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Kitty made from scratch macaroni and cheese for
dinner, and I thought it was great. Next time we need to add
much more cheese! Kitty finally got the copy of the
Second
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, so we watched
that during dinner.
We cleaned up after dinner, and went to bed!
July 03, 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.
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 did my announcement for the specials at
Backpacker’s
Hotel on the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net.
Today was an errand day, and we did a lot of
running around the Rio
Dulce. Kitty did a bit too much and got
pretty overheated. We started out in the
tender,
and went to RAM
Marine. I got cash there, and also went up to
TANTALUS and
moved their new prop shaft from the aft deck to down below out
of sight.
We left RAM
Marine, and went across the river,and parked
the tender at
Bruno’s.
We walked up to Ingrid's
Tienda. Here we purchased veggie oil, lemon
juice and wine. We went to our normal veggie stand and purchased
some fruit and veggies. Back to the tender.
We left Bruno’s and
went over to SunDog
cafe which is more centrally located for
our remaining shopping.
From SunDog
cafe I walked down the main road looking
for a lady who makes homemade flour tortillas. While looking for
this lady, I went by another veggie stand and purchased some
sweet corn and three plantains.
I will use the plantains to
make tostones tonight.
They are a family favorite. The sweet corn is for tomorrow’s
July fourth celebration.
I found the tortilla lady, and ordered four of
her large tortillas. Kitty had caught up with me then, so she
stayed with the tortilla lady, and I went off to
Dispensa
Familiar shopping for groceries.
Kitty caught up with me at the
Dispensa
Familiar, but she was overheated, so I told
he to go back to the SunDog
cafe and cool down, while I finished the
shopping.
I did finish the shopping, and went back to the
SunDog
cafe. Kitty had cooled down, so we loaded all
of our stuff in the tender,
and went back to DREAM AWAY. By that time the wind was really
blowing, so we really cooled off on the trip back.
Once we got all of the groceries onto DREAM
AWAY, we spent the next 45 minutes putting all of the stuff
away. What fun!
I got some time to work on the spare carburetor.
Yesterday I had applied the JB
Weld to the carburetor to attempt a fix.
Today, I was able to file off the excess
JB
Weld to get the carburetor ready to
drill out the holes for the float pin. I will attempt to do the
drilling this coming Sunday.
Carburetor Getting Filed Down
I prepared my whole chicken for grilling by
cutting out the back and laying it flat on the pan. I then took
the chicken and the plantains up
to the outdoor
kitchen to make tostones.
It took some time, but I worked on the
tostones while
the chicken was cooking on the grill. We had a great meal, and
Kitty and I consumed all of the tostones!
We did some reading, cleaned up from dinner,
read some more and then went to bed.
July 04, 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.
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 did my announcement for the specials at
Backpacker’s
Hotel on the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net.
Today is Independence
Day and I really did not take as many
photos as I should have. Before breakfast I put up our array of
flags, but I did not put up the code flags. I had our large
United States flag on the mizzen mast, the Texas and Aggie flag
on the port main flag halyard, and the Guatemalan flag.
One of the local marinas,
Mar
Marine, was having an
Independence
Day special. It was a seafood special,
and Kitty and I did not like that. Our idea of
Independence
Day is hamburgers, hot dogs, watermelon
and apple pie.
So we decided to have our own small
Independence
Day celebration at
Monkey
Bay Marina. It would be Kitty, and I, our cat
sitter Jody, and a German couple off of a boat at
Monkey
Bay Marina, Catherine and Reinhold.
Kitty is making an apple pie from scratch except
for the crust. We actually had one frozen pie crust that we
purchased in the states. I helped a little bit in the
preparation while working on the Maintenance/Cruising
Log.
When Kitty got the pie in the oven, I prepared
the hamburgers using ground beef and ground pork. I added
spices, and egg, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, and crushed
corn flakes. Believe it or not, they turned out very good.
I got in the tender and
went into town docking at Bruno’s.
I walked up to the Litegua bus
station and purchased our tickets to Guatemala
City for Monday. I was going to get cash
out of the ATM, but there was a line, so I went back to
Bruno’s to
wait for Jody.
Jody showed up, so we headed back to
Monkey
Bay Marina. The wind was really blowing, so I
expected a very wet ride, but it turned out to be not that bad.
We were headed right into the wind so the ride was mostly dry.
When we got back to the marine, I started
cooking. I put on the water for the sweet corn, and started
grilling the hamburgers, and hot dogs. When they were cooked, we
all sat down and thoroughly enjoyed the meal.
Jim Doing The Grilling, WInd Blowing
Jody Keeping An Eye On Jim
Reinhard Ready For Pie
Jody Kickin’ Back Waiting For The Pie
Christina Waiting For The Pie Course
Kitty Waiting For The Pie Course
John Cutting Up The Pie
After the pie course, everyone was so full we
did not even cut into the watermelon. Everyone joined in
clearing the table, washing the dishes, and hauling the stuff
back to DREAM AWAY.
I had to get Jody back to
Bruno’s before
dark, so her and I got into the tender,
and we took off. I dropped Jody off, and went right back to
DREAM AWAY.
Kitty and I kicked back and relaxed. We did some
reading and eventually went to bed.
July 05, 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.
We had a very heavy rain overnight, about 3” of
rain. As I was sitting in the cockpit working on the computer,
enjoying my coffee, keeping an eye on Jillian
and Jordan it looked like it was going
to rain again!
I decided I should go down and pump out the
tender.
Well that turned out to not be needed! There was so much rain,
it filled the tender and
it turned over, outboard engine and all!
View Of The Tender When
I Walked Down The Dock.
The first thing I did, was to go back to DREAM
AWAY, get a fresh cup of coffee, and wake Kitty. Was not sure
what I was going to do, but I knew I would need Kitty’s help.
Kitty got up and dressed, and we walked out to
the tender by
the dock. First thing I had to do was release the the
tender from
the dock. It is not only tied to the dock, but I put a thick
wire and padlock around the pilings to keep thievery down.
So I jumped into the water, and worked the lock
around so I could get in the combination. That was fun because I
had my glasses off, and could barely read the numbers, but I got
it done.
Jim Unlocking The Tender From
The Dock
I tried to turn the tender over
where it was and by myself. That was not going to work. Lev off
of the Russian boat, KETCH 22, came by and said he would go get
the compressor so we could force air in the overturned
tender.
In the meantime Kitty had told Abbie, one of the
guardians daughters, to go get her Dad to help us with this
project. Lev showed up with the compressor, but Efrain, the
guardian, had also showed up. Efrain said to move the
tender over
to more shallow water, and it would be easier to turn over and
get the water out of the tender.
I could see the sense in that so that is what I did.
Jim Towing The Tender To
Shallower Water
Efrain was in the water, so he and Jim were able
to turn the tender over
to its correct orientation.
Efrain And Jim Turning the
Tender Over
When we got the tender turned
over we moved it into the spot in the boat shed where Efrain’s
launch was. Lev got into the water, and we tied the backend of
the tender to
a cleat and a piling so the stern was just out of the water.
Lev & Jim Lifting The Stern Of The
Tender
Once we had the tender tied
up, Efrain got into the tender, and started bailing out the
tender using
a five gallon bucket.
Efrain Bailing Out The Tender
Efrain Bailing And Jim Pumping
Efrain’s Two Daughters Playing In The Flooded
Yard
Once we got the tender emptied
of water, we had to get the outboard engine off of the
tender and
on the dock. From the dock it could be taken back to the
shop so
I could work on it.
