The next morning, we saw the damages done to our pontoons. There was a hole in the left front pontoon with a rock stuck in it bout the size of a small watermelon. The son the owner of the marina said that he could fix our hole and gave us an estimate of $800 cash. Our friend, Herb, also said he could repair the damage, but we would have to beach the boat. The other man said that he could get in the water and plug the hole well enough for us to make it to a boat repair shop. We were in a dilemma. Since the man from the island said that he could plug the hole while the boat as docked, and we didn’t want to take advantage of our friend’s offer, we chose to pay the man for the temporary repair. Long story short, the man put some kind of putty in the hole. We anchored for the night (reinforcing our lines mooring lines this time) and there were no signs of leakage. There were only about three places that could pull our wide boat out of the water, the closest being Spanish Wells in the Eleuthera’s. We had been there before and were familiar with the route. We set out and after we picked up some speed, our bilge pump sounded, the patch was not working and water was seeping into the pontoon. So we hailed our friend, Herb, who was still at Little Farmer’s Cay, turned around and returned to anchor there.
We knew that we had hurt Herb’s feelings by turning him down. My husband explained that he didn’t want to take advantage of him, by asking him to do this job. Unbeknownst to us, Herb told us that he had been a crew member when he was young on the actual ship, The Bounty. I assume it was the replica of the original ship, the Bounty built in 1979; either that or since he is Austrian, maybe there was another ship of the same name when he was younger. Anyway, he said he learned how to work with fiberglass and and make repairs. My husband carried some waterproof putty and a little bit of fiberglass. The son, who did the original faulty repair for $800, either felt sorry or guilty and brought us his supply of fiberglass to help with the repairs. (Herb refused to accept money for his work, as he was a friend, and as I said before, a Christian).
The next morning, when the tide was low, we beached the boat. Herb and my husband began the repairs. When he was ready to apply the resin to the fiberglass, he asked if anyone had a brush. No one had a brush. My husband asked me if I there was any kind of brush on the boat. The Lord provides – my hair dresser had given me some hair dye and a brush to apply it in case I needed a touch up before I returned home. I brought the small brush to Herb, and it was exactly what he needed! After the repairs we were done, reflected the boat and the next morning set out for Spanish Wells, again. This time, there was no leak and no no bilge pump alarm. We were thankful for God’s grace, again.
1 Peter 4:10 “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.” (NLT)
1 Peter 4:11″……..Do you have the gift of helping others? Did with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to Him forever and ever!. Amen. (NLT)
