Category: 2024-03 (March)

(posted 04/06/24)
Up at 6 like normal. This was a work day for the guys working on the instruments, so they were here a bit after 8, and got right to work. The speakers in the salon got rewired. What a horrible job they were before. Cheap speaker wire that was spliced into better wire here and there, etc. the speakers on deck also had the same sort of poor job done before. All fixed now. At this point all the speakers have been rewired, all work except the port speaker on the arch. Nothing obvious, but it does not appear to be a fault of the wiring on either end, Which means I have a puzzle to work on.
At the end of the day, all of the electronics are working, and the new piece for the gangway has been test fit and drilled, just needs staining and varnish.
At some point I noticed that the engine start battery is not getting charged. So, I have another puzzle to work on there. We watched the sermon from Northcoast and then off to bed.

(posted 04/06/24)
Up at 6 am, Reneé listened to the news, we had breakfast and read our bible for the day, such is our morning routine. Brian and Ben arrived at 8 am and immediately began working.
There are a few really tough parts of the instrumentation update that are difficult, the part up the mast is one and was the first thing that they worked on. The cell amplifier came down, an idea that sounded good when we were leaving San Diego, but n practice didn’t really work. The limited power for the amplifier and other technical issues prevented it from ever really working. There is also the issue of virtually no cell towers in Baja. So, while the amplifier might get an additional 25 miles, that is less than a day’s travel, and then it will be a couple of weeks before we were in range again. The next issue with it is that the co-ax cable was very large, and loose inside the mast resulting in a lot of noise from it. It also took up a bunch of room inside the mast.
The wires inside the mast were pretty crowded, the following wires are or were in the mast:
Cell amplifier (very large co-ax)
VHF radio antenna
Wind speed and direction sensor
Anchor light
Masthead navigation light
Old Analog Radar very very (yes really big) co-ax and power
Deck light
Steaming light (another navigation light
Loud hailer (speaker/microphone) very large shielded wire (.oversized for the application)

We removed the cell amplifier cable and antenna, the old analog radar, and replaced the wire for the loud hailer with smaller wires.
All to give room for the new radar (digital) that uses two smaller wires, power and data.
In the process the loud hailer got broken and will have to be replaced.

The next big project was wiring up the instruments above the gangway, this was probably the hardest part of the project, requiring “fishing” cables through the ceiling and a variety of small holes.
They finished at about.6 pm, at the end of the day the radar is working. They will be back at 8 am, EASTER SUNDAY.

no pictures today

(posted 04/06/24)
Up at 6, got through our morning routine and Brian and Ben showed up at just after 8 am. They dove right in and had made significant progress by lunchtime. Reneé paddle boarded to shore to check out the hot springs. She found them, very green and too hot 116 degrees.  She was glad to get off the boat so she wouldn’t be in the way.  After exploring the shore on the paddle board, Lisa, from Solmate, asked is she’d like to go for a hike.  They hiked to Playa Escondida and had a beer at the Hidden Bar.
Ben and Brian worked until about 4 pm.
At this point the chart plotters basically worked.

(posted 04/06/24)
Up at 6, Reneé listened to the news, and I read. Then breakfast.
We are in this bay, to get the new electronics installed. Today will be the day to get ready, I have to get things out of the way, as anytime the installer’s are waiting on me moving stuff, is time and MONEY wasted. It will be a lot of work, as there is a bunch of stuff that will be in the way if not moved, and there are not many places to put it that won’t be in the way later. Also, we can’t leave stuff just “anywhere” as we have to continue to live on the boat while the work is going on.
We spent the day doing as we had planned, getting stuff moved to minimize delays for when Brian and Ben would be here.
They showed up mid afternoon, and started mapping out their plans, after a couple of hours, they were ready to leave and we only had one more cupboard to empty.
After everything was done and dinner dishes washed, we played a game of rummy. Then bed.

(posted 04/06/24)
Up at 6 Reneé listened to the news, and went to the office to deal with our bill. I contacted Battleborn about the battery charger/inverter etc. not connecting to the internet and when he called back spent a half hour getting updates done, we got shore power off and readied the boat for departure. We were underway by about 8:30–45 we were underway.
We sailed for a couple of hours, then the wind was from the wrong direction and we were going a little less than 4 knots, so sails down and motor on and we continued on our way. We went about 40 miles, and anchored at about 5:30. There are a lot of other boats here, and while the wind was blowing, it was going over the tops of the boats and since it was coming from the land, there were no waves, so a very nice anchorage.
Since we played games last night, this was a movie night we watched Hunter-Killer a submarine movie. Pretty good action, pretty bad for accuracy on submarine life and capabilities etc.