Lev Taking Outboard To The
Shop
Jim Heading Back To The Shop
Efrain Heading Back Home To Get Dry
Tender Tied
Back To The Dock
I had recovered almost everything for the
tender,
simply because almost everything was tied or locked to the
tender.
I had lost my PVC pipe tiller extension, and my orange bucket
that contained my bailer, sponge, and a couple of rags. I had
hoped it had filled with water, and sunk near the
tender location.
The only way to know would be to snorkel and see.
I went down to DREAM AWAY, and got my dive
mask. I put it on, and went into the water looking for my orange
bucket.
Jim With Mask On Ready To Go Into The Water
I swam around and did several dives, but had no
luck with the bucket. I did find the tiller extension. I also
realized the water was deeper than I had thought, and I was
using a lot of energy going down and up. I decided it was a good
idea to get my diving fins to make the up and down much easier,
and more time on the bottom looking around.
Jim At The Back Of The Tender
Jim Coming Back To The Dock To Get Fins
Beached Whale On The Dock
Jim Putting On Diving Fins
I went back into the water for perhaps another
30 minutes or so looking for the bucket, but I did not find any
sign of it. I got out of the water, and got the battery and the
fuel tank out of the tender.
I needed to take both of these back to the
shop.
Getting Ready To Take The Battery And Fuel Tank
Back To The Shop
It was time to take a shower before getting to
work cleaning fuel tanks and outboard engines. The fuel tank had
leaked gasoline, and I had gotten it all over me when I was in
the water. That was causing a rash, so the shower was a good
thing.
After the shower, I gathered up the necessary
tools and headed up to the shop.
I had to disassemble the engine to make sure I got all of the
water out of the critical parts.
Outboard Engine Before Disassembly
I had to remove the electric start motor, the
carburetor, and the spark plugs. I checked the battery, and it
appeared that none of the acid leaked out and it was all OK.
It appeared the electric start motor is sealed,
so I used compressed air to blow all of the water off of the
motor and all of the connections. I then sprayed down all of the
connections with corrosion
block.
Electric Start Motor And Solenoid Getting
Cleaned And Lubricated
While I was doing the disassembly of the motor,
I started syphoning the gasoline out of one fuel tank into a
second one through my fuel filter to filter out any water or
debris that had gotten into the fuel tank. I did this operation
twice to be sure I got out all of the water and debris. I was
actually surprised at how little water had gotten into the tank.
Only about ½ of a cup.
Syphoning Gasoline From Spare Tank Into Main
Fuel Tank
I removed the carburetor to take it apart and
clean it. It also allowed me access to the cylinders from the
input side. I removed the spark plugs to gain access to the
output side of the cylinders.
Outboard Engine WIth Carburetor Removed
I now put back on the electric start motor and
connected it to the battery. I then spun the engine over using
the electric start motor, this forces all of the water out of
the cylinders. I then sprayed a lot of the
corrosion
block into the cylinders while spinning
over the engine. This definitely removes all of the water and
lubricates all of the moving parts inside the engine.
Now I moved onto the carburetor. I took it
completely apart and using the compressed air, I cleaned all of
the individual parts. I put the carburetor back together and put
it back on the engine.
Putting The Carbuertor Back Together
Carbuertor Back On The Outboard Engine
I then cleaned and gapped the two spark plugs. I
used the compressed air and blew all of the water off of the
spark plug wires, and the surrounding area.
Spark Plugs Back In The Outboard Engine
The outboard engine was now ready to back on the
tender.
I moved the tender close
to the steps on the dock, and took the outboard out to the
steps. I put the outboard engine on the tender,
and then put the fuel tank and battery back into the
tender.
I connected up the fuel, and the battery, and
the engine started right up. I adjusted the idle jet, and the
overall idle adjustment. I then took the
tender out
for a test ride, and the outboard performed perfectly.
Kitty and I then went up to
RAM
Marine. I needed to get some cash for our
trip to Guatemala
City, and Kitty wanted to get some chocolate
at a store new the Shell station.
I also checked on the pooling of the forward
tarp on SERENITY. The pools were much smaller, but I am going to
have to do some more work on them.
We headed back to DREAM AWAY, and had no
problems at all. The outboard performed perfectly.
I changed into my work clothes, and put all of
the tools away in the garage.
I got the carburetor that I had applied the
JB
Weld to, a couple of clamps, and my set
of drill bits and went out to the shop.
I was going to try and drill out the hole in the
carburetor frame for the float pin. I did the set up on the
Monkey Bay drill press, but when I attempted to put the 5/64 bit
in the chuck it would not tighten.
Set Up On Monkey Bay Drill Press
I then did the set up on Andrew’s drill press,
which was a smaller drill press. I drilled the holes in the
JB
Weld on the frame. It worked on one
side, but not the other.
When I put the float pin in, it looked like it
just might work! I will have to get some spare parts out and
build a good carburetor and see if it works. Film at 11!
We made a dinner of leftovers from our
Independence
Day party yesterday, and finished off
Kitty’s wonderful apple pie. We read and went to bed!
July 06, Monday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather. I fed our two cats,
Jillian and Jordan
. I put out an extra bowl of water,
and an extra bowl of crunchies. We will be leaving them for
three days and two nights.
Kitty got up and we did our final packing, and
met John at the ranchito.
We got into the big launcha, along with Yanira, and her three
children. We went into the seafood dock, and dropped off Yanira,
and her three children. They were off to school after being on
holiday for a week.
John then took us over to
Bruno’s and
dropped us off. We walked up to the Litegua Bus
station to wait for the 0800 bus. John appeared, and said he had
15 minutes to kill to wait for Yanira, so he sat down and
visited. John left after the 15 minutes, and the bus arrived.
The bus we were on was different, in that there
was not near the leg room we have normally, and it was a bit
uncomfortable. the feeling was exacerbated because we were
delayed about 1.5 hours because of an accident on the highway.
Our Lunch At The Lunch Stop
The highway from Rio
Dulce to Guatemala
City is mostly two lane, so any kind of
an accident really slows or stops traffic. This was a
particularly bad accident. Two vehicles ran head on and both
drivers were killed.
We finally arrived at the
Litegua Bus
station, where “our” taxi driver, Ovidio met us and took us to
Apartamentos
Las Torres, and we checked in. We settled in
for about an hour before we had to go to the doctor’s office.
Our Room At Apartamentos
Las Torres
We got a cab to Dr Rileys office, and we paid
our bill, and I got checked in. Dr Riley, and Dr Cordero
performed the surgery to remove the cancer lesion on my left
ankle. Because of the location, it was a difficult surgery.
Maria Elena The Practice Secretary
We finally finished, and we left the doctor’s
office at 2000, and took a taxi back to the hotel
Apartamentos
Las Torres. I was tired, and was not feeling
very well. Added to that is the fact that I can not bend my left
foot like a normal foot, so I am hobbling around.
Kitty walked up Calle 13 to the nearest
McDonald’s,
and purchased us burger’s, with fries, and iced tea. When Kitty
came back to the hotel, I asked her to stop at a tienda (small
grocery store) and purchase me mango nectar. When she got back
to our room she fixed me a rum and mango, and we ate our burger
with fries. I had a second drink, and that did me in. We
went to bed
July 07, Tuesday, 2015
Got up early and worked on computer getting
weather and answering email. When Kitty got up she walked down
the street to Comedor Guate Al Instante and brought us back each
a
Chapin. We had a nice breakfast, and some
leftover cookies we had purchased at the lunch stop yesterday.
