was more than 6 kilometers long. The countryside was very scenic -- though we picked up the pace in Croatia, finding the top speed of our car to be 169 with the air-conditioning on, 175 with it off. Regardless of our top speed, we were regularly passed. I remember nudging Ross a number of times -- Ross, look at our speed -- 165, and a car zooms by 30+ Km/h faster than we were going. What a great way to travel -- you don't drink coffee, eat, talk on the phone, watch a movie -- you're too busy concentrating on driving.... and you cover some serious ground at 90-100 miles per hour!
Once back in Kremik we had to struggle with some engine problems. Rather than fill up in Milna, we used our auxiliary tank and the engine ran like crap since. We had all the diesel fuel pumped out of the tanks (unfortunately wasting about $500 of fuel) and it didn't improve. Turns out when they installed the Webasto furnace, they drilled into the fuel tank and the shavings plugged the fuel hose for the tank, and then the old fuel lines had a crack, and then with the powerful suction at higher revs there was air in the system ..... what a gong show. Anyway, a few hours of mechanic time and we were fixed up, installed the new prop, got the new Spinnaker (more liquidated damages for being late) and we are ready to go to Split to pick up our new dinghy and outboard motor.