Maintenance/Cruising Log - May 2015
May 01, Friday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats, Jillian
and Jordan, and attempt to brush their
beautiful coats.
Kitty was up early, so we listened to the
Rio
Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The
net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the
local news and events, and a good source of local information
that matter to cruisers.
Today was Noel’s birthday, so while we were
having breakfast, we gave him our cards and presents.
Noel With His First Present
The First Present Was A T-Shirt
Next Present Was A Mayan Vest With Goodies In
The Pockets
After breakfast, Nicola & Noel went off to
RAM
Marine to work on
TANTALUS.
They had some packing to do, and some straightening up of the
awnings, in preparation of their departure. They were also going
into town to do some shopping and to pick up the birthday cake
we had ordered earlier in the week.
I got into my work clothes and took all of the
tools I had assembled to cut the Extren fiberglass
plate, back to the shop.
I then cut out the hatch area out of the last piece of the
Extren fiberglass
plate I am using to replace the last three wooden hatches on
DREAM AWAY.
Measure The Cutout On The
Extren Fiberglass
Plate
Drill Holes On All Four Sides - Cut From The
Holes
Cutout In The Extren Fiberglass
Plate For The New Hatch
Hatch Fitted Into The Extren Fiberglass
Plate
When I had finished that cutting and got the
hatch to fit into the cutout in the Extren fiberglass
plate, I got to work cutting out the remaining pieces of
Extren fiberglass
plate that we are using on the cap rail of
TANTALUS.
When Nicola & Noel came back from town we
were going to have a bite of lunch, Nicola realized she
had left two bags of veggies at the SunDog
cafe. Noel and I went off in my
tender to
rescue the veggies. They were still at SunDog
cafe, so we picked them up and came back to
DREAM AWAY.
Kitty and Nicola had set out the lunch items, so
we had our light lunch, and then Noel and I went back to the
shop and
finished cutting the Extren fiberglass
plate. We now have 25 pieces of Extren fiberglass
plate cut from 6” to 69” to put on the cap rail of
TANTALUS.
Cutting The Extren Fiberglass
Plate Using A Fence
Finished Cut Pieces Of Extren Fiberglass
Plate
Noel and I cleaned up the
shop and
all of the tools, and then brought them all back to DREAM AWAY.
I put all of the tools away and in their proper place, and fixed
adult beverages to take a break.
After a short break, we all took welcome
showers, and got ready to go to Casa
Perico. We originally planned to just have a
small contingent from Monkey
Bay Marina to go to the buffet at
Casa
Perico, but it grew. We had quite a crowd for
our birthday, anniversary, and going away celebration
meal. In all sixteen folks showed up!
As usual we had a great meal at
Casa
Perico with the featured meat items of
Pork Cordon Bleu and Chicken Cordon Bleu. They also had beets as
one of the vegetables, and that made me very happy!
We came back to DREAM AWAY, and Nicola, Noel,
Walter, Kitty and I then had a piece of the wonderful birthday
cake Nicola had purchased from the Holandesa store
here in town. It was a tres leches tiramisu cake, and it was
enjoyed by all.
May 02, Saturday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats, Jillian
and Jordan, and attempt to brush their
beautiful coats.
Kitty was up early, so we listened to the
Rio
Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The
net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the
local news and events, and a good source of local information
that matter to cruisers.
While I was preparing breakfast, I accidentally
spilled a cup of hot milk on the stove. The slowed down
breakfast preparation while I had to take the stove apart and
clean it up.
That means the burners had to be removed to get
the top plate off and cleaned up under the top plate. Got it
cleaned up, and all put back together, and finished breakfast
preparation.
Stove Cleaned Up And Going Back Together
Parts Ready To Go Back On Stove
After breakfast, we loaded all of the cut
Extren fiberglass
plate that we cut yesterday, and Nicola and Noel went to
RAM
Marine to work on
TANTALUS.
I got into my tender and
went into town.
I docked at the SunDog
cafe, and then went to the vegetable shop to
get some needed vegetables for a dip, and for our dinner
tomorrow night. I walked down to an appliance store to
price a fan that we need, and it turned out to cost Q 550! When
we purchased the same fan back in 2006, it was 300! I then went
to Dispensa
Familiar to get cream to make another
batch of ice cream.
I went back to SunDog
cafe and got into the
tender,
and went back into the mangroves to the “concrete mall”. I went
to Sistemas
Solares to pay for a
LED light
which they had given me two days before to see if it would work!
From Sistemas
Solares, I went to another appliance store to
check on the price of the fan, and it was the same price as the
first store.
I went back to the tender,
and headed over to RAM
Marine to help Nicola & Noel on
TANTALUS.
We did some straightening up and preparations to put their
dinghy motor onto TANTALUS.
We did the preparations, then took the outboard
motor off of the dinghy, and took it up to and put it onto one
of RAM
Marine’s trolleys. We wheeled the
outboard up to TANTALUS,
and took the motor off. We brought the trolley back to the dock.
Next we lifted the dinghy out of the water and
onto two of RAM
Marine’s trolleys, and wheeled the
dinghy up to TANTALUS.
We got the dinghy on the ground, turned upside
down, and then scrubbed the slime and stuff off of the bottom.
We lifted the back of the dinghy up onto blocks, and attempted
to find the leak, and were not successful.
We then turned the dinghy right side up, and put
the front and back up on blocks. We then started filling the
dinghy with water, and were finally able to find the source of
the leak. The leak is actually around the drain plug!
We decided to have lunch, so I went to
Monkey
Bay Marina to get Kitty, and we all had
lunch at the RAM
Marine restaurant. Just as we were
finishing up Paul from SERENITY showed up. I had promised to
help him get his dinghy and motor onto his boat.
Noel came up so we basically did the same thing
with Paul’s dinghy as we did with Nicola & Noels dinghy. We
used the two trolleys to get the dinghy up beside SERENITY.
Using the jib halyard, the three of us got the dinghy up and
onto the foredeck of SERENITY. We got the dinghy secure, and the
tarp put back in place.
Paul and I got his outboard motor up on deck
using a halyard, and got the motor put into the cockpit. Paul
had his area pretty well squared away.
I went down to my tender,
and took Nicola & Noel back to DREAM AWAY, and then I came
back to RAM
Marine. Paul had ordered a spaghetti lunch,
so we waited for it to arrive. When the meal came, I took Kitty
and Paul back to DREAM AWAY. We wanted Paul to have a piece of
the Birthday/Celebration cake Nicola had purchased.
Paul ate his lunch, and then had a piece of the
tres leches tiramisu cake. He was very happy to have gotten a
piece of the cake, and seemed to enjoy it.
I took Paul back to
RAM
Marine, so he could do any final things on
SERENITY, because Paul was catching the bus tomorrow morning to
the city so he could catch his flight on Tuesday morning out of
Guatemala
City. I went back to DREAM AWAY and got a
shower.
Tonight’s meal was a cooperative effort. Nicola
and Noel prepared the meat while I was taking my shower. When I
came back on DREAM AWAY, I took the meat up to the
outdoor
kitchen so it could be cooked on the
grill.
While I was doing that, Nicola & Noel took a
shower, and Kitty prepared the pasta, cauliflower, and made the
cucumber, red onion and tomato salad. By the time the meat was
finished, we were ready to sit down and eat.
Our next door neighbor, Walter, joined us for
the meal, and it was a wonderful culinary experience. After
dinner we cleaned up all of the dishes, and had another piece of
the celebration tres leches tiramisu cake.
We then played four rounds of
Mexican
Train. Walter then had to leave, as he was
also catching the bus in the morning to Guatemala
City. He is flying out Monday morning to
Poland so he can visit his mother.
The four of us played another few more rounds of
Mexican
Train. By then we were all worn out from a
long day, so we went off to bed.
May 03, Sunday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats, Jillian
and Jordan, and and attempt to brush their
beautiful coats.
Did not have the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net this morning, because
it is Sunday.
I made a big special breakfast of banana
pancakes with bacon. We also had orange juice spiked with a shot
of the authentic Polish Bison Grass vodka that Walter had left
with us. It was a wonderful breakfast!
Bison Grass Vodka On Table
Nicol And Noel Awaiting The Goodies
Pancakes On The Stove
After breakfast, Nicola, Noel and I went to
RAM
Marine to work on
TANTALUS.
Our job today was to get the dinghy “gooped” up with Sikaflex 1A
to stop, what is hoped, the last leak!
While we had the Sikaflex 1A out and in the gun,
we decided to repair my pair of flip-flops that were coming
apart. We applied the Sikaflex 1A, and then clamped the shoes
together.
My Pair Of Flip-Flops Clamped Together
While Nicola worked on packing suitcases, and
getting packing organized, Noel and I cut small pieces of line,
and tied down and secured as best we could the awnings on
TANTALUS.
We decided it was time to head back to DREAM
AWAY, but when we actually got ready to go it was raining! While
we sat and waited for the rain to stop, Nicola and Noel decided
to take the propeller from TANTALUS back
to the UK, and have it rebuilt there.
The rain finally slowed way down, and I headed
out to Tienda
Reed in my tender,
while Nicola & Noel went back to TANTALUS to
pack away the 28 pound propeller in their luggage. While I was
at Tienda
Reed, I purchased the
skirt
steak for dinner tonight.
I left Tienda
Reed, and went back to
RAM
Marine. After a short wait, Nicola & Noel
joined me, and we all went back to DREAM AWAY, and had lunch.
The afternoon was spent relaxing and enjoying
adult beverages, as this is Nicola & Noel’s last full day on
the Rio
Dulce until January of 2016.
We had a wonderful meal that was enjoyed by all.
We had the marinated skirt
steak, baked potato, and grilled eggplant
with all of the fixin’s! After dinner, Kitty did the dishes, and
then we played three games of Skip-Bo before
hitting the sack!
May 04, Monday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats, Jillian
and Jordan, and attempt to brush their
beautiful coats.
Had breakfast then Nicola, Noel, Kitty and I
went to RAM
Marine in our tender to
help with the luggage on TANTALUS.
Nicola & Noel had to remove the prop from their luggage, as
they had changed their mind, and were letting Richard at
RAM
Marine get the prop repaired.
We helped with getting the luggage down from
TANTALUS onto
the ground. We waited for the taxi, which arrived a bit ahead of
time. We said our goodbyes, and Nicola & Noel were off to
the Litegua bus
station.
We got back into the our
tender,
and headed back to DREAM AWAY. It was great having Nicola &
Noel as guests for almost three months, but it will be nice to
get back to just Kitty and I, and our routine.
When we got back to DREAM AWAY, I just got to
the VHF radio in the rancho to
do my announcement for the specials at Backpacker’s
Hotel on the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net.
We then spent a couple of hours getting the boat
straightened up, and back to our normal! We also spent time
working on the computer and I was catching up on email again.
Domestic Goddess Using A Vacuum Cleaner
Kitty Working On The Boat Chores
I had put some raisins to soak in rum to make
some rum raisin ice cream, but I just did not get the time I
needed to actually make the ice cream. Today I did the deed.