We stayed in our room all day reading and I
worked on email and the Maintenance/Cruising
Logs. Before the procedure, Kitty and I had
planned to go shopping at a large grocery store in the city, and
to visit the railway
museum in Guatemala
City.
Around 1430 We 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.
We got to the doctors, and the nurse, Ninette,
took off all of the dressings, and removed all of the
Steri-Strips over
the wound. There was evidence of some weepage from the wound,
but it looked very good to me.
Nurse Ninette
Left Foot With Bandage On
Left Foot Wound With No Cover
Dr Riley, and Dr Cordero both agreed the wound
looked very good, and just continue with keeping the foot
elevated as much as possible, and keep the compression bandage
on during the day and off at night.
Dr Riley And Kitty At The Office
Dr Cordero
Nurse Ninette put fresh Steri-Strips over
the wound, and then a fresh bandage. She put back on the
compression bandage and we headed out to go back to our hotel,
Apartamentos
Las Torres.
Because of my hobbling around, and not being
able to walk very far, we ordered a Pizza to be delivered. It
came with 2 liters of diet coke and cheese bread. We enjoyed the
pizza, and it was so big we were able to save four pieces for
our breakfast tomorrow morning.
We enjoyed our pizza, and I enjoyed my run and
mango juice. We went to bed and did some reading and then went
to sleep looking forward to getting back home tomorrow.
July 08, Wednesday, 2015
Got up early and worked on computer getting
weather and answering email. When Kitty got up at 0630, we did
our packing up, and took our luggage to the front desk of the
hotel.
They had a microwave in the office, and we asked
if they would heat up our leftover pizza. They did, so we had a
nice hot breakfast with all of the major food groups!
Ovidio, our taxi driver showed up at 0725. We
loaded our luggage, actually Ovidio did most of it, and he took
us to the Litegua Bus
station in Zona 1.
We said our goodbyes to Ovidio, and went into
the station and purchased our tickets for the ride back to the
Rio
Dulce. We were lucky and got the two front
seats on the right side of the bus so we could see where we were
going.
As mentioned before the bus trip is normally 5
to 6 hours, but today was an exception. There was some kind of
protest, and the highway was blocked for 2 ½ hours!
You can imagine the amount of traffic backed up
in both directions for 2 ½ hours on a two lane highway on the
major (read only) highway between Guatemala
City and Puerto
Barrios.
So after the delay, the traffic still moved very
slow. The traffic was backed up on the other side of the
highway, so it was not possible to pass any of the slow vehicles
on our side of the highway.
We eventually got back to DREAM AWAY at 1815. to
add to the fun, it actually rained a bit on the boat ride back
to DREAM AWAY. I finally got to elevate my leg in the main cabin
at 1900. Our bus ride was about 9 ½ hours, and it was a long day
of not having my foot elevated.
We did have a piece of good news that we got
while riding the bus. Judy, our daughter, had gone to a
DeKalb
County School District job fair in
Stone
Mountain. She has been offered a job teaching
at the Huntley
Hills Elementary School.
She will be working in her career field, which
is special education, in which she has a Masters degree. She
will be teaching severely disabled 2nd and 3rd graders. This is
something she loves and is suited for.
We had a cookie that we purchased at the lunch
stop, and then read and went off to bed!
July 09, 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.
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 did my announcement for the specials at
Backpacker’s
Hotel on the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net.
Today was a light duty day for me, and I have at
least seven more to look forward to. We spent the day getting
settled in, and Kitty did most of the work. She prepared the
meals and did the cleanup.
I sat in the main cabin working on my computer
with my legs up. Doctor’s orders. I got a lot of scanning done,
and even started scanning in old pictures that I need to get on
the computer before the paper pictures are ruined.
We had planned to go to Casa
Perico to participate in the
International Trivia game, but it was raining so much we decided
not to go. We were worried about me slipping on the wet
surfaces, plus getting out in the pouring rain was just not that
smart.
Kitty put together a nice meal of spaghetti,
with a salad of chopped tomatoes and avocado. We watched the
13th
Warrior during the meal. The film
starred one of Kitty’s heartthrobs, Antonio
Banderas.
Kitty did the cleanup, and the we read for a
while, jumping up every once in a while to close or open ports
and hatches because of the rain. We finally decided to close up
and hit the sack.
July 10, 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.
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 did my announcement for the specials at
Backpacker’s
Hotel on the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net.
Fourth day of my recovery! Finally found a way
to keep cool, work on my computer, and keep my left leg up. I
had to throw Kitty out of her seat in the main salon.
Jim In New Recovery Seat
Fairly nice in the morning, but in the afternoon
it started to rain, and at times very heavy. I hobbled down to
the tender and
pumped it out twice. First time around 1500, and the second
around 2100.
I got the July Maintenance/Cruising Log caught
up, so I am current with that, and I spent most of yesterday
working on the computer getting the June
Maintenance/Cruising log caught up.
That is the only advantage of this light duty, I
am catching up on the Maintenance/Cruising Logs.
Kitty and I collaborated on dinner. She made
pork chops in a wonderful gravy, and I sliced and sauteed
veggies. Kitty also made pasta, which was the perfect top off to
the meal.
While we ate dinner we watched the film
The
Quartet. Great film, and I enjoyed watching
it. Anything with Maggie Smith in it is going to be good.
When I came back from pumping the
tender,
Kitty had finished the dishes, so we (I) hobbled off to bed!
July 11, 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.
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 did my announcement for the specials at
Backpacker’s
Hotel on the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net.
Fifth day of my recovery! No rain all night, so
we were able to keep the boat open all night. A wonderful
night’s sleep.
I pretty much stayed on the computer all day
working on the June
Maintenance/Cruising log.
I took a shower and Kitty made dinner from
our leftovers. As we ate dinner we watched the
Divine
Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood. A good heart
warming film.
While Kitty cleaned up from dinner, I read,
and then we both hit the sack!
July 12, 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.
Sixth day of my recovery! No rain all night, so
we were able to keep the boat open all night. A wonderful
night’s sleep.
The wound on my ankle is getting some infection,
so Dr Riley has put me back on antibiotics. Kitty went into town
and purchased the antibiotics for me to start on.
Wound Before Suture Removal
We also took out two tension sutures at Dr
Rileys request.
Wound After Tension Sutures Removed
I pretty much stayed on the computer all day
working on the June
Maintenance/Cruising log. I have finally
finished the June
Maintenance/Cruising log and downloaded
it to my laptop. I will format it and check it again for
accuracy, and then upload it to the DREAM AWAY web page. A DREAM
AWAY update will shortly follow.
When Kitty went into town for my antibiotics,
she also purchased some good ole’ fried chicken. We ate that
when she came back from town. It was very filling, and pretty
late.
We ended up having a snack for dinner while
we read our books. After our snacks, I read and Kitty did some
work on her computer. We eventually went to bed around 2130.
July 13, 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.
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 did my announcement for the specials at
Backpacker’s
Hotel on the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net.
Seventh day of my recovery, and I still hobbling
around. It is driving me crazy having to sit around all day with
my foot up. I am making progress, as I did get the
June
Maintenance/Cruising Log out yesterday.
Now I am keeping up with the July Maintenance/Cruising log, and
I am starting in on the February 2015 Maintenance/Cruising Log.
I did get to troubleshooting of the
generator problem.
I am working with Paul, the service manager at the
Northern
Lights Office in
Seattle.
