Category: 2022-05 (May)

Up a bit later than normal, no particular reason, we just slept a bit longer than normal. Today is a day to clean and work on the boat. Reneé washed the fenders (these are the inflatable cushions we hang over the side of the boat to keep us from scratching the hull on the dock), After that she made cookies.

I installed the DVD player again! It still did not work, I tried everything I could think of I verified that the HDMI cable and the TV worked by hooking up the Apple TV to it and seeing a picture and hearing sound. But no sound out of the DVD player. So, I called tech support and spent about an hour not getting anywhere. About the time I had given up it was time for lunch so I cleaned up enough to get to the table. Reneé asked about sending it back. Well, we bought it on Amazon and that was in November 2021, so I was not very confident. But said I would try. This time when I called Alpine support, I went to Customer support instead of Tech support. This guy spent about another hour trying to get the DVD player settings to get sound to the TV. We failed. So, he sent me an email and two weeks before we are going back to the states, he will send a new one where I ask him to and I will have 3 weeks to get the one I have back to them or have to pay for the new one. Certainly can’t ask for more than that!

So, I cleaned up the mess from the DVD job, and then went after the supports for the cockpit table that are bent. When those were replaced (yes Reneé helped with that), I was pretty much done for the day. About this point as she was making cookies I heard a strange sound from the water pump. This sound means that the tank was empty. OOPS!

This meant that at 3 pm I started filling the water tank. It is coming up on 9 pm now, about 200 gallons so far. The tank holds 260, and it has been a while since we emptied it.

I talked to my uncle for an hour or so. He lives alone and it worries me a bit. Nothing I can do about it, but keep him connected as well as I can. He has a new computer (a Mac mini), and Apple support is available, but he hasn’t called. About half of our time was spent working on getting him to call for Apple support.

Well we finished filling the water tank about 9:30, about 210 gallons, so the tank was not completely empty. Now that we are finished with that we can turn the A/C back on. It is not so much to cool the boat down as to dry it out. It is 82 degrees and 65% humidity outside, and 82 degrees and 54% humidity inside. We have three A/C units in the boat, a 7000 but unit in the forward cabin and also in the aft cabin, and a 13,000 but unit in the main salon. Temperature is set for 75 degrees and we usually turn the one off in our stateroom overnight, as the controller is an LED unit and it is on the dimmest setting and is still very bright, and RIGHT in my face where I sleep.

So, we were up and around at 7 or maybe a bit after.

Reneé washed windows and portholes and lubed zippers. It is amazing how bad the zippers on everything get down here on the water.

This was a day for phone calls, we had gotten a letter in the mail (forwarded to us by way of Kyle) that said we needed to deal with our LLC and that we needed to send a check for $110 to this company by May 13. Well, I did some investigation and called the state office where the LLC is registered, and found out that this is a scam. It costs $10 to update the registration and they send an email to us to tell us when it is due (August 1), and that we can do this up to 2 months in advance. All in all a very nice conversation.

I called and talked to my mom for an hour and change. I do this a couple of times a month (maybe more). If you are reading this and haven’t given someone a call lately perhaps now is the time to do it.

I tried calling my uncle, but he was out.

We went to the pool about 4 pm and then back to the boat for dinner. Then showers and game night, this time we played Rummy 500. A game Nate taught us.

No pictures today

Up at 7 am. Reneé off the boat by about 8:15 headed to Walmart to drop off part of our canopy to get fixed. (This is with Ivete who made it). After doing that she will head over to the church for a bible study. I am meeting up with the guy to do the electrical work on the boat for the new solar. John Pounder. Afterwards the plan is to meet Reneé in Bucerias, get my hair cut and then go order the stuff for the solar. 

We ordered the solar panels and the controllers. They should all be on the boat early next week. Afterwards, we went back to the boat and relaxed for a bit then off to the pool and happy hour. 

This was movie night so after dinner and showers we watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers from 1954. This movie is most certainly NOT PC today. Still the music was good. Then bed. 

Up at 7, breakfast and getting organized. Listened to the Net. Today, we have to finish checking in with the Port Captain, meet with Cano about bottom cleaning and stuff, maybe moving slips. We were waiting on a different slip down the dock. The one we are in is sort of pie shaped so we are pretty close at the stern to our neighbor. The other slip is more rectangular.

Well, that did not work! Current and wind got in the way, also a bigger boat was parked in the next slip, making the new “better slip” not that much better. End result at the worst possible time the bow thruster said “I AM TIRED” and stopped working. This is not surprising, the bow thruster is a 7 hp 12 volt motor. For those of you interested in the technical stuff, there are 746 watts per hp. So, 7×746 = 5,222 watts. The formula for power is I (current) x E (voltage) = P (power in watts). So, this motor is drawing about 435 amps from the batteries. EVERYTHING about this is HOT, the wires, the motor etc. So, we went out and puttered around the bay for a couple of hours to let it all cool down. We also talked to the office and got a different slip. While we were out, we saw a couple of dolphin and some birds. When we pulled back in to the new slip there was plenty of room.

Reneé went and got the laundry, I worked on contacting people about solar, generators, and dinghy’s finding a new dinghy that is in the states, that is only marginally more expensive than the one we did not get in February. That is no longer available.  A part for the generator is supposed to be shipped tomorrow from Florida, and then forwarded by the importer. I had my meeting with Cano about what to do this summer, and I arranged to meet with the electronics guy about the solar stuff tomorrow morning.

After all the screwing around, we headed to the pool. We stopped by Denny and Steve’s boat and chatted for a bit, then headed out again and ran into Turi and Jeli on another boat and chatted with them for a bit, so all told it took us an hour and half to get from our boat to the pool, about a 10 minute walk.

After happy hour at the pool, back to the boat for dinner and our bible reading, we are trying to move it to the end of the day rather than rush through it in the morning. Then a real treat ICE CREAM! After the way today went we deserved it! Then showers and bed.

We got up and after breakfast we checked in to the marina, we were unable to get to the port captain, and will do that tomorrow. Then we headed out to do our shopping.

First stop Zaragoza Marine store. Dinghy, NO sold out and next shipment expected in May 2023. Fishing pole holder, NO, strata glass cleaner for the windows NO. Parts for rebuilding a winch. NO. Complete strike out here.

Second stop the solar panel place looking for new solar panels at least 450 watts each (two of them), at a reasonable price. YES 550 watts at about $350 each, which compared to buying in the states and importing is a bit less. The controllers were a bit more, but we were told we could get them all in about a week. Success!

We had lunch in town and walked a bunch, finally back to the boat and rest for an hour or so. Then off to the pool for happy hour and to meet up with the crew of Yo-di-yo Dave and Mary. We spent an hour in the pool then a couple of hours chatting, then back to the boat and dinner and bed. I walked 13,478 steps today.

No pictures today.