We haven't gone far, we're about 40 miles south. We are anchored off Isla Contradora in the Pearles Islands waiting for a weather window. It looks like we might make the big break Thursday.
Kenny called the evening we arrived here to check on how things were working. Thanks Kenny for your concern.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Dare I say it...we're leaving.
We have a date picked out....sometime soon, maybe Sunday.
We will leave the Yacht Club and re-anchor in Los Brisas on the east side of the Causeway. Total distance: two or three miles. We need to clean Grace's bottom of scum that has formed from the almost daily diesel slicks and remove barnacles that have attached themselves during the last several months. I suppose I could dive on the bottom here, but this water is so retched there is no way I'm gonna do it.
So, around to the other side, clean the bottom a shove off. Finally.
I have to admit to being nervous about this. I don't have much confidence in the repairs we have been making on Grace. I'm pretty sure the engine is ok, but need to run it for a while. Same with all the other things we have worked on: water maker, SSB radio, autopilot, refrigerator, batteries, autopilot etc. We will be underway for some 40 days getting to the Marquesas' and I wonder what is going to break next.
I
And then there is the radio. We have an ICOM 802 marine shortwave radio that we will use to communicate with other boats that will be leaving about the same time as us. We will also use it to pull down weather reports.
When I was going to school I had the bad habit of trying to cram a semester's worth of knowledge into my head the last couple of days before the finals. I never liked studying much and would put it off as long as possible. I remember chastising myself for being so immature and making promises that next semester would be different. Never happened. I forgot the pain of those few days, and regressed to my usual mode of just hanging out.
Well, the radio is a return to those old days. I don't like it, don't understand it. All the buttons and dials have a purpose and even though I have passed the ham test, I don't know much beyond how to turn it on, and that I must push the "push to talk" button on the mike. So I have been in the cram mode learning how to get our weather. And the fellows who have set up the system, call Winlink" have made it a non trivial exercise. I think I have it figured out and have been testing the email service. I still have to figure out what weather reports we want to receive over the radio while underway.
We will leave the Yacht Club and re-anchor in Los Brisas on the east side of the Causeway. Total distance: two or three miles. We need to clean Grace's bottom of scum that has formed from the almost daily diesel slicks and remove barnacles that have attached themselves during the last several months. I suppose I could dive on the bottom here, but this water is so retched there is no way I'm gonna do it.
So, around to the other side, clean the bottom a shove off. Finally.
I have to admit to being nervous about this. I don't have much confidence in the repairs we have been making on Grace. I'm pretty sure the engine is ok, but need to run it for a while. Same with all the other things we have worked on: water maker, SSB radio, autopilot, refrigerator, batteries, autopilot etc. We will be underway for some 40 days getting to the Marquesas' and I wonder what is going to break next.
I
And then there is the radio. We have an ICOM 802 marine shortwave radio that we will use to communicate with other boats that will be leaving about the same time as us. We will also use it to pull down weather reports.
When I was going to school I had the bad habit of trying to cram a semester's worth of knowledge into my head the last couple of days before the finals. I never liked studying much and would put it off as long as possible. I remember chastising myself for being so immature and making promises that next semester would be different. Never happened. I forgot the pain of those few days, and regressed to my usual mode of just hanging out.
Well, the radio is a return to those old days. I don't like it, don't understand it. All the buttons and dials have a purpose and even though I have passed the ham test, I don't know much beyond how to turn it on, and that I must push the "push to talk" button on the mike. So I have been in the cram mode learning how to get our weather. And the fellows who have set up the system, call Winlink" have made it a non trivial exercise. I think I have it figured out and have been testing the email service. I still have to figure out what weather reports we want to receive over the radio while underway.
Monday, August 18, 2014
Wx
We're working on a departure list. Actually have most of it done. the list that is, and we are working it. We both went to the dermatologist last week, big checkmark for this one. All is well. Pharmacy, Price Smart (Costo-lite) bulk, Vegies, Meat, Oil change (no filter), Chandleries.
And then there is Wx. Weather conditions in the central Pacific have been dreadful. We have already had 11 named storms. Two hurricanes hit or come very close to the Hawaiian islands so far. And there are two additional suspects out there that may threaten the Islands again. The first is an area of low pressure about 1100 miles ESE of Hilo, the second is Tropical Storm Karina heading west from Mexico and there is a new storm brewing up east of Katrina that the Weather Service says is huge. It looks like this one will stay off Mexico rather then head out west.