Paul had asked me to check the fuses in the
junction box on top of the generator.
I was sure I had checked them before and they were good! In fact
I checked my notes, and I had written down that I checked them.
Today was the first chance I have had to
actually take apart the junction box and check the fuses again.
I also wanted to verify the AC voltage drawing from the manual,
because it was not complete.
Generator With
Engine Room Doors Off
Generator With
Back Cover Removed, Brushes Showing “J”
I pulled the cover off of the junction box and
removed the two fuses. I checked the fuses with Kitty’s
help to make sure there were no humans in the circuit, and one
of the fuses was open. When I checked them in April, perhaps I
checked the same one twice. I do not know, but one is definitely
bad, and of course I do not have a spare.
Junction Box With Cover Still On
Junction Box With Cover Removed, Exposing Fuses
It is a very unusual fuse, and I am finding,
very hard to track down. The fuse is two inches long, and 1/2"
in diameter. It is a Utsunomiya Electric Mfg Co, Cello-Lite
fuse, PC 1, 20 AMP, 32-941.
Junction Box From The Control Terminal Board End
Junction Box From The Output Terminal Board End
I did not put the junction box back together,
because I hope I can come up with a fuse solution and I will do
it then. I just shoved the generator back into the engine room,
and closed it up.
I did get some time in the cockpit reading with
adult beverage! Kitty made a wonderful dinner of Chicken
Florentine in an alfredo sauce with bow tie pasta. We watched
the film Man
Of La Mancha while we ate. Overall a
good time.
July 14, 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.
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 did my announcement for the specials at
Backpacker’s
Hotel on the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net.
Kept working on the computer and the February
Maintenance/Cruising Log. It is hard to remember what I did, but
at least I kept pretty good notes.
I am working with Paul, the service manager at
the Northern
Lights Office in
Seattle.
I asked him about using another type of fuse in case I cannot
get the proper fuse for my generator problem.
He said that I could, and it would be better if I used a slo-blo
fuse instead of a fast blow fuse.
This gave me the opportunity to do something I
had been meaning to do for some time. I have a lot of fuses
stored in a box, but they have never been properly inventoried.
For me to find a fuse I needed to know what I had.
While I was working on this, Kitty was in
communication with Dr Riley my dermatologist. Dr Riley really
wanted me to come to Guatemala
City, but I did not want to. But good sense
prevailed, and we made plans to go to Guatemala
City tomorrow, with an appointment in
the afternoon.
We gave John, the Monkey
Bay Marina dockmaster, our ATM card and
asked him to get us money, because we had none, and I had not
been into town in over a week.
I finished the fuse inventory, and felt good to
finally have that done. I also made up a fuse pigtail to use in
place of the proper fuse on the generator junction
box. The pigtail is using a SFE 25 fuse. Not sure when I will
get the time to get it into the generator.
Box Of Fuses Being Inventoried
Fuse Pigtail Made For Generator
John came back with our cash from town, so we
made our plans to travel. I went off to take a shower, and while
I was gone, Kitty backed the apple pie for John.
John’s birthday was yesterday, and Kitty said
she would bake a pie then, but it did not happen. It was one day
late and John did not mind. We invited John down to DREAM AWAY,
and we all had a piece of the pie. When we finished, John took
the remainder of the pie back to his boat.
John Cutting The Apple Pie
For dinner we had pork ribs, potatoes, and
onions made in the pressure cooker, and an avocado and tomato
salad.
July 15, Wednesday, 2015
I started off the morning with my normal ritual
of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the
weather. I fed our two cats,
Jillian and Jordan
. I put out an extra bowl of water,
and an extra bowl of crunchies. We will be leaving them for
three days and two nights.
Kitty got up and we did our final packing, and
met John at the ranchito.
We got into the big launcha, along with Yanira, and her three
children. Alan was driving this morning. We went into the
seafood dock, and dropped off Yanira, and her three children.
They were off to school.
John then took us over to
Bruno’s and
dropped us off. John helped carry our stuff up to the
Litegua Bus
station. John also helped Kitty get tickets for us in the back
of the bus so I could stretch out my leg. John left and we
waited for the the bus to arrive.
The bus came, and we got on and situated. The
bus left a little late, at 0807. This trip was uneventful, and
we arrived at the Litegua Bus
station in Zona 1, where “our” taxi driver, Ovidio met us and
took us to Apartamentos
Las Torres, and we checked in. We settled in
for about an hour before we had to go to the doctor’s office.
I will bore you with a couple of pictures of the
trip and photos of some of the bus stations at which we stop on
the trip. Because we make so many stops, that is why a 280 Km
trip is six hours. Also ¾ of the trip is on two lane highway.
Many slow truck to pass.
Bus Stop At La Ruidosa, Just Before Morales
Some Of The Flat Countryside At The Beginning Of
The Trip
Bus Station In Morales
Mountains As We Get Closer To
Guatemala
City
Mountains As We Get Closer To
Guatemala
City
The room we have this time at
Apartamentos
Las Torres is one we have had before,
but in this case it will be a big help. It actually has a
kitchenette in it. It has a two burner stove, microwave,
apartment refrigerator, and plates. glasses and flatware.
Back Of Room With Closet, Table And Microwave
One Side Of Room With Table And Fan
Kitchenette
At 1500 we left the hotel and went to the
Centro
Medico, to the office of Dr Riley. She looked
at the infection on the foot and was not happy. She put me on a
heavier antibiotic, Cipro, and a couple of other things she
wanted us to do.
She also asked that we stay over one more night
so she could see us tomorrow. She wants to check on progress,
and probably remove the sutures herself.
My Foot In The Doctor’s Office
We left the doctor’s office and went to the
pharmacy in the same building. I had a coffee, while Kitty got
all of the new stuff we needed. It turned out to be Q800 worth
of drugs, cream, and bandages.
We then got a taxi, and went back to the hotel
Apartamentos
Las Torres. On the way back we dropped Kitty
off at the McDonald’s,
which is a block and ½ from the hotel. The taxi then took me to
the hotel.
About 20 minutes later, Kitty arrived with the
hamburgers, with fries, and iced tea. We had a dessert of a
piece of torta I had purchased at the lunch stop.
I worked on the computer for another hour so,
and then we went to bed, as we were both pretty tired.
July 16, Thursday, 2015
I got up around 0530, and pretty much spent the
morning on the computer working on email, and also getting the
July Maintenance/Cruising log caught up. Kitty got up and went
and got me two cups of coffee, and then went back to bed.
We hung around the hotel all day. I took a
shower while Kitty went out and got some more cash, and did some
grocery shopping. Kitty brought back some goodies, and we had
ham & cheese sandwiches for lunch.
I continued work on the July
Maintenance/Cruising log, and also catching up on emails. Around
1500 we got in the Apartamentos
Las Torres van which took us to Dr
Riley’s office.
We went into the office, Kitty and I went into
the exam room, and nurse Ninette removed the bandages. Dr Riley
looked at the wound and the surrounding infection, and was
pleased to see that the swelling had gone down, and the wound is
looking much better.
My Foot In The Doctor’s Office
Jim In The Examination Room
Dr Riley then requested that we stay one more
day so she can see the wound tomorrow afternoon, and then take
the stitches out. She said waiting 48 hours would be much better
for the swelling and the infection to go down.