Making Rum Raisin Ice Cream
We had a nice dinner, and it seems an early
night for us. We did not play any games, we just read and went
to bed around 2030.
May 05, Tuesday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats, Jillian
and Jordan, and attempt to brush their
beautiful coats.
Kitty was not up early, so I went up to the
rancho and
listened to the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net. The net is everyday
at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the local news and
events, and a good source of local information that matter to
cruisers.
Kitty did get up around 0815, so we got ready,
and headed into town to run some errands we needed to take care
of. We got into the tender and
headed into town and docked at the SunDog
cafe.
From the SunDog
cafe, Kitty and I went up to the main
street. Kitty went to the TiGo store,
while I went to our favorite vegetable stand and purchased some
veggies and fruit. While at the veggie stand I was approached by
the lady from whom I buy local honey. I agreed to purchase three
720ml bottles of honey for Q 100, and she would put the bottles
into my tender.
I gave her the Q 100, and hoped for the best. I then meet Kitty
at the TiGo store,
and she did not get the triple minutes she had hoped to get.
We then went to the TiGo that
is at the corner of the main road (CA13) and the road to
San
Felipe. Here she was able to get the triple
minutes she was offered. Now she can get triple minutes any day
she needs them.
We then went to the
Dispensa
Familiar and did some small grocery
shopping, mostly laundry items, paper goods, and of course tuna
fish for our cats. Kitty went back to the
SunDog
cafe with the groceries, and I went down
to the appliance
store and purchased a MAN 20” fan for
DREAM AWAY.
From town we went across the river to
Backpacker’s
Hotel. We had planned to have lunch there and
to pick up some cat food that was purchased for us in
Guatemala
City. The cat food was not purchased because
they did not get to the store that had the correct food. But we
did have lunch.
Heather (The Director) had promised me one free
special lunch per week, since I was doing the VHF radio
announcements for Backpacker’s
Hotel on the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net. Because I had been
doing the announcements for two weeks, and had not collected,
Heather authorized a free special lunch for both Kitty and I.
Kitty had the Beef Quesadillas, and I had the BBQ Pork Ribs. It
was a great meal, and it was nice sitting at our table looking
out over the river.
We left Backpacker’s
Hotel, and headed back to DREAM AWAY. I had
decided that today was the day to take my carburetor apart on
the outboard engine and see if I could figure out what the
problem is. The outboard ran pretty good! It would idle fairly
well, and ran good at high speed, it would just take a while to
get to the high speed. Not a huge problem, but annoying!
I took the carburetor off of the engine and took
it back to the shop.
I took the carburetor completely apart, but I did find that the
jet,
pilot (#56) was cracked and was leaking.
I decided it was time to see if I could get a ride into town and
see if Oscar had the part, or had a good used carburetor I could
buy.
Carburetor Apart On Work Bench
I was lucky, in that CALUSA John needed to go
into town to return a part, and look for the correct one, so he
agreed to take me around also. This turned out to be an
adventure! We initially went to Oscar’s whose shop is next to
Tienda
Reed. Oscar is the go to guy on the Rio for
outboard problems. As it turned out Oscar was closed!
John and I then went to the concrete mall on
the other side of the Rio
Dulce to return his parts, and to see if
I could get the parts for my carburetor. John returned his parts
at the Suzuki store,
but was not able to find the correct sized seals he needed. They
said they might be able to find the part for my carburetor, but
I told them I wanted to check the Yamaha store
first.
John and I then went to the shop next to the
Suzuki store,
that happened to be the Westerbeke dealer
on the Rio
Dulce. The folks in the store said they could
get the seals for John tomorrow, so he was very happy.
We left the concrete mall, and went back
across the river to the the Yamaha dealer.
They said they could not get the jet,
pilot (#56), but they could sell me a new
carburetor for Q 2067. That was way too expensive. They
told us we to go talk to Arturo who has a outboard shop behind the
Yamaha dealer’s
store.
We went back to his shop, and I showed him
the problem with the carburetor. He said he did not have a
carburetor, but he called Oscar, and it turns out, Oscar did not
have a carburetor either. Arturo did have a very good used 15 HP
2-cycle motor for sale. The cost on that is Q 4000. That is
about $530.00, and a very good price for the motor. I am trying
to fix a carburetor, not buy new parts or motors!
While I was in the shop,
I decided to take a look at the table saw that is in the
shop.
I took it apart, and checked the power with a meter, and the
problem is definitely the motor. At least for now, not fixable.
Table Saw Upside Down Checking Switches
Inside Look At Motor And Wiring
All of the walking back and forth between
DREAM AWAY and the shop,
I finally decided to take a couple of pictures of the
Black
Orchid that is blooming on the walkway
to the rancho.
It was now time for a shower and an adult
beverage. After the shower, Kitty joined me, and we sat in one
of the rancho swings
and enjoyed the cool afternoon, and did some reading.
May 06, Wednesday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats, Jillian
and Jordan, and attempt to brush their
beautiful coats.
Kitty was up early, so we listened to the
Rio
Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The
net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the
local news and events, and a good source of local information
that matter to cruisers.
I asked on the net about a used carburetor for
my engine. Someone reported they had seen a used 15 HP
Yamaha outboard
at Carlos the welders shop. That was some hopeful information.
I checked on the jet,
pilot (#56) I had applied the
JB
Weld to, and it had set up overnight. As
I suspected, I had applied too much JB
Weld, and the jet,
pilot (#56) would not fit into its
space. I needed to sand down the jet,
pilot (#56) to make it fit. This I did
very carefully, as this is a very small part. I finally got the
jet,
pilot (#56) sanded down, and when I put
it into its place in the carburetor, the
jet,
pilot (#56) broke it two!
This was not good! But I thought I would see how
the motor ran with half a jet,
pilot (#56). I put the carburetor back onto
the engine, and it did run! It does not idle at all, and does
not do high speed, so I knew I needed a jet,
pilot (#56) or a good used carburetor.
Now I needed to go into town to see Carlos the
welder, and see if that was going to solve my problem. I knew
John from CALUSA was going into the concrete mall, so I asked
him if I could ride along. He said he would walk with me to
Carlos the welders shop, as it was about 1.5 miles out of town,
and we needed the exercise.
John and I then went to the
Westerbeke dealer
in the concrete mall. They had two seals for John, but they were
not the correct seals. He was a bit disappointed, but now he
knew he needed to purchase the seal in the states when he goes
back next month.
We took off walking down the main road (CA13)
towards Carlos shop. We stopped at an autoparts store and a
motorcycle shop to see if they had the seals John needed, but it
was no go.
We finally got to Carlos shop and talked to
him about the outboard motor. He said he sold it to the man who
is now renting his old shop next to Bruno’s.
That is where we left the dinghy when we came into town!
So we hoofed it back to town. I stopped at
the veggie stand for some cilantro, and John stopped for some
paper towels at the Dispensa
Familiar. I went to the
shop next
to Bruno’s,
and talked to Jonas.
He had the motor, but not a spare carburetor.
He called a friend of his and was able to find a carburetor. He
said he would sell me the carburetor, install it and guarantee
the operation for Q 800, or about $107.00. I decided to go with
it. Not the best price, but we need the transportation.
We made a plan to meet at his
shop tomorrow
morning, and he will install the good used carburetor. If that
works out, when I am in the States, I will get a new
jet,
pilot (#56), and then I will have a good
spare carburetor.
I walked back over to
Bruno’s,
and joined John with a cold beer. Very nice after that long
walk. I paid for the beer’s and then we headed back to
Monkey
Bay Marina.
When I got back, I could hear the
Howler
Monkeys around the marina, so I got out
my camera and got a couple of good photos of the
Howler
Monkeys up in the trees.
We had invited John off of CALUSA for dinner,
and I wanted to do an early dinner, so we could eat in the
rancho.
First thing I did was to make the Southwest Black Bean Pico de
Gallo, I had planned to do a couple of days ago.
I then went to shower, and came back and
Kitty and I got the butterfly chicken ready, and I went up to
the outdoor
kitchen to cook the chicken, potatoes,
and the huisquil.
After about an hour, the chicken was done, and I had removed the
potatoes about 30 minutes ago, because they were done.
Chicken Cooking And Roasting The Potatoes
Kitty had started the
huisquil in
the microwave, and then just sliced them so we had several round
pieces to put on the grill. I grilled the
huisquil,
and we had a very enjoyable meal.
After dinner and cleanup, we invited John
down to DREAM AWAY to have some homemade Rum Raisin ice cream
and a shot of Zaya rum.
We enjoyed the Zaya rum
and the ice cream and visited for a while, then John went back
to CALUSA, and we went off to bed!
May 07, Thursday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats, Jillian
and Jordan, and attempt to brush their
beautiful coats.
Kitty was up early, so we listened to the
Rio
Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The
net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the
local news and events, and a good source of local information
that matter to cruisers.
We had an appointment at the outboard
shop at
1000. I knew it would take a while because my outboard would not
run very fast in its present condition. Kitty was joining me, so
we left Monkey
Bay Marina at 0930.
We got to the outboard shop around
1000, and Jonas had the carburetor ready to install on my motor.
He got the carburetor installed with minimal problems. The
needle valve had to be taken from my carburetor. Once that was
cleared up, the engine ran very good.
Kitty and I went over to
Bruno’s and
left the tender there.
Kitty and I went into town to Tita’s salon, and we both got hair
cuts. I really needed one as I had not had my hair cut since
three months before Christmas!
Back to Bruno’s and
into the tender.
The outboard started right up, and just as we were leaving and I
was getting the engine up to high speed, the engine quit! It
would not start, so I rowed the tender over
to Jonas’ shop.
He took a look at the motor and the carburetor, and told me the
carburetor was good, but my water pump impeller was bad.
I had a hard time with this, as there was plenty
of water coming out of the pee tube, but the water was very hot.
That was an indication. We called John, the
Monkey
Bay Marina dockmaster, and asked him to
come into town and tow us back to Monkey
Bay Marina. This he did in record time!
When we got back to DREAM AWAY, I got changed
into work clothes, and moved the tender to
the steps at the dock, so I could get the outboard motor off of
the tender.
I asked CALUSA John to help me, and he did. I had the motor back
in the shop in no time.
It took a few minutes to clear away stuff, so I
could get a place to hang the outboard, but I got it done, and
the outboard hung and ready to work on.
I made many trips back and forth from DREAM AWAY
to the shop,
and I was able to get a couple of more good photos of the
Howler
Monkeys.
Howler
Monkeys Up In The Trees
Howler
Monkeys Up In The Trees
>Howler Monkeys Up In
The Trees
I had a bite of lunch, and then got busy on the
outboard. I had to take the lower
drive off of the motor to get to the
water pump, and then the impeller in the water pump. The good
news is that when I had rebuilt the motor and added the long
shaft to the motor back in Delcambre,
I had made sure I applied lots of grease to all of the bolts
that held the motor together.