This will not impact us too much. We may have to stay in the Marquesas Islands a bit longer to be sure the Hurricane season is over before heading up to Hawaii. Tough duty hanging out a few extra weeks in Paradise.
And then there is el Niño. This could be a pain. El Nino's weaken the SE trades and can sometimes cause them to reverse and become Westerly's for a time. It also becomes stormy; thunder lightening and squally winds. Just like here in Panama.
There seems to be a consensus emerging that if the el Nino occurs it will be nowhere near as strong as originally thought. One speculation is that the warm water that was making it's way eastward toward South America has begun emerging along the North American coast instead.
So overall the wx picture looks better now then it did a few months ago.
One thing has stayed consistent however, there is no wind here in the summer. Panama is tucked out of the wind behind the northwestern shoulder of South America. South winds coming up the west coast of South America spread out as land falls away to the east, and loose speed. There are few times during the rainy season that winds reach higher then ten knots. A rule of thumb is that it is necessary to get to 3N before the sailor finds decent winds. We are at 9N so we are facing the prospect of a long motor unless we catch a break.
And then there is Wx. Weather conditions in the central Pacific have been dreadful. We have already had 11 named storms. Two hurricanes hit or come very close to the Hawaiian islands so far. And there are two additional suspects out there that may threaten the Islands again. The first is an area of low pressure about 1100 miles ESE of Hilo, the second is Tropical Storm Karina heading west from Mexico and there is a new storm brewing up east of Katrina that the Weather Service says is huge. It looks like this one will stay off Mexico rather then head out west.
This will not impact us too much. We may have to stay in the Marquesas Islands a bit longer to be sure the Hurricane season is over before heading up to Hawaii. Tough duty hanging out a few extra weeks in Paradise.
And then there is el Niño. This could be a pain. El Nino's weaken the SE trades and can sometimes cause them to reverse and become Westerly's for a time. It also becomes stormy; thunder lightening and squally winds. Just like here in Panama.
There seems to be a consensus emerging that if the el Nino occurs it will be nowhere near as strong as originally thought. One speculation is that the warm water that was making it's way eastward toward South America has begun emerging along the North American coast instead.
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| Variance of the Sea Surface Temperature from average |
So overall the wx picture looks better now then it did a few months ago.
One thing has stayed consistent however, there is no wind here in the summer. Panama is tucked out of the wind behind the northwestern shoulder of South America. South winds coming up the west coast of South America spread out as land falls away to the east, and loose speed. There are few times during the rainy season that winds reach higher then ten knots. A rule of thumb is that it is necessary to get to 3N before the sailor finds decent winds. We are at 9N so we are facing the prospect of a long motor unless we catch a break.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
KEVIN
Our oldest son has his boat in Hanalei Bay, on the north side of Kauai, Hawaii. He has come through Hurricane Iselle just fine, but Hurricane Julio is approaching. It will pass north of the islands by a hundred or so miles, but should throw off some significant swell as it passes. We are hoping that the swell will not start breaking offshore.
Kevin, we're saying a prayer or two.
There are live web cams at several locations around the bay, and we will be watching.
Kevin, stay off the boat.
Kevin, we're saying a prayer or two.
There are live web cams at several locations around the bay, and we will be watching.
Kevin, stay off the boat.
REPAIR, REPAIR AND REPAIR
There are many styles of cruising. One that gets a lot of lip service, but is not commonly adopted is KISS. Folks who adopt this philosophy usually do not have refrigeration, electric water pumps, inverters, generators,short wave radios, water makers and all other sorts of complicated electrically driven conveniences that fare poorly in the salt laden air. Some folks even forgo having engines, relying completely on wind power. I respect these hardy souls, and I envy their free time. While I drip sweat, shoe horning my body into places its not designed to fit repairing my luxuries, they are up in the bar relaxing over beers, or taking interesting land tours, or whatever. I am becoming a believer in KISS, but would lose my crew if we had to drink warm beer, or warm rum and cokes.