We agreed that we would, so nurse Ninette put
cream and bandages on the wound, and we left the office. We took
a taxi back to Apartamentos
Las Torres. We let everyone on the
Rio
Dulce know we would be delayed one more
day. We also asked John, the dockmaster from
Monkey
Bay Marina, if he would feed our two cats the
next time he is down on DREAM AWAY to check on Jillie.
Kitty walked down to the comedor Guate Al
Instante, and got us dinner. Dinner consisted of two salads, and
two very large burritos, plus a two sodas, all for Q60. We sat
down to dinner and enjoyed the meal while we read our respective
books.
Neither Kitty or I could finish the burrito, so
we saved half of it for breakfast tomorrow. After dinner I
worked on the computer for a bit, while Kitty took a shower. We
then read together, and went to bed.
July 17, Friday, 2015
I got up around 0530, and pretty much spent the
morning on the computer working on email, and also getting the
July Maintenance/Cruising log caught up. I am able to clean and
dress the wound myself now, so I did that and put on the
compression bandage.
Foot Before Putting On The Morning Dressing
We hung around the hotel all day. I kept busy
working on the February 2015 Maintenance/Cruising log. I am
hoping to get it done in a couple of days. Kitty went out
looking for a Subway store
to get cookies for John, the Monkey
Bay Marina dockmaster, as a reward for
watching our cats while we were gone the extra two days. Kitty
came back with Q100 worth of cookies!
I took a shower, and the we redressed the wound
on my foot. We had lunch which was ham & cheese sandwiches.
I continued work on the February
Maintenance/Cruising log, and also catching up on emails. Around
1500 we got in the Apartamentos
Las Torres van which took us to Dr
Riley’s office.
We went into the office, Kitty and I went into
the exam room, and nurse Ninette removed the bandages. Dr Riley
looked at the wound and the surrounding infection, and was
pleased to see that the swelling had gone down, and the wound is
looking much better.
Wound On Foot Before Suture Removal
Nurse Ninette removed the sutures, and cleaned
up the wound. Dr Riley again looked at the wound and was very
pleased. She asked that I remain on light duty a couple of more
days, and continue with the antibiotics. Nurse Ninette redressed
the wound, and we left the office.
We took a taxi back to Apartamentos
Las Torres. Kitty wanted a full meal, so she
went out to Applebee’s which was very close to the hotel. She
came back with a shrimp pasta dish in alfredo sauce with
mushrooms.
It was big enough that we shared the dish, and
we each had plenty to eat. It was topped off with a couple of
cookies that Kitty had purchased the day before.
After dinner I worked a little bit on the
computer, then we both read our book, and went to sleep.
July 18, Saturday, 2015
I got up around 0500, and worked on the computer
checking on email, and getting the weather. I cleaned up and
dressed the wound and put on the compression bandage. Overall
the wound is looking very good, and it does not hurt to put
pressure on the foot.
Wound On Foot With Sutures Removed
At 0630, I awoke Kitty, and she got up. We got
ourselves dressed,and got all of our goodies, computers, books
and clothes packed. Ovidio, our taxi driver showed up at 0730
and took us to the Litegua Bus
station in Zona 1.
Being a Saturday, there was little traffic, so
we got to the bus station earlier than we normally do. We got
our bus tickets, at the back of the bus, so I could stretch out
my leg, and keep it elevated.
The bus left the station at 0908, and we were in
the Litegua Bus
station in the Rio
Dulce at 1503. It was a pretty quick,
uneventful ride. There has been so much rain all over the
country, everything seemed to be green.
John, the dockmaster from
Monkey
Bay Marina, was waiting for us, but Kitty
wanted to go to the TiGo store
to purchase Q 100 on her phone. John and I waited for her at
Ingrid's
Tienda. When Kitty showed up, we went down to
the launcha at Bruno’s,
and went back to Monkey
Bay Marina.
It was nice to be back home on DREAM AWAY, and
of course the cats were very happy to see us. They were happy to
see us because they knew we would feed them, and they both made
suggestions to us for the next hour.
We got DREAM AWAY opened up, and the cool
breezes blowing, then we unpacked and put all of our stuff away.
I then feed the cats. They were ecstatic!
Kitty and I went to the showers, and had a
wonderful long shower. When we returned, I soaked the wound on
my foot for the required five minutes, then cleaned up and
dressed the wound.
Kitty and I were so tired, we decided to have
our lunch leftovers for dinner, and then sat in the cockpit,
relaxed and read. We were both in bed by 2000. We read for a few
minutes, and then we were gone!
July 19, 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.
After breakfast, I did the dishes, and then
Kitty started doing all of her Domestic Goddess chores! I hauled
two bags of laundry up to the ranchito.
Because of my foot, it was one bag per trip.
I then packed up my computer and went up to the
rancho to
work on the Maintenance Log. The breeze is wonderful and it is
so cool. Kitty joined me after about an hour, as she was doing
the laundry. The machines are in the ranchito.
Pretty much a lazy day overall. I took a shower,
and then dressed my wound on my ankle. It is looking very good,
and there is almost no pain as the antibiotics are working and
the infection is going away.
Foot Wound After Shower
We had a great dinner. I grilled pork chops,
apples and flour tortillas, and Kitty steamed broccoli. During
dinner we watched the first episode of All
Creatures Great and Small. We so enjoyed the
series when we first saw it in 2011, we decided to watch it
again.
I did the dishes, and we watched another
episode! The we went to bed
July 20, 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.
When I got up this morning, it had not rained at
all. This was surprising, because pretty much all night long
there was an amazing lightning show, and of course lots of
thunder.
Each morning, I have to clean and dress the
wound on my left ankle. It is looking much better, the swelling
and the infection are nearly gone, and there is no pain. I am
happy with progress and so is the doctor.
Ankle Wound In The Morning
After breakfast I got to work on a couple of
small projects. I am still on light duty, so I have to be
careful and not overdo. The first project is a labor of love!
The guardian here, Efrain, had got some ripe
coconuts down out of the trees before they fell down, and I told
him last week, that I wanted a couple. Because of the extra days
we spent in Guatemala
City, the stash of coconuts got pretty well
decimated. He had saved me back two very nice ones.
I drilled into the tops of the nuts to drain out
the water. This coconut water goes very good with rum and ice. I
then cut open the nuts, and scrapped out the meat that was on
the inside. This is good for eating, and for cooking.
Second Coconut Ready For Cutting Open With
Machete
Harvested Coconut Meat
The next small project to be worked on is, dock
line chafing gear. My forward spring line did not have enough
chafe gear on it, and I needed to add some. To do this I had to
remove the three pieces that were already on the line, add the
piece for the piling, then the new piece, and then add two more
pieces.
Spring Line Around Piling Before Starting
Stringing Chafing Gear Onto Spring Line
Once all of the chafing gear was put on the
spring line, then it was easy enough to put the spring line back
on the piling, and back on the cleat on DREAM AWAY.
Chafing Gear On Spring Line At The Dock
Chafing Gear At The Piling
Chafing Gear At Chock On DREAM AWAY
The last item for today, is a tie in to the
spring line project. When I removed the chain and thimbles from
the dock lines, I knew I might have to add chafing gear, so I
did not put away the chain, thimbles, shackles, and chafing
gear. Now I was finished with chaffing gear, I decided to put it
all away where it normally lives in the forward, forward deck
box.
Forward, Forward Deck Box, Gear Not Put Away
Forward, Forward Deck Box With Gear Put Away
Kitty and I went up to the
rancho to
read and enjoy the cool afternoon breezes. While reading, I
enjoyed a very refreshing rum and coconut water adult beverage.
