February 22nd, 2025 Saturday, La Cruz marina

Up at about 6 am, too many days of getting up early I guess. Breakfast, the Net and bible reading. Reneé headed off to provision the boat, the guys were here to wash the boat, clean the bottom and work on the varnish. I worked on the stereo.
As you might remember, we had an issue with the voltage regulator last season and the alternator was putting out 17 volts. The only thing that died was the stereo. While we were gone this summer I had the voltage regulator replaced, and brought back the new stereo (that includes a new amplifier for the speakers on the arch) I got it all wired in before we left for Tennessee but no time to set it up. So, that was the plan for today. Here was what got done:

  1. I found that the wire going to the starboard speaker on the arch has an open (meaning that somewhere there is a break in the wire).
  2. Based on 1 above, I pulled the fuse for the zone 3 amplifier, and put a note inside the cabinet explaining status, and updated my list of stuff to do.
  3. I set up the rest of the stereo, including
    1. Connect to the Wi-Fi
    2. Update the firmware
    3. Connect to my phone on blue tooth
    4. Connect to the RayMarine chart plotters for sound as well as control.
  4. This includes setting up the chart plotters to get connected to the Wi-Fi and updating firmware
  5. Getting XM to work (at least part of the time, where we are in this slip our antenna is blocked part of the time, so it depends on which way the swell is pushing the boat as to whether it works or not.
  6. Getting the chart plotter app for You Tube to work and play the video on the screen and sound on the stereo
  7. Look at the wires for the speakers to see if I could see what was going on. NO LUCK here.
  8. I investigated what apps are available to the chart plotters to see if there was anything we wanted. They have several that look promising (mostly weather apps) and we already have NetFlix and YouTube apps installed. I did not find any that I wanted.

We are in the end days of being here in Banderas bay. Reneé made her last two trips to the stores today one in the morning for the local stuff and a last trip to Sams, the bank and Chedraui. Tomorrow we will go to church and get our stuff back that we stored at a friend’s house. The last coat of varnish will get put on the wood, and the tape will be removed. We will pay for it Monday morning, then stop at the fuel dock to top off the diesel and gas cans then head to Punta de Mita to anchor for the night.

No pictures today

 

February 21st, 2025 Friday, Puerto Vallarta airport and back to boat

We had a very long day, up at 3:45 am, off to the airport, and finally back on the ground in PV around 4:30 pm. Then a long cab ride back to the boat we changed and went to dinner at Falconi’s the Italian restaurant here in La Cruz. Reneé got her lasagna. I had a spicy chicken and mushroom dish with no cheese. Than back to the boat and bed.

These are little animals carved out of stone. We have been looking for these to use with Mexican Train Dominoes for a year or more.
This is the before picture of our teak woodwork on the boat.
From Left to right, our son Nathan, our friend Duane Ericsonn, Reneé and Me.

Boat odors – Special Post for Jill the 1st class flight attendant on our trip from Nashville to Phoenix 2/21/25

At one point I was getting worried about being delayed and missing our connection at Phoenix, so I stopped and asked the flight attendant about gates and times (it was later pointed out to me that Phoenix was an hour time change so we had that going for us). We chatted for a few minutes and I found out that she and her husband live on a Hunter 450 in Kema Texas. She asked about how to get rid of boat odors. So, that is what this post is about.
Here is what we have done:
– [ ] Dehumidifier it runs all summer while the boat is here in Mexico, it sits on the counter and drains to the galley sink and the drain valve for that is open so it goes overboard.
– [ ] Wipe everything down with vinegar
– [ ] Clean the bilge, I use a variety of boat soap, bilge cleaner and just plain dishwashing soap
– [ ] Open all the hatches and ventilate the boat regularly especially when we are at anchor, we close everything up while underway (safety reasons)
– [ ] Use FRESH water for the heads, if your toilets use raw water from what you are sailing through for flushing the toilets, you will save water, but the downside is that the organisms that live in that live in the water die in the hoses and as they rot they stink. If you use fresh water from your water system, that odor will eventually go away.
– [ ] We use a NO STANK filter on our holding tank vent. This is an activated charcoal filter so that the holding tank vent is filtered.
https://www.searussales.com/

https://www.searussales.com/
https://www.amazon.com/New-Get-Rid-Boat-Odors-dp-1892399784/dp/1892399784/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

The author is/was known as the HEADMISTRESS this was the 2nd edition and was written in 2016. But the ideas in it still make sense. It is available on Kindle for $9.95.

This is an update written on 3/1/2025.