Since we finished chasing our coolant leak I have rewired and rebuilt my water maker motor, removed the old refrigerator compressor and evaporator, installed a new system and finally dealt with fuel supply and cooling problems on our generator.
The generator fuel supply issue was relatively easy. The diesel supply pump had a speck of debris inside that was preventing its check valve from closing causing it to pump fuel backwards and forwards at the same time starving the engine of fuel. It would start to run then die. Once the speck was blown out of the pump it worked fine.
Fixing the cooling problem was a bit more difficult. The problem was in the exhaust mixing elbow. The mixing elbow is a device that mixes salt water into the engine exhaust cooling it to the point when it can be routed overboard through special high temp exhaust hose. The hose is flexible and can run through the boat around obstacles on its way overboard. The water injector in the elbow was defective and not well designed. It had developed a number of pinhole leaks, one of which was spraying salt water back into the engine. This would not normally happen when the engine was running as the flow of exhaust gas was sufficient to blow the water back, but I like to run the cooling pumps after I shut down the motor to extract a bit more heat from the engine and get it overboard. This helps cool the space the generator shares with the refrigerator compressor and condenser. If I had left the pumps run too long the backward spray could have flooded the engine cylinder with salt water, ruining it.
We didn't know about the bad water injector until we had removed the elbow. The issue we were addressing was the bad shut off valve located below the elbow. It was stuck in the open position and I had broken the handle off trying to close it. It is necessary to close the valve while at sea to prevent water from backing up the exhaust hose and flooding the engine when the boat heels over. The valve had gotten too hot, melting the Teflon seals blocking the valve in the open position. We intended to just replace the valve, but when Kenny saw the water injector he recommended we remove the elbow and install a new one. It is slightly longer and reaches further down toward the valve. He also designed a kick ass spray tip that mixes the cooling water with the exhaust gas, cooling the valve much better then the old injector that had no tip.
I have run the generator several hours now, and the valve feels cooler. I am going to have to replace the valves sometime in the not to distant future anyway, as the quality of metal in the valves here in Panama is not good. This nice shiny valve will not last long, but it will last longer with the new spray tip. I bought two.
More to come....
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| Our gen-set. A Kubota single cylinder diesel driving a 210 Amp alternator |
There are many styles of cruising. One that gets a lot of lip service, but is not commonly adopted is KISS. Folks who adopt this philosophy usually do not have refrigeration, electric water pumps, inverters, generators,short wave radios, water makers and all other sorts of complicated electrically driven conveniences that fare poorly in the salt laden air. Some folks even forgo having engines, relying completely on wind power. I respect these hardy souls, and I envy their free time. While I drip sweat, shoe horning my body into places its not designed to fit repairing my luxuries, they are up in the bar relaxing over beers, or taking interesting land tours, or whatever. I am becoming a believer in KISS, but would lose my crew if we had to drink warm beer, or warm rum and cokes.
Since we finished chasing our coolant leak I have rewired and rebuilt my water maker motor, removed the old refrigerator compressor and evaporator, installed a new system and finally dealt with fuel supply and cooling problems on our generator.
The generator fuel supply issue was relatively easy. The diesel supply pump had a speck of debris inside that was preventing its check valve from closing causing it to pump fuel backwards and forwards at the same time starving the engine of fuel. It would start to run then die. Once the speck was blown out of the pump it worked fine.
Fixing the cooling problem was a bit more difficult. The problem was in the exhaust mixing elbow. The mixing elbow is a device that mixes salt water into the engine exhaust cooling it to the point when it can be routed overboard through special high temp exhaust hose. The hose is flexible and can run through the boat around obstacles on its way overboard. The water injector in the elbow was defective and not well designed. It had developed a number of pinhole leaks, one of which was spraying salt water back into the engine. This would not normally happen when the engine was running as the flow of exhaust gas was sufficient to blow the water back, but I like to run the cooling pumps after I shut down the motor to extract a bit more heat from the engine and get it overboard. This helps cool the space the generator shares with the refrigerator compressor and condenser. If I had left the pumps run too long the backward spray could have flooded the engine cylinder with salt water, ruining it.