We read for about 45 minutes, I went and took a shower, and
Kitty went back to DREAM AWAY to start dinner. After the shower,
I came back to DREAM AWAY, I cleaned and dressed the wound on my
ankle. It just keeps getting better and better.
Foot Photo Afternoon
Kitty made a wonderful chicken in mushroom
sauce. We enjoyed another episode of All
Creatures Great and Small while we ate
dinner. Like last night, I cleaned up and did the dinner dishes,
and then we watched a second episode.
July 21, 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.
I did my announcement for the specials at
Backpacker’s
Hotel on the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net.
Right after the net and before breakfast, I
cleaned and dressed the wound on my left ankle.
Foot Photo Morning
After breakfast, I spent most of the morning
working on the computer, catching up on email, of course, and
keeping the July Maintenance/Cruising log up to date. I also
worked on some financial stuff, making sure bills got paid and
money was in the correct account to pay the bills.
We had run out of our boat cards. I needed to
print some more, so I replaced an ink cartridge in our printer,
and printed our boat cards. I used the last of our business card
stock, so I will have to look for more business card stock here
in the Rio
Dulce.
In the afternoon, I looked at the pile of
coconuts that Efrain had cut down. Before we left for
Guatemala
City last week I had asked if I could
have five or six of the coconuts. He said yes, so I was happy.
Instead of one day in Guatemala
City, we spent three nights and four days.
When I got back, the pile of coconuts had been gone over, and
all of the good ones were gone. I was able to find two coconuts
that had a bit of water in them, but no much. I was pretty
disappointed about the turn of events.
Using Drill To Drill Into The Coconuts To
Extract Water
Hole In Top Of Coconut From Which To Drain The
Water
We had a power failure most of the afternoon, so
Kitty and I went up to the rancho to
read in the cool breezes. John, the dockmaster from
Monkey
Bay Marina, came by and told us he was
starting the generator and have it run for one hour.
Time for a shower. Kitty and I had brought out
shower stuff with us to the rancho,
so we headed to the showers. When we finished, other were ready
to go. The good news was the power came back on before the hour
was up.
We had the leftover chicken breast in mushroom
sauce, along with leftover broccoli for dinner. I chopped a
bunch of fresh veggies to fill in for a salad. A wonderful meal.
We enjoyed another episode of All
Creatures Great and Small while we ate
dinner. Like last night, I cleaned up and did the dinner dishes,
and then we watched a second episode.
July 22, 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.
Today did not start off very well, and then went
steadily downhill from there. We had a power failure sometime in
the early morning. When I got up at 0500 and made my coffee, I
had to use the freshwater pump on DREAM AWAY. I realized, for
some reason the pump would not turn off!
These freshwater pumps have been a real pain. I
go to all of the trouble to test them, make sure they work, and
when I install them into the freshwater system, they do not
function properly.
Now I have another project for today!
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.
Over the last few days as I sit at the
nav
station, I have noticed a spot in the middle
of the screen of my ICOM
IC-M802 HF Transceiver, and my
Garmin
GPS128. This is not good! I am sure the
Garmin
GPS128 cannot be repaired, because it is
so old, but I am hoping somehow I can get the
ICOM
IC-M802 HF Transceiver repaired.
ICOM
IC-M802 HF Transceiver With Spot
Garmin
GPS128 With Spot
I am not sure where these spots come from. I
might be able to blame the sun on the ICOM
IC-M802 HF Transceiver, because the the front
is not covered. The Garmin
GPS128 is always covered unless it is in
use.
After breakfast I decided to get back to work on
the generator problem.
I was anxious to see if the fuse pigtail I made would work and
fix the problem.
I pulled the generator out
on its slides, and just for grins, I put the bad fuse back into
the junction box. I wanted to make sure the original problem was
still there. I connected the exhaust hose while the
generator was
out on its slides and started it.
I am really scratching my head about how the
generator can
put out anything with a bad fuse in one of the output legs. This
morning was even weirder! After I started the
generator,
I monitored the AC voltage at the output terminal board in the
junction box. The voltage measured 119.8 VAC.
I then had Kitty turn on the 1200 watt water
heater, The voltage at the junction box dropped just a bit, and
then went back to the 119.8 VAC. It happened so fast I was not
able to see what voltage it dropped to.
I then had Kitty shut off the water heater, and
start the Heart
Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger. When this
unit is initially started, nothing happens for 8 to 10 seconds,
and then the voltage and amps start ramping up to the maximum DC
amp output, which is about 130 amps DC.
At this time the generator seemed
to be working properly. The Heart
Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger was
working properly. The AC voltage on my panel meter was showing
120 volts AC, and the amp meter was showing about 25 amps AC.
The voltage at the junction box where I was monitoring had
ramped up to 126.7 volts AC. This seemed about normal. How could
this happen with one leg out of the generator not
being good???
At this point, I shutdown the
Heart
Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger, and then
shut down the generator.
I removed the bad fuse from the junction box, and installed my
fuse pigtail with the SFE-25 fuse. When I removed the bad fuse,
I also removed the good fuse. I wanted to check them again with
my ohmmeter.
I noticed the bad fuse was at room temperature,
and the good fuse was very hot. I could still touch it, but it
was noticeably hotter than the bad fuse.
Junction Box With Bad Fuse Removed
Jim Installing New Fuse Pigtail
Junction Box With New Fuse Pigtail In Place
I started up the generator again,
and I had Kitty start the Heart
Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger. We
monitored the voltages and amps, and it was pretty much exactly
the same as it was when the bad fuse was in the junction box. I
started up the air conditioner, and the generator continued
to work the way it did before I installed the pigtail.
I ran the generator with
the Heart
Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger running
for about 10 minutes. It all seemed to be working fine. I also
went to the stern of the boat and monitored the exhaust of the
generator,
to see if it was blowing black smoke. This is a sure sign of too
much load. The exhaust looked fine.
We stopped the air conditioner, then the
Heart
Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger, and then
I shutdown the generator.
I wanted to be sure the SFE-25 fuse was good, and I also checked
the good PC1 fuse. They both checked good, and the bad fuse
still checked bad!
I put the good fuse and my pigtail back into the
junction box, and closed it up. I removed the exhaust hose from
the generator,
ran the generator back
in on its slides, and reconnected the exhaust hose.
I started the generator and
got the air conditioner and the Heart
Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger working.
The loads and meters all looked the same as they were before,
during the troubleshooting cycle. I planned to run the
generator about
30 minutes with this load on it.
The AC amp meter was showing about 35 amps AC
out of the generator.
The voltage at the panel meter was showing 120 volts AC.
After the generator had
run about 20 minutes, the voltage from the
generator just
completely went away! Not a good sign! I do not know what
happened.
The generator was
pretty hot at this time, so I waited until later in the
afternoon, and removed the top of the junction box. I checked
the one PC1 fuse and the SFE-25 fuse, and they were both good.
Now I have a completely different problem, and
my guess is the AC voltage regulator is bad.
Since the troubleshooting of the
generator was
a big downhill slide, I got into the next extremely frustrating
project. I had to replace the freshwater pump, and troubleshoot
the one that worked fine until I put it into the system!
I have learned a lesson working on the pumps in
the fresh water system over the last 10 months. I disconnect the
water from the installed pump, and install the water connections
to the pump I wish to install. I then apply power and make sure
the pump works in the manner in which it was designed.
Testing New Pump
If the “new” pump works properly I then remove
the installed pump, and install the “new” pump and hope it works
when it is needed.