The lower
drive came right off, and I had it in
the vice to gain access to the water pump. When I got the water
pump housing off, it was obvious the impeller was the problem.
Of the six blades on the impeller, three were missing, and two
of the broken off blades were blocking the output of the pump.
Water Pump Housing Removed
Old Impeller On Water Pump
Old Impeller With Broken Blades Removed
I cleaned out the broken blades, installed the
new impeller, and put the water pump back together. I then put
the lower
drive back on the motor, and it was
ready to take back to the tender.
I again asked CALUSA John if he would help me put the outboard
back on the tender.
He agreed, but as we were preparing for the deed, I noticed I
had not connected the gear shift rod!
New Impeller And Water Pump Housing Back On
Lower
Drive
I went back to the shop and got my tools, and
got the gear shift rod connected, and made sure the shifter
worked. We then put the motor back on the
tender,
and I connected the fuel line and the battery.
I attempted to start the engine, but it would
not start. I tried several times manually, and with the
electrical start, but it would not start. Then I realized, I had
not put the deadman’s key on! I put the key on, and the motor
started right up. I adjusted the idle jet, and took it out for a
test spin.
The engine idled very nicely, and got up to high
speed very quickly, which it had not done for a long time. After
running at high speed, the engine would idle and not stop, so I
am pleased with the new carburetor. I could definitely tell the
difference with the new impeller. The stream out of the pee tube
was very strong, and the water was cool, not hot like before.
I brought the tender back
to the dock, and headed for the shower. Tonight is trivia night,
and I did not have much time to get ready to go. The launcha
from Hacienda
Tijax showed up around 1645, and we went
to Hacienda
Tijax for the trivia game.
We joined up with Jodie as a team member, and we
did pretty well. Had a nice meal and a very good time. We
finished the game and were back on DREAM AWAY by 2015. We read
for a while, and then hit the sack by 2100.
May 08, Friday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats, Jillian
and Jordan, and attempt to brush their
beautiful coats.
Kitty was up early, so we listened to the
Rio
Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The
net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the
local news and events, and a good source of local information
that matter to cruisers.
We ran out of data on our USB modem. This was a
big surprise, as we had used 8 GBytes of data in three weeks.
Nicola & Noel must have been using more data than we
thought.
After breakfast, I got into the
tender and
went to RAM
Marine to drop off their fan on
TANTALUS.
From their I stopped at Jonas’ shop to
show him the impeller that I removed, but he was not there, so I
went onto the SunDog
cafe. I went to the TiGo and
purchased a new USB modem.
I still do not understand the corporate thinking
of the TiGo telephone
company. If you have a USB modem, for Q300 you can purchase 6
GBytes of data for one month. You can purchase a new USB modem
for Q300, and that gives you 8 GBytes of data for a month. So
every month we have been here, I have purchased a new USB modem.
I left the SunDog
cafe to come home, but had a bit of a
problem with the outboard motor. It would not start for a couple
of minutes, and then it started, and ran just fine. I suspect
the “new” used carburetor I purchased needs a good cleaning, so
that will go on the list.
When I got back to DREAM AWAY, I removed the two
Hella
Turbo fans from the front cabin to
replace two other Hella
Turbo fans. One is in the main cabin
over the Navigation
Station, and the other is in the aft cabin. I
installed the two fans from the front cabin, and they run
much better and much quieter.
I got onto my account on
eBay,
and found two new Hella
Turbo fans, and ordered them. They will
be in Atlanta when
I get there. I will also take both of the old fans back with me
and try and exchange them for new ones. One of the old ones was
built in 2006, so probably has several thousand hours on it. The
second was built in 2011, so should not have failed so soon.
I was also on the Internet, and ordered some
other items that I will need, and will bring back from the USA.
The remainder of the day was spent on the computer catching up
on email, and other financial stuff.
I took about a 45 minute reading break with an
adult beverage before dinner, and then after dinner did some
more reading. Tomorrow I hope to catch up on email, do a bunch
of scanning, and really make some progress on my
Maintenance
Logs.
May 09, Saturday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and attempt to brush their
beautiful coats.
Kitty was not up early, so I went up to the
rancho and
listened to the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net. The net is everyday
at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the local news and
events, and a good source of local information that matter to
cruisers.
Today was not a lazy day, but I stayed on the
computer most of the day. I spent about two hours catching up on
email, then about the same amount of time scanning in papers,
and receipts. I finally got to spend some time working on the
January Maintenance/Cruising
Log.
I am probably doing it all wrong, but my plan is
to get all of the monthly logs for 2015 caught up, and then stay
caught up as I catch up on the remaining 2014 logs. Then I have
about seven or eight projects that I have to get done to put
into the Construction
& Projects Page. I will not get
bored.
May 10, Sunday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and attempt to brush their
beautiful coats.
Did not have the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net this morning, because
it is Sunday.
Today is Mother’s
Day in the USA. I decided to make Kitty
her favorite meal as her present for the day, plus I would do
all of the meal preparation and cleanup.
Somewhat a slow day, but Kitty went through a
lot of her clothes, so she could get her clothes together for
her trip to Atlanta.
Kitty is going early so she will be able to help with the
wedding preparations for Judy’s wedding. The plan is for Kitty
to surprise Judy at her wedding shower this coming Sunday
because Judy will not know Kitty is in Atlanta.
Along with helping Kitty with clothes and
packing, I also did the cooking for the day. When not doing
those chores, I worked on the computer scanning in papers, and
working on the Maintenance/Cruising
Logs.
We had an early dinner as we did not eat lunch,
and of course the dinner was Kitty’s spaghetti with a green
salad. We attempted to watch the film Oblivion,
but it was very slow. We attempted to watch another film, and
Kitty decided it was a no go, so we watched an episode an HBO
series we started years ago, From
The Earth To The Moon.
Just as we finished the episode, I was going to
start the dishes, and John and Robin from CALUSA stopped by.
John had made Robin a Key
Lime Pie for Mothers Day,
and they had brought two pieces down to DREAM AWAY for Kitty and
I. It was a wonderful pie, and we both enjoyed our slice.
To celebrate the event, we had a
tot of
Zaya rum,
and visited about our upcoming plans. John and Robin went back
to CALUSA, and I cleaned up the galley. After that we read for a
while and then hit the sack.
May 11, Monday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and attempt to brush their
beautiful coats.
Kitty was up early, listened to the
Rio
Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The
net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the
local news and events, and a good source of local information
that matter to cruisers.
We had breakfast, and then I worked on the
computer, along with a few other domestic chores. We needed
cash, so we decided on a trip into town, and to have lunch at
Hotel
Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas to have their
Monday Special.
Jordie Relaxing After Breakfast
Today is backup day. I have two
Toshiba
Satellite C55 laptops that I purchased
to be my navigation and general use computer. I went this route
to have a 100% backup system. I have since purchased a 512 Gbyte
SSD for
one of the laptops, and that is the laptop I use on a daily
basis.
So this is my backup procedure. On the daily use
laptop I use one of my external drives in a case and do a data
backup to this drive. This is all of my personal data, and
pretty much no system data. When that is complete, I insert a
DVD into the DVD drive and boot up Linux
Mint 17. When I have that up and
running, I connect another 512 Gbyte external drive, and use the
UNIX “ dd”
command to copy from the internal hard drive to the external
hard drive in a USB case.
Backup Running On Laptop
I this point, I now have two hard drives with
the exact same information on them. I now get out the second
laptop, and remove the hard drive from it. I remove the 512
Gbyte hard drive from the external case and insert it into the
second laptop. I boot up the second hard drive, and verify
operation, specifically testing to make sure my virtual machine
comes up and I can run the CAPN navigation
software.
The hard drive I removed from the second laptop,
I put it into the external USB case and connect it to the second
laptop. I insert a DVD into the DVD drive and boot up
Linux
Mint 17. When I have that up and
running, I use the UNIX “ dd”
command to copy from the internal hard drive to the external
hard drive in a USB case. When that is finished, I have two
laptops with the exact same information on them, and an external
hard drive with the same information.
A bit time consuming, and hardly automated, but
I am pretty sure I will not have the problems I had last year
when I lost my MACBook Pro. Of course if I could afford it, I
would have two exact same MACBook Pro’s and do the same type of
backup!
This was done over the course of the whole day,
as the UNIX “ dd”
command take about 2 ½ hours to do the copy of the 512 Gbyte
hard drive.
We got in the tender and
headed into town and docked at Bruno’s.
Our first stop was the Litegua Bus
station. They have an ATM machine there so I was able to get
cash. We also purchased our bus tickets for our trip tomorrow to
Guatemala
City. The next stop was
Ingrid's
Tienda to purchase tuna for the kitties,
and some wine.
We headed back to Bruno’s,
and into the tender,
and headed upriver to Hotel
Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas to have their
Monday Special which is BBQ Pork Ribs in a
pasilla sauce.
When we got to the restaurant we met Graciella's niece and her
boyfriend. They are going to start running the hotel and
restaurant so Gary and Graciella can start doing some travel and
vacations.
We had a wonderful lunch there, then headed back
down river to DREAM AWAY with a stop at the
El
Relleno fuel station for five gallons of
gasoline. When we got back to DREAM AWAY, we worked on getting
Kitty organized for her trip to Atlanta,
and of course I worked some on the computer.
May 12, Tuesday, 2015
I am going up for an appointment with my
dermatologist, Dr Riley. I will be coming back to
Rio
Dulce tomorrow. Kitty will be flying out
tomorrow to go to Atlanta,
to help with wedding showers, and the wedding itself.
Kitty got up at 0550, and did her final packing.
We had breakfast, and got all of our luggage and briefcases into
the cockpit. We also put down extra water bowls, and food bowls
for Jillian
and Jordan.
We went down to the ranchito,
and John was waiting for us. John was also taking a couple into
town with us to show them around. They just got into
Monkey
Bay Marina yesterday, so John wanted to
give them the lay of the land. They are from Texas, so it will
be fun to get to know them.
We got to the Litegua Bus
station, and waited for the bus. John, Jennifer, and Royce
headed out to take in the town. The bus came and we left
Rio
Dulce only five minutes late.
It was an uneventful trip into
Guatemala
City. When we arrived at the
Litegua Bus
station, we took a taxi to the Hostal
Villa Toscana, where we had reservations for
the night. We checked in , and got settled.
Our Room From Back Garden
We had the front desk get us a taxi, and we went
to the Centro
Medico in Zone 10. I had an appointment
with my dermatologist, Dr Riley. She looked at the place on my
hand, and decided it was pre cancer, and needed to be removed
surgically. We got that all set up to happen on the 19th of May.
Which means another bus trip to Guatemala
City, and I will have to stay two nights.
When we finally finished up with the
dermatologist in was 1830, so we got another taxi back to the
Hostal
Villa Toscana. They do not have a restaurant,
so we did some Chinese takeout. It turned out to be pretty good.
We watched a little TV while we ate dinner in our room. We
cleaned up from that and hit the sack.