We didn't know about the bad water injector until we had removed the elbow. The issue we were addressing was the bad shut off valve located below the elbow. It was stuck in the open position and I had broken the handle off trying to close it. It is necessary to close the valve while at sea to prevent water from backing up the exhaust hose and flooding the engine when the boat heels over. The valve had gotten too hot, melting the Teflon seals blocking the valve in the open position. We intended to just replace the valve, but when Kenny saw the water injector he recommended we remove the elbow and install a new one. It is slightly longer and reaches further down toward the valve. He also designed a kick ass spray tip that mixes the cooling water with the exhaust gas, cooling the valve much better then the old injector that had no tip.
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| The rebuilt exhaust elbow and shut off valve |
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| The new longer and larger diameter injector with a spray tip |
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| The old water injection tube |
More to come....
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Darien
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| Golfo de San Maguel where Balboa claimed all of the Pacific and the lands bounding it for the King of Spain |
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| The arrival of four ocean going boats off La Chunga caused a lot of excitement in the village. We were asked when we would be visiting the village. When we arrived at the landing we were greeting by village children who were to help us navigate the hazardous walkway through the marsh. |
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| This log had already passed through the anchored boats once when the tide was rising and again when the tide was ebbing. |
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| We pushed it ashore and tied it to some trees. It was not the right type of wood for madding canoes, so the villagers had no interest in it. |
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| Arriving at the outskirts of the village, we were greeted with music. |
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| We were formally welcomed in the "town hall". Attending was Charles who provided translation. |
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| Charles "The Horse" A Peace Corps volunteer living in La Chunga is helping introduce low elevation coffee growing. The man next to him was from tribal headquarters in the next village up the river. He wanted to charge us $15 per day for use of the anchorage. We refused and eventually we reached an agreeable figure, $15 per week. |
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| After the dance we had an opportunity to purchase some of the crafts made in La Chunga. Everything was incredibly beautiful. |
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| Our son Kris who went for the henna "tats" in a big way. They washed off within a week. |
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| The Chief La Chunga Village Rio Sambu |
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Final Push #2: Exhaust Noozle
This is the exhaust elbow. The last time you saw this it was bolted to the rear of the exhaust manifold. It's now on a bench in Titto Torres' machine shop, where it is being used as a pattern to fabricate it's replacement plus an additional spare.
Titto's shop is quite an establishment for a Panamanian business. It takes up an entire building. The majority of small service businesses are run out of a small, grungy, ground floor shop or a small shed. His shop is in a neighborhood where a gringo like myself might run into trouble. I could probably walk out to a major road without incident, but if I did get mugged the blame would fall on me for stupidly being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The buildings are kind of shabby but they have good bones
.
Back to the elbow. I am having two of these built because my existing elbow is at the end of it's life cycle, and I can get two very robust replacements that function every bit as good as the factory part for half the price.
Here's the fabricated part. It's not as pretty as the original, but after a two hour test run, I can attest that it works just as well
We did have a bit of a glitch with this elbow. We installed it, did a test run and found it necessary to remove it. One of the welds had a pin hole leak requiring a return to Titto's.
The shop ground out the weld, and made many new welding passes rebuilding the ground out area. When the job was completed we returned to Grace, installed the repaired elbow, test ran the motor, and everything was good.
This ends, I hope the engine saga.
I haven't, until now, posted much about what it takes to keep Grace running figuring it would bore my reader (hi Mom) but what I just went through is one of the realities of cruising. Everybody out here has these kind of problems. Engines, water makers, fragile electronics, etc. are breaking down all the time.
We had a boat come through a couple weeks ago get hit by lightening just moments after completing a canal transit. While on the Caribbean side they had installed a whole array of electronics for their trip to the South Pacific. Everything they had just finished was fried. He was on a schedule, so he hired virtually every boat worker in the area and was underway again within a couple weeks. He had to pass through the ITCZ on the way out. We have not heard from him. Hope they're ok.
Kenny is bringing the second elbow over this morning, I will have him run me down to the bank to get what's left and pay him off. Then I will come back to the boat and figure out what to do with my Alder Barbour refrigerator that suddenly stopped cooling yesterday, after only 29 years of trouble free service. It's running, I can hear gas entering the evaporator, but no cooling is going on. I've probably got a refrigeration leak. This thing is so old that it uses R12 type refrigerant. R12 is nearly impossible to find even in Panama, so may have to replace the whole thing. It's gonna cost a fortune.
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