Old Pump Out Of The System
“New” Pump Installed Into Freshwater System
So for now, when we have a power failure, or
DREAM AWAY is at sea, we have a functional freshwater system. In
a couple of days, I will test the pump I removed and see what
the problem is. Hopefully it is fixable.
Today we got some bad news. The job that Judy
had, she lost before she even started it! The way the government
works. The principal, Dr Ford, at the school where she was
going to work wanted Judy to work with her special children.
Judy did not have one certification required for the position.
The plan was for Judy to take the test and get
the certification. When Judy passed, scores announced 08-28-15,
Judy would be hired as a permanent full time teacher. In the
meantime, Judy would work as a substitute in that position until
she was hired.
The problem is, the teaching position was not
technically filled, and another teacher, who Dr Ford did not
like, said she wanted the job. Dr Ford tried to prevent it, but
the rules say Dr Ford had to take this other teacher. Dr Ford’s
hand were tied, and Judy lost her position, which technically
she did not have.
We are hoping that Judy can find another
position somewhere in an Atlanta area school system, but we
shall see. Judy did go on another Interview this past Monday,
but we have not heard anything back form that.
Kitty and I walked down the dock to the yacht
CALUSA. We wanted to take a good close look at her awnings. The
temporary awnings we have up on DREAM AWAY, are coming apart
very fast, and we will have to come up with another solution.
We got some good ideas form the awnings on
CALUSA, but have not come up with an answer as yet. Putting the
solar panels on top of the hard bimini,
has really complicated the awning issue.
Awning On CALUSA
Awning At Stern Of Calusa
While sitting on the cockpit enjoying an adult
beverage and reading my book, Kitty wondered what the
temperature was. I said I can tell because we have a
Digital
Multi Zone Thermometer. When I went to check,
I could not read the numbers.
I replaced the batteries in the base station and
the remote. The base station started working properly, but the
base station would not see the wireless remote. I jerked around
with the two units, but could not get them to work. I have a
problem with the remote, or the base station cannot read the
remote. Result is the same.
Base Station Hanging In Mid Cabin
Completed the reading and the adult beverage!
July 23, 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 did my announcement for the specials at
Backpacker’s
Hotel on the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net.
Today is going to be an errand day, and we
decided to go out and eat breakfast at a restaurant we had not
been to before. The name of the restaurant is Jocelyn
Restaurant.
The restaurant is actually two buildings, and
you could really have some big gathering there. The restaurant
is located just up river from the bridge on the north side of
the Rio
Dulce. It is a very pleasant location. You
can see the big bridge over the Rio
Dulce, to the east, and to the west you can
see the San
Felipe Fort.
View East From Jocelyn Restaurant
View West From Jocelyn Restaurant
I ordered the Desayuno
Chapin, which is a typical Guatemalan
breakfast, and Kitty ordered the Desayuno Especial. I had good
strong coffee, and Kitty had hot tea.
Jim’s Desayuno
Chapin
Kitty’s Desayuno Especial
The breakfasts were very good, and reasonably
priced for the river. The tomato sauce on Kitty’s breakfast had
a little bit of zing to it. A little bit much for her, but I had
a taste, and I really liked it!
We left Jocelyn Restaurant to start our errands.
First stop was Bruno’s.
I dropped Kitty off so she could sit in the shade and not get
overheated. I continued on to the concrete mall, and parked the
tender there.
My first two stops was to see if the
Westerbeke
Dealer or Comercial
W&L hardware store had the PC1 20
amp fuse, for my Northern Lights generator.
They did not.
I also checked at Comercial
W&L hardware store to see if they
had a large sponge for my tender,
but they did not. I did purchase two meters of plastic screen to
repair a couple of screens on DREAM AWAY for them.
I stopped at the computer repair shop in the
concrete mall looking for a new wired mouse, but they did not
have a cheap one. They had a really nice mouse with a wind up
wire that I would have liked, but they wanted Q280 for it. A bit
expensive for a mouse!
I walked up to the auto parts store and Agromar
and asked about the fuse, but neither one had it. I stopped at a
fruit and veggie stand near the concrete mall, and purchase some
fresh fruit and vegetables.
While I was at the auto parts store, I ran into
Gil. He is the captain of TRUTHSAYER, and he reminded me there
is a computer store on the way out of town by the Navy base. I
walked down there and purchased a wired mouse for Q75. A much
better deal.
I came back to the concrete mall, and got into
the tender,
and went over to Bruno’s and
docked there. Kitty was still there, and she was visiting with
Pam and Al. They are the ones that rescued Freddie of
Freddie’s
Friends. Gil from TRUTHSAYER, showed up there
and we visited for a few minutes.
I headed out into town, as I still had some
shopping to do. I first went to Miriam's
Tienda to purchase two bags of the
really great tortilla chips she sells. From there I went to the
Dispensa
Familiar to get some groceries. I got
the groceries, then went to Ingrid's
Tienda and purchased wine and rum.
I walked back to Bruno’s to
get Kitty and head back home. Kitty had just ordered a plate of
french fries, so we shared those before we headed back to DREAM
AWAY.
When we got to Monkey
Bay Marina, I dropped Kitty off at the steps
in front of the owners house. Kitty walked out to DREAM AWAY,
and I brought the tender around
to the starboard side of DREAM AWAY. We offloaded all of the
groceries and other purchases directly onto DREAM AWAY. I then
took the tender back
to its parking spot.
Kitty did me a great favor, as she had an adult
beverage and a cold glass of water waiting for me when I got
back to DREAM AWAY. I sat in the cockpit with my foot up while
Kitty put all of the groceries away.
We pretty much kicked back and relaxed the
remainder of the day. Had dinner, watched two more episodes of
All
Creatures Great and Small, and went to bed.
July 24, 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 did my announcement for the specials at
Backpacker’s
Hotel on the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net.
Before breakfast, I cleaned and dressed the wood
on my left ankle. It is looking better and better each day. I am
only putting a dressing on it, and not the compression bandage.
The doctor said I should only use the compression bandage if I
go into town, or if the foot starts swelling again.
Wound On Left Ankle
After breakfast I continued working on the
computer catching up on email and other computer related
business. Power was out all day yesterday, and was supposed to
be out today from 0800 until 1600. As long as we had power, I
continued to work on the computer.
The power never did drop off, so I actually got
all of my email and related items caught up. Of course the
Maintenance/Cruising
Logs are not caught up. I am staying
current with the July Maintenance/Cruising Log, and still
working on the February log.
I did some repair work on the aft awning. It is
getting in very poor shape, but some lines had come loose, so I
tied them all back up. The material I have for the aft and
forward awnings is just not holding up. We will have to do
something soon.
I gathered up some tools, the screen I had
purchased yesterday, and two screen frames that needed repair
and went out to the shop.
I replaced the screen material in the large screen frame from
from the aft cabin.
Large Screen Frame And Small Screen Frame
Replacing Screen Material In Large Screen Frame
I saved the screen material from the large
screen, and used it to replace the screen in the small frame.
The material from the large frame was only damage at the very
edges, so the center area was useable.
Screen Replaced In Small Screen Frame
While I was out in the shop working on the
screens, Andrew, the Russian owner of KETCH 22, said he could do
the welding I had asked him to do. Of course I said yes.
Andrew had his welder already set up in the
shop,
so I had asked him if he could do the welding instead of me
bringing my welding setup out to the shop.
This was a couple of weeks ago, but because of the procedure and
problems with my foot, I had put it on the back burner.