May 13, Wednesday, 2015
Not a good night’s sleep, but it finally ended!
I was awake by 0445, but did not get out of bed until 0545. We
are very close to the airport, so there was airplane noise
pretty late, and very early. There was also a dog next door who
made his presence known!
Even though there is no restaurant, breakfast is
included with the room price. At 0700 we got to the small dining
area, and Kitty and I had the Desayuno
Chapin, which is a typical Guatemalan
breakfast. I had good strong coffee, and Kitty had hot tea.
At 0745 a taxi arrived to take me to the
Litegua Bus
station. I got to the bus station by 0820, purchased my ticket
for the 0900 bus, and had another cup of coffee.
While I was headed back to the Rio Dulce on the
bus, Kitty was getting to the airport to make her 1230 flight to
Atlanta.
My trip back was uneventful, and when I arrived in the
Rio
Dulce, John, the Monkey
Bay Marina dockmaster was waiting for
me. We got in the launcha, and I was back on DREAM AWAY in 15
minutes.
On the bus trip back, I took a couple of
pictures from the bus. Not great pictures, but it will give you
a feel for what we see from the bus windows.
Typical Cafe, Or Comedor Throughout Guatemala
River Beside The Road
Open Fields
Rio
Dulce From Tall Highway Bridge
Our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, were very happy to see me, and
once I got DREAM AWAY opened up, I feed them some canned food.
Jordie was very happy about that, but Jillie, did not bother to
eat. Perhaps it was her way to punish me!
At dinner time, I opened a fresh can of mixed
grill paté, and Jillie ate thirds. Jordie only ate firsts, but
by bedtime his bowl was empty!
I worked on catching up on emails, and other
chores. I took a shower, and a had a light dinner.
May 14, Thursday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and attempted to brush their
beautiful coats.
I listened to the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The
net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the
local news and events, and a good source of local information
that matter to cruisers.
It rained pretty heavy during the night, and was
again raining during the cruisers net, and while I had
breakfast.
I went out and pumped out the
tender,
because it had a lot of water in it. Got it all squared away. I
had to go into town today. I docked at Bruno’s and went to the
Litegua Bus
station and got some cash. I then went to the drug store near
the SunDog
cafe.
I got my prescription, then headed back to
Bruno’s.
On the way I stopped and got a beautiful fresh pineapple. Got
into the tender,
and headed back to Monkey
Bay Marina. It had just started to rain
again, and I had left DREAM AWAY with all the hatches and ports
open.
Pineapple I Purchased In Town
I did get back in time, and in fact it did not
rain at all at Monkey
Bay Marina, so I was very lucky. When I got
back, I got online so I could talk to Kitty via
Skype,
which we did.
I decided to mix up a pot of
epoxy to
put on the threaded rod that I am using for stanchion supports
on the aft half of the boat. I was also going to use the
epoxy to
repair the drop down door in the galley that had a split in it.
I removed the drop down door and made a temporary door out of
cardboard, and what else…. duct
tape! I was also going to repair the
mid-cabin door. A piece of teak trim had come off, and needed to
be put back on.
Drop Down Door In The Galley
Temporary Drop Down Door
To get prepared for the pot of mixed
epoxy,
I did a dry fit of the galley door with the
pipe
clamps. I also took the mid-cabin door out to
the shop,
and got it ready for the epoxy application
Mid-cabin Door Ready For
Epoxy
I thought the threaded rod was causing water to
leak down inside the boat, but when I took the threaded rod out,
it was obvious this was not the cause of the leak. I just
decided to put some more butyl tape around the threaded rod and
put the stanchion bases back together.
Exposed Stanchion Base
Stanchion Base Back Together
I redid the stanchion base over the garage, and
the base over the galley. I began to suspect the cause of the
leak could be a flush mount thru hull in the deck right next to
the stanchion base.
I decided that I would rebed the thru hull. When
I went down in the garage,
and attempted to unscrew the nut holding in the thru hull, I
discovered the plastic thru hull was broken. This is not good,
and I do not have a spare!
Thru Hull Fitting In The
Garage
Now I will see if there is one available here on
the Rio
Dulce. If not I will have to order one and
bring back from our trip to Atlanta.
The problem is I have to find out what size the hose is that
attaches to the thru hull. I think it is 1 ½”, but have to find
out for sure.
Now it was time to get the pot of
epoxy mixed
and applied to the drop down door and the mid-cabin door. I
applied the epoxy to
the drop down door, and then tightened up the
pipe
clamps.
Epoxy Applied
To Mid-Cabin Door And Weight Applied
I came back to DREAM AWAY, and cleaned up all of
the tools and such that I had out. I also got on the computer to
check for flush mount thru hulls.
Jillie Standing By While I Am On The Computer
After spending some time on the computer, I took
a shower, made my dinner, then got back on the computer to work
on the Maintenance/Cruising
Logs.
May 15, Friday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and attempt to brush their
beautiful coats.
I listened to the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The
net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the
local news and events, and a good source of local information
that matter to cruisers.
My plan was to go into town today, but I never
made it. It pretty much rained, or threatened rain all day. It
seemed as soon as the sun peeped out, I would start to get
ready, and then the clouds would come, and spit rain. By noon, I
just decided I would wait until tomorrow to go into town.
While I was working on DREAM AWAY, I heard that
B.B.
King had died last night. What a loss to
the music world. I turned my Sirius radio
to channel 70, Bluesville, and listened to
B.B.
King music all day.
I cut the pineapple I had purchased yesterday,
and had it for breakfast. The leftovers I used to make
pineappleade.
I have to wait 24 hours, but tomorrow afternoon, I will have a
nice mixer for my rum!
I had been thinking about changing the dock
lines on DREAM AWAY for some time. I have chains around the
pilings, and then thimbles in the eye of the dock line, and then
the chain ran through the eye.
Normally a good arrangement, but because I am at
a “T Head” the dock lines do not wear well. Today I decided to
try a new arrangement. I took the metal thimble out of the eye,
and then just ran the bitter end of the dock line back through
the eye, put some chafing gear on the line, and then dropped in
over the dock piling. We will see how that works out. I
did this to the bow line and the aft spring line.
Chain Around The Piling For The Forward Spring
Line
New Arrangement On The Forward Spring Line
New Bow Line Arrangement
While I was in the middle of moving the dock
lines around, the Howler
Monkeys were really making a lot of
noise, and it sounded like a lot of them.
I took a break and went back to the area around
the outdoor
kitchen and took a bunch of photos. Some
even came out pretty nicely.
When I finished the dock line project, I went
back to the shop,
and brought the mid-cabin door out to the dock.
I got the hose and brush, and washed down the door. The was door
was dirty, mostly dust and cat hairs, but it is nice to soak it
in water. It is hard to believe, but the “dry” air here actually
causes the wood to shrink.
The water washdown cleans the door and swells
the wood back in shape.
Mid-Cabin Door On Dock After Washing
The last item for the day was to put duct tape
over the flush mount thru hull on the aft starboard side deck.
It is supposed to rain tonight. My thought is if I tape over the
thru hull fitting, and I still have the leak, then that fitting
is not the problem.
We will see how that works out!!
May 16, Saturday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and attempted to brush their
beautiful coats.
I listened to the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The
net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the
local news and events, and a good source of local information
that matter to cruisers.
After I cleaned up from breakfast, I got in the
tender,
and headed into town. I parked the tender at
Bruno’s,
and then walked down to the concrete mall. I went into
W
& L Commercial and purchased a quart
of semi-gloss varnish.
I stopped by the ATM across the street and got
some more cash. I am going to need at least Q 4000 for my
surgical procedure this coming Tuesday, and I can only get out Q
2000 a day.
On the way back to Bruno’s,
I stopped at the Dispensa
Familiar and got a few groceries. I
noticed they still had Ron
Botran 750 ml bottles with a 200 ml pony
bottle attached for Q 46. A very good deal, almost a full liter
for Q 46. The cheapest I have been able to find the 750 ml
bottle is Q 50! So I purchased one bottle.
I went back to Bruno’s,
got into the tender and
headed out to Monkey
Bay Marina. About 100 yards from
Bruno’s,
the engine died! I would get it started for about 15 seconds,
and then it would die. Tried for several times to make progress,
but it was very slow going.
I got the oars in the water, and rowed back to
Monkey
Bay Marina. It was about a mile to the
marina. When I was about 50 yards from the marina, Hugo, who is
working on KETCH 22, saw me and came out and towed me into
Monkey
Bay Marina. It was quite an exercise,
needless to say my shoulders and back got a workout.
Ever since I got this “new” carburetor from
Jonah, it has given me some problems. My plan now is to take the
new carburetor apart, and see if anything is obviously wrong
with it. If there is, I will fix it and put it back on the
engine. If not I will take the “old” carburetor and put the jet
from the “new” carburetor into it.
My “old” carburetor is not perfect, but it has
never left me! Since I am going to do all of the carburetor
work, I will take all of the fuel out of the tank and verify
there is no problem there, and I will also clean both inline
fuel filters.
Outboard Engine With Cover On
Carburetor Removed From Engine
Carburetor And Fuel Tank Ready To Take To
Shop
Cleaning Fuel With Fuel Filter In The
Shop
I took the “new” carburetor apart, and it
generally looked good except for the fuel pump. I am pretty sure
the fuel pump is the problem. I do not have all of the parts
necessary to rebuild the fuel pump, so I removed the jet from
the “new” carburetor, and put it into the “old” carburetor.
“New” Carburetor Apart With Fuel Filter
Both Carburetors On Work Bench
Bad Jet And Good Jet In Upper Right Hand Corner
I put the “old” carburetor back together, and
put it on the outboard engine. Took the
tender out
for a test spin, and all seems to be good. The only problem with
the “old” carburetor is that when I go to high speed it takes
several seconds to come up to full power.
I believe the problem could be with the fuel
pump on that carburetor also. When I rebuilt the fuel pump, I
did not have all the parts I was supposed to have, and did it
wrong. I realized the problem when I ordered parts to rebuild
the “new” carburetor. I have ordered enough parts to rebuild
both fuel pumps, and have spares to do one more rebuild!
“Old” Carburetor On Outboard Engine
After the test run, I went back to the
shop and
started in on the drop down door in the galley. The
epoxy had
been done, I sanded down and scraped off all of the old varnish.
When all of the varnish was removed, I sanded the surface
smooth, and applied the agent orange dye. This dye helps to make
all of the teak the same color.
Sanding And Scraping The Drop Down Door
Door Sanded And ready For Agent Orange Dye
Application
I then applied the first coat of varnish to the
door. Since this is interior wood, I will only be putting on
five coats of varnish.
First Coat Of Varnish On Door
I cleaned up all of the tools, and packed them
up and took them back to DREAM AWAY to be put away.
Tools And Accessories Ready To Be Put Away
After I got all of the stuff put away, I went
and took a very nice shower. When I came back from the shower, I
fixed an adult beverage, and got to work on dinner.
