(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.
Watching the kite surfersMore kite surfing, Yes, that one is up in the air!More kite surfingJust us
(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.
This is where the shower drain pump switch is located.This is what it looks like on my keyboardHere is a new switch
(posted 05/17/24)
Up at 0600, morning routines, and the net. Then more work on the boat. This evening we are going to the potluck.
At this point (1300) we have finished the list on the outside of the boat! We’re down to the inside stuff. One week for the outside, and we have two weeks and five days until we fly back to Nashville. During that time we have scheduled a three night trip to Tequila, Mexico. We will take a bus there and have one night in a Tequila barrel, and two nights in a regular hotel. A couple of tours and then a bus ride back.
We went to the pot luck for dinner between 15 and 20 people and some awesome food! We talked with Robin and Tad about taking a road trip to San Sabastian before heading back to Nashville.
The pictures show only having two panels for the side of the canopy. This is appropriate if we are aboard, and can move them based on which way the sun is from the boat, it is more difficult to get under and onto the boat if the panels are down on the side you are trying to get on. However, in this situation where we will be off the boat for a few months, we would rather have panels all the way around. Reneé has started the process of getting those two panels made.
Front view of our boat, backed in with the canopy and the front panel of the side shade up.Rear view of our boat with the canopy up and the rear panel of the sunshade up.
(posted 05/17/24)
Up at 6. Morning routines, then Reneé off to the store. Tonight is game night here at Paradise Village.
After breakfast, while washing dishes, I noticed that the water was not very hot. So, I started investigating, and found the shore power plug at the dock was unplugged (actually loose), and that was why the breaker on the boat was off. So, I plugged it back in and turned everything back on. So far so good. Note: we have two shore power circuits, one does most everything like the battery charger, the water heater the AC circuits etc. The other has the Air Conditioner’s, water maker, and washing machine. The second circuit had not tripped.
A few minutes later the supply breaker on the boat tripped off again. I reset it and a few minutes later it tripped again. This time I looked at the battery charger and found that our batteries were at 69% and charging. (With the battery and inverter, we did not lose power to anything important, like the coffee pot), but the water heater doesn’t get powered from the inverter. So, after resetting everything this time I noticed the current on the shore power was right at 30 amps, which is the limit for that circuit. I turned off the water heater for now, and will turn it back on after the battery is fully charged. One of the advantages of LiFePO4 batteries is that they will charge with basically any current you send their way, are charger is limited to 30 amps AC coming in, I will reduce that to 20 amps. We have been at sea or anchored for quite a while, which means that usually the source for the AC power has been our generator which supplies up to 80 amps AC to our distribution system split between the two buses. So, I have kept that limit at 30 amps which works in that condition, just not on shore power.
After lunch and a little more work, we went to the pool to cool off.
Then dinner and game night. Jill & Curt, K0nane & Robert for some Mexican train (dominos).
Gasoline ready to give away. About a gallon of 2 cycle and probably 8 gallons we did not use this season. I debate every year about whether or not to fill both of the 5 gallon jugs, Maybe next year only fill one?? we will see.
(posted 05/17/24)
Up at 6, morning routines.
The refrigerator is still not working. Oh well! We got the laundry in and then started working. We finished putting the lines away then washed the boat. We also turned it around. Tomorrow we will put covers on things like the mast and helm. Perhaps we will get the canopy up.
After a long day working on the boat, we turned in early.