We anchored at San Blas, Mexico actually in Matachen Bay, this is huge bay and pretty shallow. We were more than a mile off shore (there are a lot of little no-see-ums there). It is basically a swamp near the bay. There is a bunch of stuff that gets washed in to the bay. This stuff rots on the bay floor, and when I pulled up the anchor there was more than the normal amount of mud on the chain. We have an anchor Washdown pump and hose that allows us to wash the chain off. This is not optional in the case of this mud. Our anchor locker drains to the bilge, which means whatever mud I did not get off before the chain got into the locker goes to the bilge and stinks. So, wash your chain.

Next up we anchored at Isla Isabela, which is home to the Blue Footed Boobies, and Frigate birds. They had virtually no predators on this island (until Man brought them some (rats and ??) There are so many birds here, and since we usually anchor with the land blocking the wind… the bird stink is blown onto our boat. Nothing to do here but put up with it until we move.

 

February 12th, 2025 Puerto Vallarta Wednesday (La Cruz Marina)

Up at 6 am. This is a travel day (we hope) going to the states to help our son move home. The weather may get in the way.

We finished packing and getting ready to travel.

I updated the blog, there was over 1000 pictures to sort through, change format and resize (my blog software doesn’t like heic files, or pictures bigger than 800×600). I try to have pictures every day, and just a few so the blog will load. But some of these days I had about 20. I set a limit of being done by 11 am. I made it, but barely.

Today we are scheduled to fly to Normal Illinois. The plan was to pick up a Uhaul truck and drive to Ottawa Illinois to pick up our son Nate and move him to our house in Tennessee.

Everything was setup, we had the flight, the hotel and the truck. Uhaul wants to move a trailer to Tennessee so we are supposed to pick it up in Normal and drop it off in Savannah.

Then, the weather got in the way. We might not get to Normal, so, we moved the truck pickup to Ottawa for Nate to pick up and then drive to Normal and get the trailer.  IF our flights work, we will still meet him in Normal. Which is on the way from Ottawa to Savannah. This took at least a dozen phone calls. The last one from the airport in Puerto Vallarta, several were three way calls.  What a pain.

I’m writing this in the plane, we were delayed and then delayed again, then moved up. We have about 20 minutes to go, then a 1.5 hour layover in DFW with customs, before (hopefully) flying to Normal.

Apparently, we were suspicious, as one of the ground attendants in the airport came up to us and chatted with us before asking to see our boarding passes and passports. No issues and we got on the plane.

No pictures today

February 11th, 2025 Puerto Vallarta Tuesday (La Cruz Marina)

Up at 6 for Reneé, about 7:30 for me. I did not sleep that well not really sure what was keeping me awake. Oh well. We listened to the net and had breakfast.

Reneé will be taking the laundry in and getting some beer. We like Modelo Negra, being on the boat, we prefer to get it in the can, as it crushes down when empty to minimize our trash. This is difficult to find, but we have found a location that carries it at the top of the town (about 2 miles from the marina) Reneé will have the cart from dropping off the laundry and will walk up the rest of the way and get the beer.

The people doing the woodwork, will start today, and work on it while we are gone. $400 down and $800 when we get back. 5 coats, supposed to last 2 years. The plan is to have it done now, so when we get back in May, it will look good for pictures (we are selling) then have it buffed up and another coat every so often as needed until it sells. Teak toe rails look great when freshly varnished, but being in the sun all the time, requires FREQUENT re-varnishing. Our experience, is that we have owned the boat since 2018, we had ok brightwork then, and we had it redone in 2020 (2021?), and it was down to bare wood. Again it is down to bare wood.

I worked on the boat. Richard (from Richard’s Marine Maintenance) came by, he found the water leak (a hose they had removed and reinstalled when working on the boat), fixed. He found a wire from the alternator that had become disconnected (a crimped connection), fixed. He found a loose sensor in the oil system that might be leaking, he tightened it.

I replaced the light in the aft stateroom that was not working, then installed the SD card reader for the chart plotter, then replaced the radio. This last part took much longer than I anticipated, probably 6 or more hours. I didn’t get it all done. The XM is not working, but the speakers on the arch are. I did not get the volume adjusted correctly for them. They are zone 3 on this system, so they have a separate amplifier, this is installed behind a panel at the nav station. This will take two of us working together to get it adjusted correctly.

I had considered buying the necessary parts to allow control of the radio from the chart plotter at the helm, but it was too pricey. When I was taking out the old radio (that died due to high voltage from the alternator last year) I found that all the hardware needed to control the radio from the chart plotter was there. I checked after I was done and it works. Because of our travel day coming up, I stopped my work and put all the tools away and cleaned everything up. No more work until we get back.

Then dinner (late) showers and bed.

As you can see, the wood needs some help.