It was a time share meal. I was cutting and
slicing stuff for the Southwest black bean pico de gallo, and
for the cucumber, tomato, and red onion salad, while the
macaroni was cooking. The main dish is to be baked macaroni and
cheese with sausages. It will be accompanied with the cucumber,
tomato, and red onion salad.
Cutting And Chopping
Macaroni And Cheese Ready For The Oven.
By the time I had dinner, cleaned up all of the
dishes, and worked on the computer for 45 minutes, it was time
for me to hit the sack!
May 17, Sunday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and attempted to brush their
beautiful coats.
There is no Rio
Dulce Cruisers net, so I had a light
breakfast, and headed into Bruno’s for
the third Sunday swap meet. I was looking for a bronze 1 ½”
flush mount thru hull, but there were none at the swap meet.
In fact there were not many folks at the swap
meet. A lot of folks have left the Rio
Dulce to go home, so not a lot of
activity. I headed back to DREAM AWAY, and worked on the
inventory of the outboard motor parts I had. I thought I had
done an inventory, but apparently I had not. I wanted to order
more Yamaha outboard
parts, but did not want to duplicate any parts. To do that I had
to know what I had.
Working Through The Inventory
Good news is the outboard engine performed very
well, and I had no problems with it so far.
Around 1030, I went back to
Bruno’s to
pick up Jody. She is the lady who has volunteered to take care
of Jillian
and Jordan while both Kitty and I are in
the states attending Judy’s wedding.
When Jody and I got on DREAM AWAY, both
Jillian
and Jordan came trotting out to the main
cabin to see who had arrived. Both Jillian
and Jordan jumped up to visit, and Jody
got right down to scratching and rubbing their coats.
It appears it will not be a problem for
Jillian
and Jordan or Jody. I went through a
feeding process to show Jody how it was done. Of course Jilly
was her Diva self and did not eat anything. I explained to Jody
about the eating habits, and Jody seemed to be able to deal with
it.
Jody and I talked cats and pets, while we
enjoyed the Southwestern black bean pico de gallo I had made
yesterday with some chips. Jody is vegetarian, so I wanted to
offer something she could eat. This seemed like the way to go.
Jody Getting down and Patting Jordy
Jody And Jillie In The Aft Cabin
Jody and I decided I would bring
Jillian
and Jordan over to her house on the 29th
of May. I am leaving the first of June, so that will give them a
day or two to get settled in while I am still around and can
come visit. Hopefully that plan will work out.
We finished out visit and I took Jody back to
Bruno’s,
and dropped her off. I then went back to DREAM AWAY and finished
the outboard part inventory. The outboard performed very well
going to Bruno’s and
back.
All Of The Parts That Needed Inventory
Where All Of The Parts Live After Inventory.
When I finished the inventory, I went back to
the shop and
sanded down the galley drop down door with 220 grit sandpaper.
Galley Drop Down Door After Sanding
I wiped down the door with a
tack
rag, and then applied the second coat of
varnish. I cleaned up the brush, and took the galley door back
to DREAM AWAY to sit out on the sail handling platform to dry in
the not very hot sun.
Galley Drop Down Door On Sail Handling Platform
Next project is to add a piece of chafing gear
to the aft spring line that I changed this past Friday. The line
is rubbing on the edge of the dock, so I added a piece the
chafing gear to the spring line.
Spring Line Before The New Chafing Gear
Spring Line With New Chafing Gear
I fixed an adult beverage, and took a reading
break in the cockpit before I took my shower.
May 18, Monday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and attempted to brush their
beautiful coats.
I listened to the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The
net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the
local news and events, and a good source of local information
that matter to cruisers.
I did my announcement for the specials at
Backpacker’s
Hotel on the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net. Since I will be gone
for the next three mornings, I did the specials for the next
three days also.
Had a light breakfast, and after I cleaned up
from breakfast, I got in the tender,
and headed into town. I parked the tender at
Bruno’s,
and then walked down the clinica
del rio.
My dermatologist, Dr Riley, wanted to have my
blood checked for coagulation properties before the surgical
procedure tomorrow. She wanted me to do it when I got to the
city. I was worried about the bus being late, and then if the
blood test was delayed, the surgery might have to be put off.
To keep that problem from happening, I decided
to get the blood test done at the clinica
del rio right here in
Rio
Dulce. I walked in, told the nurse what I
needed, showed her the order from the doctor, and asked her if I
could get the results today. She said yes, of course, so I paid
my Q 150 ($20.00), wrote down my name, and walked back
into the room. She took my blood, said thank you, and then I
walked out.
Total time was about 30 minutes, and $20.00.
Just imagine doing that in the USA!
The Full Ron
Botran Bottles And The Empty DREAM AWAY
Bottle
I got changed into work clothes, and went back
to the shop,
and sanded the galley drop down door with 220 grit sandpaper. I
wiped down the door with a tack
rag, and then applied the third coat of
varnish.
Next project is to finish the dock line project.
This past Friday I started the new arrangement, and today I
wanted to finish it by doing the aft dock line and the forward
spring line.
I took the metal thimble out of the eye, and
then just ran the bitter end of the dock line back through the
eye, put some chafing gear on the line, and then dropped in over
the dock piling. I did this to the stern line and the forward
spring line. So far it is working out well.
Aft Dock Lines With Metal Thimbles And Chain
New Arrangement With No Chain Or Thimbles
Got a shot of Jordan really getting into
napping!
Yes, I Am Taking A Nap
Changed back into my city clothes,and went back
to the Clinica del Rio to get my test results. Right on
time, I got there at 1400, and they had the results for me.
I went back to DREAM AWAY. The outboard engine
is working just great so I am very happy about that. I took a
shower and got cool, and fixed an adult beverage.
I scanned in the blood test results, and sent
them to Dr Riley. I spent the remainder of the afternoon and
early evening scanning in more documents to dispose of the
paper. Making good inroads into that.
Dr Riley got back to me to say she received the
test results and they are fine. I am good to go for the surgical
procedure tomorrow.
I found out John, the dockmaster, was still out
of town, so I made arrangements for Efrain, the property
guardian, to take me into Bruno’s at
0715 in the morning so I could catch the 0800 bus to
Guatemala
City.
May 19, Tuesday, 2015
Did not even turn on my computer this morning or
make coffee. I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and made sure they ate their
fill. I also put down an extra bowl of water. I filled both of
their crunchy bowls, and verified that both water bowls were
full of fresh clean water.
I then emptied their litter box, washed it out,
and put fresh litter in it.
I made myself a big breakfast, sausage, eggs and
beans. I cleaned up from all of that and made sure the dishes
were all clean dried and put away.
At 0715, Efrain took me over to
Bruno’s,
and I made my way to the Litegua Bus
station. The bus came, and actually left two minutes early. We
did have one delay, where we waited while they moved a big truck
off of the highway, but I do not know if it was broke, wrecked
or what.
We finally made our way to the lunch stop. I
purposely had a big breakfast so I could have ice cream at this
stop. I ate a scoop of coffee ice cream and a scoop of
some berry ice cream which I did not get the name of.
Double Decker Bus At Lunch Stop
The Bus we Were Riding To The City
Front Of The Lunch Stop Cafeteria
The next few photos are of an unusual house, and
then the highway and mountains on the trip up to
Guatemala
City.
Not Sure If This Is Part Of A House Off To The
Right
The Highway Cut Right Into The Side Of The
Mountain
Steep Mountain Alongside Highway
We got to the Litegua Bus
station in Zona 1, and I caught a taxi to the
Apartamentos
Las Torres in Zona 10. This is the hotel
in which I will be staying for two nights. I got checked in and
settled into my room, and did a little computer work.
My appointment with Dr Riley, at the
Centro
Medico, also in Zone 10, was for 1700. I was
not sure about the traffic, so I left the hotel around 1615.
There was not much traffic so I got to the office very quickly.
I got the payment and paper work taken care of
and out of the way, and just waited until about 1715. I got in
to see the doctor, and I could tell this procedure was a lot
more involved that the procedures I normally have to chop out a
skin cancer.
My hand was shaved all around the area, I put on
a hairnet, and cloth booties, and I went into the operating
room! Anyway they did the procedure, and I was very surprised at
the size of the piece of meat they cut out of my hand.
She put in 12 stitches, and bandaged my hand. To
help with immobilization of the hand, they taped a roll of ace
bandage under my fingers, so I would not strain the stitches.
Seemed like a good idea at the time, but it is really hard to
dress and get shoes on with one hand. Being a Marine, I adapt!
I left the office at Centro
Medico, and went by taxi back to my room at
the Apartamentos
Las Torres. I was a bit tired and worn out,
so I just walked up the street to a McDonald’s,
and purchased a burger, with fries, and a tea. Say what you will
but I was tired and hungry.
On the way back to the hotel, I stopped at a
tienda (small grocery store) and purchased mango nectar. When I
got back to my room I fixed a rum and mango, and ate my burger
with fries. I had a second drink, and that did me in. I
went to bed.
May 20, Wednesday, 2015
I Got up around 0500, and pretty much spent the
morning on the computer working on email, and also my
Maintenance/Cruising
Logs.
I talked to Kitty via Skype,
around 0845, and after that I walked up the street to have
breakfast. I went to a bakery, San
Martin, but the also serve sandwiches and
meals. I had the tipico breakfast, which is also referred to as
the “Desayuno
Chapin”. It was very good and since this was
actually a bakery, the breakfast came with several varieties of
bread which I enjoyed. I was eating pretty late in the morning,
this would be my breakfast and lunch.
There were rumors of a mall nearby, so after
breakfast, I went walking a couple of blocks each direction, but
did not come across it. I found out later the mall was five
blocks to the east, and I only walked three blocks. Next time I
will get to the mall.
I came back to the hotel, and spent the
remainder of the day in my room working on email and the
Maintenance/Cruising
Logs. Around 1430 I headed out to the
Centro
Medico because I have an appointment
with Dr Riley. More a post op appointment than anything else.
She just wanted to make sure the wound was in good shape and no
problems starting up.
The nurse removed the dressing so all that was
left were the Steri-Strips over
the wound. There was actually very little bleeding, which was
good.
The nurse then removed the
Steri-Strips,
and Dr Riley had a look at the wound. She pronounced it
acceptable.
Dr Riley said we would wrap the wound up again
the same as it was before, and leave it that way until Friday.
Then I can remove the dressing, and when the
Steri-Strips come
off, treat it like a normal wound.
She wants me to send a picture of the wound to
her on Saturday, and Tuesday. She wants to keep an eye on the
closure, so she will know when it will be OK to remove the
stitches.
I left the office at the
Centro
Medico, and took a taxi back to the
Apartamentos
Las Torres. Of course I talked to Kitty via
Skype to
bring her up to date on the medical issues, and she brought me
up to date on family and wedding issues.
Agian I was not in the mood for a big meal, but
I really wanted some fried chicken! I walked down #13 calle to a
fried chicken store and purchased four pieces of chicken and
fries.
