Category: 2024-05 (May)

(posted 06/01/24)

Since we are caught up and even a bit ahead on prepping the boat for hurricane season we decided to take a road trip. We hired a driver, Carlos, who came very highly recommended. He is an Uber driver but took the day off to drive us and another cruiser couple, Tad and Robin Foley (SV Bisou) to the cute little town of San Sebastián (about two hours north of Puerta Vallarta in the mountains). It is an old silver mining town, older than 200 years. On the way up we stopped at a distillery, more to see the view and stretch our legs than to get any information on how Raicia is made. We also stopped at a chocolate factory and HAD TO buy some treats there. Next we stopped at the coffee manufacturer and enjoyed a short walk and taste of their delicious coffee.

Once in San Sebastián we enjoyed a traditional Mexican lunch and then headed out to explore the town. Unfortunately, the town square had no live music (Carlos said it usually does). Also it appeared many shops were closed today. The streets were cobblestone and it was a mistake to wear sandals (Reneé did). We bought some peanut brittle. The handicrafts were very pricey (in my humble opinion).

We returned to our boat by 6 pm. It was a very nice day!

After dinner we walked to the showers (as we usually do) and on the way home we saw a raccoon just outside of the marina fence… that was a first.

(posted 06/01/24)
Up at 6, morning routines, today is figure out charging network issues and adjust voltages.
Lithium batteries are best left at mid range on charge. I checked with Battleborn to get specific values.
The charging system is networked to maximize performance and indication. The charger/inverter is connected to the two solar controllers and the shunt/battery monitor. The network display shows status of everything, and also connects to the internet. Which means that I can check everything from any where.
The network all connects at the same the device called a CERBO GX. The charger/inverter uses a standard network cable, the two solar controllers and the display use a “CAN BUS” network (might be proprietary). There’s also a device to connect via Bluetooth that uses a standard network cable. The problem I had was one of the two solar controllers worked as far as charging, and as far as Bluetooth, but wasn’t visible on the network. I called support and was told most likely problem was a plugged connection on one end of the other for the device that was not working.
Well, I tried the plug at the controller and no change. I started at the cerbo and was able to get the starboard controller viable, or the port, but not both. This CAN bus has three ports 1,2,3; my experience with networks says they are all the same. The three devices are port and starboard solar controllers and the display for the system. It took a few hours to figure out that the display would work when plugged into any of them, but the solar controllers would only work in 1 or 2. Part of the problem that made it take so long was I had to see the update on the internet to know if something I did had the desired outcome.
At the end of the day, everything is working, it’s all visible via the internet, and everything is set at the lower voltage.
We went to the pool and happy hour. Then dinner, showers, a game and bed.

No pictures today.

 

(posted 06/01/24)
Up at 0700. Much later than normal.
Morning routines, no VHF net on Sunday. Then off to church.
Excellent message, then a walk to lunch.

No pictures today.

(posted 06/01/24)
Up at 0600. Morning routines. We listened to the net, and thought about what to do today. We looked at our list, and the calendar and what we have planned. One major topic on the net today was the kite surfing race and festivities. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 kite surfers are going to race from La Cruz to Bucerias there should be some pretty good wind. We decided that we could afford the time to go watch the race.
So, we took the bus up and walked to the beach, found a restaurant Fat Boy, and had lunch on the beach and watched the race. Afterwards, we walked through the market and caught the bus back. We stopped and got our tickets for going to Tequila a week from next Tuesday. Then back to the boat and relax for a few hours.
At 1800, we went to Robin and Danny’s boat SV All Set For Now, to teach them how to play Mexican Train. Then showers and bed.

(posted 06/01/24)
Up at 0600, morning routines, and the net. We started filling the water tank at 0745. The last time we filled it was 5/2/24. We plan to fill it one more time after this before we leave for the season.

What we do, is take dock water through a 5 micron activated charcoal filter (which removes most of the impurities, and more importantly the chlorine, which is bad for the membranes in the water maker). After this filter the water goes through our regular plankton screen, 25 micron filter, then a 5 micron filter (these should catch nothing, as we have already gone through a 5 micron filter), then into the high pressure pump and into the membranes. We are limited to either 33 gallons per hour, or 800 psi. Since we are using pretty good water to start out with, we use 33 gph. From there I check the water quality with an instrument that measures impurities and typically in this arrangement, we get less than 5 ppm (parts per million). If we use sea water, typically we get less than 200 ppm. In the US, acceptable water in the public drinking water system is less than 500 ppm. Most of the time it is better than that. Our water tank holds 260 gallons, so at most we would need 8 hours to refill the tank. It actually got done at 1230, 157 gallons of water.

Well, now that we are done using the water for filling the tank, it is time to flush the shower in the forward head. I washed the head with the hose and flushed it down to the drain and got most of the water out, then a problem… come on, you knew there had to be something else broken! This is a boat after all! The drain pump has been an occasional flake, that is it works every time I go to use it, but not for everyone else, so I could not find the issue. Today, it ran the first 2 or 3 times I wanted it to run and then no more. So, I said perhaps it is the switch. Not exactly the hardest thing to access on the boat, but in the top 10. An hour or two later I had tested the switch by jumping the contacts and yes the pump runs and pumps that way, and then I took the switch out, and went looking for a replacement. Of course there are no identifying numbers on it. I called Island Packet Yacht company, they closed 10 minutes before I called. So, I went to Facebook to see if someone had identified this part and posted it. After a few minutes of searching I found exactly what I was looking for, a post with this switch, and where it was available. I was sure to thank that person for posting such a great resource on Facebook!! Oh wait, I posted that 2 years ago for someone else!!!
It is a fairly unique switch. See the pictures.
Then I washed the forward bilge area under the forward state room and then flushed the main bilge.