In UK 26 December is a public holiday and the shops open with their Boxing Day sale mark downs. Not in Guadeloupe though, today is business as usual as we have a hire car for today and tomorrow. Today we are going to buy a compact portable generator to keep us powered up until we can replace the dead Onan.
I'm the route planner. I've got a list of suppliers to hit and David's got the specs of what we need. First Mr Bricolage, or Mr Hardware in English, a large DIY store with a large range of well priced, portable, but not compact, Chinese made generators. Not fitting the bill of what we need we move on to a shop listed as Honda generator agent, Colorland. They have lawn mowers, pool pumps, diggers and some of the suitcase style generators we'd ideally like to have. There is one heavily dusted 2,2kva model with wheels and pull handle marked at 3,500€ (£3,100). The assistant cleans it up and it starts and runs but we notice it was made 5 years ago. This had been on the shelf a long time and we are offered a 400€ discount. It's expensive. It would 'do', but it's not perfect. They suggest we visit a builders store along the road who also sell portable generators.
You know the story of the Goldilocks trying the porridge, first too big, second too old and the third is just right? As soon as we walked into the store we found our 'just right', an Italian made CGM 3.3kva, smaller, lighter and more powerful than the Honda and a third of the price at 1,200€ / £1,060. Kerching! Ring up the sale and we have our back up.
I am so happy and so relieved; it is rare in our cruising life to not only find what you want, but for it to be in stock too without days of searching. More champagne tonight.
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