On the way back to the hotel I stopped at the
same tienda as yesterday and purchased two cans of mango nectar,
and two pastries! How bad am I?
When I got back to my room, I put two pieces of
chicken in the refrigerator along with one of the pastries.
These will be breakfast tomorrow morning. I then mixed a rum and
mango, and had my fried chicken with fries dinner. When I
finished that I had one of the pastries as dessert!
I again spent some time working on the computer,
but hit the sack around 2030. I knew tomorrow would be a long
day, just because I would be spending another six hours in the
bus.
May 21, Thursday, 2015
I got up around 0500, and started in on working
on the computer. Kitty and I talked via Skype,
so we were current. I would be out of touch most of the day,
although I was planning on sending her texts when significant
events occurred.
I took the taxi from Apartamentos
Las Torres around 0715, and went to the
Litegua Bus
station in Zona 1. I purchased my ticket, and the bus left the
station promptly at 0900. I took a few pictures during the trip
back which I will share with you.
A Pretty Church We Passed In The City
Stone Quarry Beside Highway
River Running Beside Highway
Flamboyan Tree
Next To Highway
Rows Of Chicle Trees
Beside The Highway
The bus trip was uneventful, and we arrived in
the Rio
Dulce around 1430. John, the dockmaster
from Monkey
Bay Marina, was waiting for me, and we headed
to the marina.
When I arrived on DREAM AWAY, I had a lot to do.
First the two cats, Jillian
and Jordan, had to explain to me they were
not happy about being left, AND, it was way past lunchtime.
So I got to work, and opened up DREAM AWAY. The
afternoon wind was up, so the boat cooled down very quickly. I
then fed the kitties, and they were very happy about that
decision. I got changed, and then brought my computer up and got
on line.
I talked to Kitty via Skype,
and we got up to date. I then took a shower, came back and had
dinner. I am not sure why, but I was worn out, so I was in bed
by 1900.
May 22, Friday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and attempted to brush their
beautiful coats.
I listened to the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The
net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the
local news and events, and a good source of local information
that matter to cruisers.
I got a really good night’s sleep, so was ready
to face the day. That was the good news, the bad news is it is
still raining. I have to go into town to get some money put on
the small Guatemalan phone Nicola & Noel are letting us use,
so the number will not go away with disuse. I will just wait for
a break in the weather.
I finally got a break in the weather, and jumped
into the tender,
and headed into town. I docked at Bruno’s,
and went directly to the TiGo store,
and purchased Q 50 worth on the phone. I will be leaving
Guatemala on June first, so do not need much time.
I got back into the tender,
and headed over to Backpacker’s
Hotel so I could talk to Heather, the
director. We were hoping she had some of the special cat food
for our kitties, that we seem to only be able to get in
Guatemala
City. Heather thought we had both left, so
did not look for any food.
Heather said she would look for some food next
week, and also get a large bag of the clumping cat litter, which
we much prefer. While at Backpacker’s
Hotel, I also talked to Esperanza who is the
girl that normally runs in the Casa
Guatemala grocery boat. She has been
having a very difficult pregnancy, so has not been in the boat
in several weeks. She is working at the store in the
Backpacker’s
Hotel.
In a week or two she will be going to
Guatemala
City for six weeks to have her baby, and
to recover with the especially good care that is available in
Guatemala
City.
While at Backpacker’s
Hotel, I walked over to
Tienda
Reed to see if they had a clumping
litter, but they did not. I left Backpacker’s
Hotel, and went down river to Shell Bay, and
stopped at RAM
Marine. While there I checked on
TANTALUS,
and Paul’s boat SERENITY. All looked good, except on Paul’s boat
the front tarp is pooling a bit. I will have to go over next
week and see if I can run some ropes to prevent the pooling.
I left RAM
Marine, and went back to DREAM AWAY for the
remainder of the day. I did quite a bit of scanning, and well on
my to finishing a big sack of paperwork. I also kept updating
the Maintenance/Cruising
Logs.
With any luck I might get a couple out on the
web page this week, as I am not supposed to do any heavy labor
while I am recovering from my surgical procedure.
I put a first coat of varnish on the back of the
galley drop down door. I had to wait until late in the day,
because Efrain was doing some sanding out in the
shop,
I did not want to apply varnish with wood dust flying around.
Finally finished off the macaroni and cheese I
had made last week. It was a good dinner, but looking forward to
something new for tomorrow.
May 23, Saturday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and attempted to brush their
beautiful coats.
I listened to the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The
net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the
local news and events, and a good source of local information
that matter to cruisers.
Overall a quiet day, as Dr Riley wants me to not
strain my hand until the wound is really healed. So I mostly
spent the day working on the computer, keeping up with emails,
and of course continuing the work on the
Maintenance/Cruising
Logs. I finally have the May
Maintenance/Cruising
Log all caught up, so at month end I and
download it and make it into an HTML file to put on the DREAM
AWAY web page. I am also continuing work on the January
Maintenance/Cruising
Log. At the first of June I would like to be
able to put the May and January Maintenance/Cruising
Logs up on the web page.
Yesterday an announcement was made on the
Rio
Dulce Cruisers net that the Guatemalan
laser sailing
team is here on the Rio
Dulce practicing for this summer’s
Pan
Am games. The team is staying at
Nana
Juana, then being towed down to the
El
Golfete to practice. Today I got to see
the team headed down to the El
Golfete in the early afternoon, and
coming back late in the day.
Team Lasers Being
Towed Back From Practice
Close Up Of Two Lasers Being
Towed
Right after breakfast I went back to the
shop and
brought the galley drop down door to DREAM AWAY to sit in the
sun on the Sail Handling Platform. It seems the varnish has a
hard time drying in the shade of the shop.
After lunch, the galley drop down door had dried
so I took it back to the shop,
sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper, wiped it down with the
tack
rag, and applied the second coat of varnish
on the back of the galley drop down door.
Varnish Applied To Back Of Galley Drop Down Door
Varnish Applied To Back Of Galley Drop Down Door
While I was in the shop,
the Howler
Monkeys, about three of them, came down to
feed on some trees just behind the shop.
It was truly good news/bad news. One of them was probably 30’
feet away, but the trees were so thick, I could not get very
good pictures. I did get a couple, and on one you can see why
they are call Golden-Mantled
Howler
Monkeys.
Howler
Monkey In The Trees
Howler
Monkey In The Trees
Today I was going to try an experiment of making
food for our cats, Jillian
and Jordan. We cannot get the food they
really like here, so we are experimenting. They do not really
like the canned paté, but they will eat it. They also love the
people canned tuna in water, but we hate to make a steady diet
of that.
I got out two chicken tenders, and brought them
to a boil in a couple of cups of water. When the came to a boil,
I turned off the heat and covered the saucepan.
Chicken Tenders In The Saucepan
After about 20 minutes, I drained the chicken
tenders, saving the juice. I let them cool, and then I diced the
tenders up into very small pieces.
Chicken Tender On Cutting Board
I then mixed up a package of brown gravy. I
followed the recipe, and then added ¼ cup of the chicken tender
juice. I then mixed it up thoroughly.
I made three containers of food. First container
is chicken tenders, and the brown gravy out of the saucepan The
second container is chicken tenders and 50-50 brown gravy and
the chicken tender juice. The third container is chicken tenders
and chicken tender juice.
Brown Gravy, Diced Chicken Tenders, Chicken
Tender Juice
The first container will be for their dinner
tonight, and breakfast tomorrow morning. The second and third
container will go into the freezer.
At dinner time for Jillian
and Jordan, the first container of diced
chicken and beef gravy did not go over at all. Neither Jillie of
Jordie even touched it. Very disappointing!
Jillie Looking At The Personally Prepared Dinner
What - You Want Me To Eat This
Last thing I had to do before preparing my
dinner, was to take a photo of my wound and send it to Dr Riley.
Wound With Dressing Removed
I sent the photo off, and Dr Riley got right
back to me saying the would was looking very good, and to
continue taking it easy with the hand.
I prepared my dinner, cleaned up the dishes and
the galley, and got back to work on the Maintenance/Cruising
Logs. I will get caught up someday!
May 24, Sunday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and attempt to brush their
beautiful coats.
Did not have the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net this morning, because
it is Sunday.
After breakfast and galley cleanup, I got into
the tender and
headed into town. I docked at the SunDog
cafe, and then went looking for some covered
plastic boxes to store some of our stuff in. I found a couple of
examples of plastic boxes, but the were way too expensive
I also purchased some jalapenos for my homemade
salad dressing.
I also went by the Dispensa
Familiar to get butter. While I was
there, I got some kitty Tuna, and some kitty paté. Went back to
the SunDog
cafe, and made my way back to DREAM AWAY.
I got busy with the coffee filter project. I use
coffee filters in my stove top percolator to make the coffee
even stronger. The problem with the coffee filters is, they are
too large. So I must drill a hole in the center of the filters
so they will fit in the percolator basket, and I must cut down
the sides.
Amazing what a guy will do for a decent cup of
coffee. They grow huge amounts of coffee here in
Guatemala,
but I have not been able to find any that is
french
roast, or strong enough. I will keep looking.
I am sure I can find a good source somewhere close.
Setting Up To Drill The Holes In The Coffee
Filters
While I was working on the coffee filters, I
decided that tomorrow, I would get to work and clear off the
workbench in
the garage.
While I Was Working Jillian Was Napping
I have got two good coats of varnish on the back
of the galley drop down door, and I decided that was good
enough. I went back to the shop,
and sanded down the front of the door with 220 grit sandpaper.
Galley Drop Down Door After Sanding
I got the tack
rag out and wiped down the door, and
then applied the third coat of varnish to the galley drop down
door.
Galley Drop Down Door After Varnish
I went up and took a shower, and when I was
finished I went out to the rancho and
took a reading break. The following photo is the view from the
swing in the rancho.
Later on while I was preparing dinner, the
lasers came
by again, and this time they were sailing by, so I took some
photos.
For dinner, I had my leftover ground meat with
sauteed vegetables, and I also had some fresh steamed green
beans. I cleaned up the galley, and then finished off the night
working on the Maintenance/Cruising
Logs.
May 25, Monday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and attempted to brush their
beautiful coats.
I listened to the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The
net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the
local news and events, and a good source of local information
that matter to cruisers.
Even before the net, when the sun first came up,
I honored Memorial
Day, by putting up the flags. I put up the
Guatemala courtesy flag as respect for the country were we
presently reside.
The US Flag On The Stern
Marine Corps And Texas Flag Flying
All Of The Flags Flying
After the net, I talked to Kitty in
Atlanta,
via Skype.
We got caught up on all of the happenings since last night, and
then we went about our morning chores.
I had breakfast, I started on on the project I
said I was going to do yesterday, and that is clean off the
workbench in
the garage. I just let stuff pile up until I can not do any work
on the workbench.
It was time! It was also something I can do without a lot of
strain on the wound on my left hand.
Workbench At
The Start Of The Project
First item was to replace a backing plate cover.
I had taken it off several months ago looking for a leak. I have
since found and repaired the leak, but somehow the cover got
lost on the workbench.
Backing Plate Needing Covered
Cover Installed Over Backing Plate
Next, I sort of cheated, but I moved all of the
parts to be repaired or replaced that I am taking to
Atlanta into
the mid cabin. So far these are the Heart Interface LINK-2000R
that was hit by lightning on the yacht TANTALUS.
I also have the bearing block from TANTALUS that
I am getting replaced in Atlanta.
There are two Hella
Turbo fans for replacement, and the
brush assembly for the generator.
Parts To Atlanta
Noel and I had adjusted the temperature on the
water heater in DREAM AWAY. We removed the plastic cover to do
the adjustment, and had never put the cover back on. I did the
replacement of the cover.
It took some time because of the location of the
water heater under the main cabin floor. Of the three screws on
the cover, I dropped one, and could not find it. Actually during
the process, I dropped all three of the screws, but was able to
retrieve two of them. Of course the screws are stainless steel
so a magnet is no help.
Cover That Goes On The Water Heater
End Of Water Heater Where The Cover Goes
Cover In Place On The Water Heater
Now I have some other Heart
Interface parts from the yacht
TANTALUS that
need to be checked out. One is the ideal regulator, and the
other is the monitor terminal board. I will check these out
tomorrow, as there is a lot of preparation work that needs to be
done.
I put away a few more bits and pieces, and now I
have a workbench on
which to work!
The first thing to work on is my flip-flops.
Noel and I had applied some Sikaflex 1A to the flip-flops and
that solved the problem. Now I had other parts coming loose, so
I had to get out the clamps and the Sikaflex 1A to do another
fix.
Flip-Flops Ready For The Sikaflex 1A Application
Flip-Flops WIth Sikaflex 1A Applied And Clamped
Down
When I got the flip-flops clamped up, I went out
the the shop and
applied the fourth coat of varnish to the galley drop down door.
While there I took a photo of the small storage area I have in
the shop.
Storage Area In The Shop
I came back to DREAM AWAY, and vacuumed the
boat. That took quite awhile. When I vacuum, I lift all of the
hatches and vacuum around the edge of each hatch. That adds
time, but then in half the cases you have to move something that
is sitting on the hatch.
By the time I finished all of those chores it
was pretty late, so I decided not have the hamburgers I had
planned as my own Memorial
Day celebration.
I went up to take a shower, and on the way I
noticed our two on site guard dogs playing with each other. They
are really great dogs, and get on very well with each other.
Nalla And Lupe Playing With Each Other
On the way back from the shower, I stopped in
the rancho and
got a very cold beer, and sat and saluted all of the Marines and
other US servicemen and women that gave their lives for what we
have in the USA.
When I went back to DREAM AWAY, I had my dinner
of a baked potato and stir fried vegetables.
May 26, Tuesday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and attempted to brush their
beautiful coats.
I listened to the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The
net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the
local news and events, and a good source of local information
that matter to cruisers.
Before breakfast I talked to Kitty via
Skype,
and that’s when I found out that Judy has called off the
wedding. She was feeling the jitters a bit, so flew out to
Seattle this
last weekend to visit with Aryeh one more time before the
wedding. She called Kitty early in the morning to say that,
although she had initiated the discussion, they had come to the
mutual agreement that they were not meant to marry. She said she
was doing okay, and that he was being very understanding about
it. I know they are both hurting and disappointed, and so are
we, to be honest. But, both Kitty and I feel that she has made a
difficult and brave decision, so of course, we support her in
every way.
I will still be going to
Atlanta to
spend time with our children, but especially Judy, as I am sure
she can use a few extra hugs.
Not much more can be said. Judy is flying back
to Atlanta late
late tonight, and Kitty will be spending tomorrow with her. We
may or may not get more details, but the bottom line is there is
no wedding in June.
After breakfast, I checked on the flip-flop
repair, and it had worked out very well. The flip-flops work
very well.
As I was doing the dishes, I noticed a small
screw and a spring on the counter. When I investigated, I
discovered the friction door catch on one of the dish cabinet
doors had come apart. I removed the friction door catch, and
went into my stash of bronze/brass hardware looking for parts. I
had the parts. I repaired the friction door catch, and replaced
it on the galley dish cabinet door.
Friction Door Catch Removed
Repaired Friction Door Catch Replaced
I started on the project to test the
Heart
Interface ideal regulator to see if the
one I got from TANTALUS actually
works. I started the main engine and ran it for 30 minutes. This
was to check the Heart
Interface ideal regulator that I have on
DREAM AWAY.
The regulator was working fine, so I removed all
of the wires from the installed regulator, and connected them to
the regulator from TANTALUS.
I started the main engine, and it was a no-go. It was a bit
disappointing.
I removed the wires from the
TANTALUS regulator,
and reconnected the installed regulator. I started the main
engine, and everything looked good. I ran the engine for another
45 minutes, just to make sure the regulator was functioning
properly.
Installed Regulator Working Properly
After lunch, I went out the the
shop and
applied the fifth, and hopefully last, coat of varnish to the
galley drop down door.
Sanded Galley Drop Down Door
Galley Drop Down Door With Varnish Applied
I came back to DREAM AWAY, and made the kitties
some more homemade food. I just used chicken tenders, and cooked
them in water. I then chopped up the tenders very small. I mixed
the meat with the broth into small Lock-N-Lock containers,
and froze them.
Preparing The Kittie Food
When I finished the Kittie food, I mixed up my
hamburgers, and made them with my hamburger press. I put the
hamburgers on a plate with waxed paper between the layers and
put them in the refrigerator.
I went and took a shower, and when I came back
from the shower, I constructed an adult beverage. I got the
burgers out of the refrigerator, put my leftover sauteed
vegetables in some aluminum foil and set off for the
outdoor
kitchen. I stopped in the
ranchito and
grabbed two small potatoes.
When I got to the outdoor
kitchen, I started the grill going, and put
the potatoes in the microwave for five minutes. When the five
minutes were up, they went on the grill along with the burgers
and the sauteed vegetables.
When the hamburgers were finished, I took
everything off of the grill, and went back to DREAM AWAY to
enjoy my Memorial
Day meal, one day late.
May 27, Wednesday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and attempted to brush their
beautiful coats.
I listened to the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The
net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the
local news and events, and a good source of local information
that matter to cruisers.
I talked to Kitty via Skype,
and then had breakfast. I called Heather at
Backpacker’s
Hotel to see if the cat food and Kittie Litter had arrived. It
had not and she said it would arrive late Thursday, and I could
pick it up Friday.
After breakfast I went into town, but
stopped off to see Marina on TRUTHSAYER at
Hacienda
Tijax. She was concerned about my surgical
procedure, so I wanted to bring her up to date on that, and also
tell her the news that the wedding is off!
We had a nice visit catching up on family
matters. It seems Gil will be returning to the
Rio
Dulce on Monday. I will be going up to
Guatemala
City on Monday, so I can catch my flight
out on Tuesday.
I said goodbye to Marina, and headed off to
Bruno’s,
and parked my tender there.
I was intercepted by the honey lady, Rosita, when I got to
Bruno’s.
She wanted to sell me two bottles of honey, but I said no,
because I still have two bottles on my boat. She would not take
no for an answer, so I purchased the two bottles for Q25 each!
She sells the bottles for Q50 each normally.
BTW, these are 750 ml bottles of fresh raw honey. I have been
able to purchase three bottles for Q100 in the past, but today
even I felt bad! I told her no more honey for four months!
I then walked into town, and stopped at the
vegetable stand, and purchased some bananas and tomatoes. Then I
went to the Dispensa
Familiar to get a few cleaning items,
and of course more cat food and tuna for the cats.
Back to the tender and
headed upriver.
I stopped at the El
Relleno fuel station for five gallons of
gasoline. I like to keep five gallons on DREAM AWAY, so I can
mix the oil, and also run the fuel through my filter when I pour
the gasoline into the tank in the tender.
I then headed back down river back to DREAM
AWAY. While at the Dispensa
Familiar, I purchased two containers of
disinfectant. One I poured into the bilge, and one into the
toilet.
I want the disinfectant in the bilge to slosh
around for a couple of days to try and clean out the bilge.
Before I leave on my trip to the states I have to check all of
the bilge pumps. To do that I have to run water into the bilge,
so since I will be doing that anyway, I might as well clean the
bilge.
I plan on doing the same thing with the holding
tank. I plan on putting a couple of containers of disinfectant
into the holding tank, and then fill the holding tank about half
full. With all of the wave action here, that will slosh around
for three weeks, and help to clean out the holding tank. That is
the plan.
When I finished dinner, and did the cleanup, it
was back to catching up on email, and of course working on the
Maintenance/Cruising
Logs
May 28, Thursday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and attempted to brush their
beautiful coats.
I listened to the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The
net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the
local news and events, and a good source of local information
that matter to cruisers.
I ran the main engine, and verified operation of
the Heart
Interface ideal regulator, and the
LINK
2000R. I shutdown the engine, and removed the
wires from the on board Heart
Interface ideal regulator, and connected
my spare.
I started the main engine again and the
Heart
Interface ideal regulator checked out
great with no problems seen. I shutdown the main engine,
disconnected the spare regulator, and connected back up the on
board Heart
Interface ideal regulator.
I disconnected the on board
LINK
2000R, and connected the spare
LINK
2000R. I started up the main engine, and
verified operation of the spare LINK
2000R.
I try and vacuum pack as many of my electronic
spares as I can, simply because of the harsh environment we live
in (wet).
I had let the galley drop down door dry for 48
hours, so now it was time to change out the temporary door for
the real door.
Temporary Galley Door
The Real Galley Drop Down Door
I moved most of the cockpit cushions, the two
diesel Jerry
Cans, and the cooler I had on deck back into
my storage area in the shop.
Today was the day to empty the refrigerator and
freezer, so they could defrost and I could work on the tops
before the trip to the states.
It took several trips up and back to the
ranchito,
but I finally got the refrigerator and freezer empty. Now I just
have to wait for the holding plates to defrost.
Freezer Almost Empty
As I was making one of the trips back and forth,
Andre, who had arrived the night before, gave me my brush
assemblies. Andre has a boat here in Monkey
Bay Marina, and went back to the states to
bring another boat here to the Rio
Dulce.
Andre said that he would bring any parts back
that were sent to the marina at which he was staying in North
Carolina. I needed the brush assemblies for my
generator,
so I had them sent to his marina.
Brush Assemblies Out Of The Bag
Time for a shower, adult beverage and a reading
break. After the reading break I called Kitty via
Skype.
When the call was finished I made my dinner.
May 29, Friday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and attempt to brush their
beautiful coats.
Kitty was up early, so we listened to the
Rio
Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The
net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the
local news and events, and a good source of local information
that matter to cruisers.
I checked the refrigerator and freezer, and the
freezer still had plenty of ice still on the holding plates.
Both boxes did not have the lids on all night! I want to truly
get the freezer defrosted by Sunday so I can glue on the
weatherstripping.
Freezer Holding Plates, Morning
We had run out of fresh milk, so I experimented
using a dry milk product that we had heard a lot about. It
tasted good when mixed with water, and of course since it was a
dry powder, it would last a very long time until it was mixed.
The product is Nestle
Nido. I mixed up some, and it did taste good.
I also put some of the mixed milk into my milk frother, and it
worked just fine. So far I am happy with the product.
Before moving onto the next project, I put a 12
VDC fan in the freezer, so the stream of air would aid in the
defrosting process.
Fan Inside Freezer Blowing Air
The next project is to install the new brush
assembly that I got from Andre into my generator.
Hopefully this will fix my problem with not enough current to
run the Heart
Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger. The unit
does fine when running from shore power, but not from the
generator.
I got the new brush assembly, verified the
connections from the old worn brush assembly, and then installed
the brush assembly on the generator.
Back Of Generator With
No Brush Assembly Installed
Back Of Generator With
New Brush Assembly Installed
I next installed the back cover of the
generator,
just in case having it off would cause a problem.
I got everything back together, and then checked
the oil and water in the generator,
and started it up. I switched the shore power off to the boat
and switched on the generator output
to the boat.
The Heart
Inverter/Charger has a 130 AMP battery
charger in it. When you first turn it on, the output of
the battery charger goes right up to the 130 amps DC output,
which is about 2700 watts AC. The output then adjusts itself
based on the state of charge of the batteries.
I am pretty much lost as to the source of the
problem.
Just as a test of the generator capacity,
I turned on the water heater which is about 1200 watts, then the
air conditioner, which is about 1000 watts, and the
Heart
Inverter/Charger all at the same time.
That is very close to 3000 watts, and the generator had no
problem with it.
I shutdown the generator,
and switched the boat back to the shore power. I turned on the
Heart
Inverter/Charger, and the DC output went
right up to the 130 amp output. I have even swapped in my spare
Heart
Inverter/Charger, and the indications are
exactly the same.
I decided I would head up to
Backpacker’s
Hotel and pick up the kittie litter and the cat food. Just to
makes sure, I called Heather, the director, and verfied they both came in,
which they had.
I got into the
tender, and went up to
Backpacker’s
Hotel. When I got there I went to see Heather. We visited for a few
minutes, and I paid for the cat food and the kittie litter.
Since I was there, I decided to have my free lunch for
the week. I had the chicken burger, with french fries, and a beer. It
was very good, and I got to visit with some cruisers who had just arrived
on the Rio
Dulce.
I finished lunch, and then headed back to DREAM AWAY.
I had to get started on the next project, since I am at a loss as to what
to do about the generator.
That project is cleaning out the
refrigerator and the freezer. The ice came off the holding
plates in the freezer quickly, so I was able to scoop most of
the ice out of the freezer.
I then got the shelving and the
Dri-Dek out
of the bottom of the refrigerator. There had been a couple of
spills, so it was a fun time cleaning that all out. I brought
the hose down below, and washed out most of the badness. Then it
was just a matter of drying and sponging out the bottom of the
refrigerator and freezer.
Refrigerator Before Cleaning
Refrigerator After Cleaning
Freezer Cleaned And Dryed Out
Expansion Valves For The Freezer Holding Plates
When that project was completed, it was time for
a shower, adult beverage, and a reading break in the
rancho.
When I finished my reading break, I prepared my dinner.
This is a bit of an undertaking because there in
no refrigeration on DREAM AWAY. I have to get everything I need
for the big refrigerator in the ranchito,
bring it back to DREAM AWAY, and then if anything needs to go
back to the refrigerator, take it back up to the
ranchito.
It all worked out, I had a nice dinner, cleaned
up, and then I called Kitty via Skype.
When we finished our call, I got back to work on the
Maintenance/Cruising
Log.
May 30, Saturday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and attempted to brush their
beautiful coats.
I listened to the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The
net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the
local news and events, and a good source of local information
that matter to cruisers.
I did my announcement for the specials at
Backpacker’s
Hotel on the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net. They have a new
restaurant manager at the Backpacker’s
Hotel, Jenny, so she will be doing the
announcement of the specials from now on.
If they get in a pinch, I told Heather, I would
get back to doing the specials announcements when I return from
the state.
After breakfast and clean up, I started getting
all of the paraphernalia together for the move of
Jillian
and Jordan. Jody, the new editor of the
Rio
Dulce Online Newspaper, has volunteered to
take our two cats for the three weeks that I will be back in the
states.
Today is the day of the great move day. The only
time Jillian
and Jordan have been off DREAM AWAY is
when they visited the Veterinarian. So today the are going to
ride in the tender for
about 15 minutes, then in a car for maybe five minutes, and then
in a totally new house for a total of three weeks. Oh did I
mention that Jody has a little dog that just loves to play with
cats!
I had got out the two pet carriers a couple of
days ago so the two cats would become familiar with them. As
usual there was some competition about who was going to get into
one or the other. Neither cat has a fear of the pet carriers.
Jordie Checking Out the Pet Carrier
Jillie Checking Out the Pet Carrier
Later while I was getting all of the stuff
together for the trip, Jordie decided to go on deck and guard
the hose coiled up on deck!
Jordie Guarding Hose
Jody called and said she would be delayed a bit
so we would not meet until 1300. Any guesses on what I did? I
worked on email and updating the Maintenance/Cruising
Log.
When 1230 arrived, I moved the
tender to
the starboard side of DREAM AWAY. this would make it easier to
load all of the gear and the two cats. I got all of the
paraphernalia loaded, and the put each cat in a pet carrier.
This was no problem and not very problematic.
I got both cats into the
tender,
and started the outboard engine. Then the cats let me know this
was not a good thing! I engaged the engine, and started up
river. I got the tender up
on a plane, and after about five minutes, Jillie settled down,
but Jordie complained the entire trip! When I got to the dock at
Mansion
Del Rio, Jody was there to meet me. Jody
helped me unload all of the gear and the two cats, and put them
into her car. We then drove to her house.
We got all of the gear and the cats into the
house, and we let the cats out of the pet carriers. Cats by
definition do not deal well with change. Just moving the water
bowl from one side of the kitchen to the other can be traumatic,
so you can imagine this change.
Jillie and Jordie experimented with a couple of
places up and away from Jody’s dog Suzie. I think it will take
some time for Jillie and Jordie to adjust, but I have a feeling
they will get with the program.
Jillie & Jordie In The Kitchen
Jordie & Jillie In The Living Room
They were adjusting very slowly, but after about
an hour, I headed out. Jody drove me back to the dock, and I
headed down river. I stopped at Tienda
Reed, and purchased Sikaflex 1A to use on the
refrigerator and freezer insulation.
I then continued back to DREAM AWAY, and got the
boat straightened up a bit. I took a shower, and prepared my
dinner. After cleanup and more work on the computer I hit the
sack.
May 31, Sunday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is
started, I feed our two cats,
Jillian
and Jordan, and and attempt to brush their
beautiful coats.
Did not have the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net this morning, because
it is Sunday.
Today I had the morning scheduled to work on the
refrigeration system. I am putting in weatherstripping around
the lids, but this time I am attaching the
weatherstripping to
the refrigerator and the freezer box, not to the actual lids
themselves.
I hope this works out, because it takes some
time to get the refrigerator and freezer to room temperature
once the freezer has been working, and is down to zero degrees.
I have also had a problem with the weatherstripping tape
on the back coming loose and the weatherstripping coming
off. This time I am attaching the weatherstripping with
Sikaflex 1A.
Weatherstripping Applied
To Freezer Box
Weatherstripping In
Corner Of Freezer Box
Weatherstripping Applied
To Reefer Box
While the Sikaflex 1A was setting up on the
weatherstripping,
I decided to dig out some pieces of teak wood that I had cut and
varnished years ago. These pieces I had planned to put on top of
the refrigerator and the freezer as trim pieces, and also to
help prevent a top from sliding around while underway.
I went up in the forward cabin, moved a bunch of
stuff around, and was able to dig out all eight pieces of the
teak trim. Of course I had to get under both side of the forward
cabin bunk.
I got the eight pieces of trim up to the
refrigerator freezer and did a dry fit to make sure this would
all work. I will be using the Sikaflex 1A adhesive to attach the
trim to the refrigerator freezer surface.
Trim Piece Dry Fit
I also got together pieces of wood to lay on the
trim pieces at the corners, and got out a bunch of my tools to
act as weights to hold the trim pieces in place until the
Sikaflex 1A sets up.
I applied the Sikaflex 1A to the back of the
four trim pieces for the freezer. I had thought of masking off
the lines to keep the possible mess down, but end the end I did
not. If there is any mess, it can be dealt with after the
Sikaflex 1A sets up completely with a razor blade.
Sikaflex 1A Applied To The Back Of The Trim
Pieces
Trim Pieces On Freezer And Weights Applied
I applied the Sikaflex 1A to the four pieces of
trim for the refrigerator, and put the weights on the corners of
those pieces.
Trim Pieces On Refrigerator And Weights Applied
The Refrigerator Freezer Trim Pieces Setting Up
While the Sikaflex 1A was setting up, I prepared
for the trip up to see Jody and Jillian
and Jordan. I loaded up more cat stuff
into the tender,
As it turns out, I forgot quite a few things when I delivered
the cats to Jody yesterday, Including the bag of dry food!
More Cat Goodies To Go To Jody’s
I headed up to Mansion
Del Rio, and Jody was waiting for me at the
dock. I got the cat goodies loaded into her car, and then we
went to her house. I brought all of the goodies into the house,
and then visited with Jillian
and Jordan.
Jordan was napping and did not get up , but my
girl Jillie, came out and was very happy to see me. She curled
around me and let me scratch her. She even started to jump
around on the refrigerator, and some of the kitchen shelves. It
was great to see her start to become more confident of her new
surroundings.
Jillie On Top Of Cupboard Over Refrigerator
Jillie On Top Of Another Cupboard
Jody is pretty sure they will get with the
program and start moving around much more. I think the more
comfortable they get with Jody’s dog, Susie, the more they will
get comfortable overall.
I visited about a half hour, and then went back
to DREAM AWAY. When I got back I got some hoses connected, and
ran a bunch of water into the bilge. I wanted to verify
operation of all of the bilge pumps before I left for the
states.
Bilge Pumps Under Main Engine
When I had finished with the pump testing, I
removed all of blocks of wood and the tools from the trim pieces
on the refrigerator. It turned out to look pretty good. The
Sikaflex 1A did not squeeze out all around the trim pieces, so I
will have to run a bead of the Sikaflex 1A around the trim
pieces to fill in the gaps. The major work is done!
Finished Trim Pieces Around Refrigerator/Freezer
Lids
The remainder of the day was spent preparing
DREAM AWAY to be left for three weeks, vacuuming the boat, and
most of the packing. Of course there was time for a shower,
adult beverage, and dinner.