We got out the four grab rail ends, and the
bolts I had cut to be welded on. Andrew did the welding in no
time. Now the pressure is back on me to get the new grab rails
installed.
Grab Rails With Bolts Welded On
Welded Bolt On Grab Rail End
After taking our showers, and preparing dinner,
it started to rain. And did it rain! Around 2100 when we were
getting ready to go to bed we had a slight break in the rain,
and I went out to the tender and
pumped it out.
It was a good thing I did, because it was really
full of water. I got back to DREAM AWAY just in time, because it
really started to rain again. I did need a towel when I got
back!
July 25, Saturday, 2015
I woke up at 0200, and the rain had taken a
break. I went out to the tender and
pumped it out. The tender had
even more water in it then when I went out at 2100. It really
needed emptied of water. It was not a wasted effort, because it
did not rain any more, but the tender was
so full, if a boat with a big wake had come by, it would have
swamped the tender.
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.
A couple of pictures of a neighbor's boat nearly
filled with water. The dinghy is almost like our
tender.
This is the German version!!
Dinghy Filled With Water
Dinghy Filled With Water
Kitty had slept in, so we had a very late
breakfast, more a brunch, as we finished up at around 1100. The
Casa
Guatemala grocery boat came by, and we
purchased some veggies and meat.
We got all of that food put away, and then I had
to go into town. Our TiGo
USB modem
will run out today around 1500, so I must purchase a new one.
When I got to the tender,
and got it all pumped out, the ABUS lock
I use to lock the tender to
the dock would not open.
I got out my CRC
Corrosion Inhibitor, and sprayed it all in
and around the lock. With a light touch with a hammer, I got the
lock working. I have a spare ABUS lock,
so I compared the two locks. It seems there is a broken spring
in the older lock.
I put the spare ABUS lock
in the tender and
headed into town. I had with me a kitty litter bucket to
purchase some kitty litter, and an empty propane tank to get
filled. I parked the tender at
Bruno’s.
I set off into town with the kitty litter
bucket, and the propane bottle. I dropped the propane tank off
at
El Dragon, which
is where you can get your bottle filled very
quickly. I will be able to pick up the tank on Tuesday morning.
Propane is very cheap here, as it only costs Q105 ($14.00) to
get my 30 lb tank filled.
As I was leaving
El Dragon
to try and get the
kitty litter, I ran into Pam from Freddie's Friends. A bit of a
story here. I have already talked about Freddie’s
Friends, and the URL, will tell you the
complete story.
Back to my story. Pam has about six or seven
cats, and kitty litter was very expensive. Kitty litter here
runs about Q110 for 15 lbs. We know, because that is what we use
for our two cats. Pam started using a specific chicken feed for
her cats as kitty litter, and it has worked out very well for
her.
We decided we would give it a try and see how it
worked out. I was unsure if I would find the right stuff, but
running into Pam was a great stroke of luck. The place to
purchase the “new” kitty litter was two doors down from
El Dragon,
and Pam showed me exactly what I needed.
The cost for the “new” kitty litter is Q3.5 a
pound, so I purchased eight pounds. I put it in the kitty litter
bucket, and took the bucket back to the tender at
Bruno’s.
It was back into town, and on the way I was stopped by a lady
selling avocados, so I purchased four of them for Q10.
The next stop is the TiGo store.
I purchased the new USB modem
for Q300, which has 8 Gbytes for 30 days. From the
TiGo store
I stopped at my normal veggie stand and got a few veggies, then
onto the Dispensa
Familiar and got the groceries.
On my way back to Bruno’s I
stopped at a lady selling breadfruit.
I had not seen any for a long time, and I purchased one for Q10.
My plan is to make Tostones
de Pana tomorrow for dinner.
When we lived in Puerto
Rico, we ate a lot of
Tostones
de Pana, and I was introduced to them at the
Black Eagle Restaurant in Rincon,
Puerto
Rico.
Got back to Bruno’s,
and went home to DREAM AWAY. It was late in the day, so I just
help put groceries away, and sat in the cockpit with my leg
elevated.
For dinner we had grilled pork chops, and a
medley of pressure cooked veggies. The medley was carrots,
huisquil,
onions, and potatoes. There was also a green salad. And of
course during the meal we watched another episode of
All
Creatures Great and Small.
I did the dishes, cleaned up the galley, and we
watched a second episode of All
Creatures Great and Small, and then to bed.
July 26, 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.
Kitty slept in this morning, so we had a very
nice relaxing breakfast. For breakfast I made a typical DREAM
AWAY omelette. This typically consists of leftovers mixed with
some veggies, and all held together with eggs.
Omelette On The Galley Stove
After breakfast, my plan was to clean out our
wet/dry
vac. It has needed it for a month, but it is
an out of sight, out of mind situation. We keep the
wet/dry
vac in the pantry, so I always forget!
Instead of the wet/dry
vac cleaning, I decided I wanted to work
on the problem of my first generation iPad not
connecting to the Pepwave
router on DREAM AWAY. We had the same
problem with the Pepwave
router I took to
Atlanta last
month, and the solution was to do a factory reset of the
Pepwave
router.
Just to make sure I had Kitty connect to the
Pepwave
router with her second generation
iPad,
and she connected right away. My first generation
iPad would
not connect to the Pepwave
router.
I did the factory reset on the
Pepwave
router, and after it booted back up, I logged
into the unit and did the setup with the proper
SSID and
passwords. I rebooted the router, and then made sure I could log
into it via WiFi using my Linux laptop. I also verified that
Kitty could log in with her phone, and second generation
iPad.
They all worked.
Now for the test, I enabled WiFi on my first
generation iPad,
and it connected to the Pepwave
router right away. I then brought up the
NoMachine software
and it connected right up. Problem Solved!!!!
Monitor On My Laptop
Remote Desktop On My First Generation
iPad
Unlike most boat projects, that went really
fast, and successful! Now I had time to finally empty the
wet/dry
vac. I took the wet/dry
vac up to the shop,
along with a plastic garbage bag in which to empty the contents
of the wet/dry
vac.
The wet/dry
vac was nasty, but with patience and a
hard bristle paint brush, I got it emptied and cleaned out.
Wet/dry
Vac Before Cleaning
Projects were moving right along, so I now had
time to check my freshwater pumps to see if I could figure out
where the problem was. I gathered up my tools, the water pumps,
test water hoses, a bucket, and took them all up to the
shop.
I then went out to the tender,
and took the starting battery for the outboard back to the
shop.
I needed a source of 12 VDC to operate the pumps. I had two
pumps and two problems.
Pumps, Test Hoses, Bucket And Battery
The first pump to be tested would not shut off.
When I got the test hoses connected, the problem was still
there. I was worried that the problem would go away.
Pump That Would Not Shut Off
>
There is a pressure adjustment on the pressure
switch, so I decided to give it a try. It worked! I was able to
get the pump working, so when the water was shut off, the pump
stopped. I tested the pump off and on for several iterations,
and it still functioned properly.
I then ran the pump for four minutes, and then
shut it off. I monitored the pump for about 35 minutes, and it
did not turn back on. I am convinced this pump is fixed.
Testing The Pump That Would Not Shut Off
I wanted to test the second pump with the bad
bearing, to verify if the bad bearing was in the motor, or the
pump head. With the pump head bolted to the motor, it is
difficult to tell. I removed the pump head from the motor, and
started the motor. The motor definitely has a bad bearing in it.
Now I have to try and get the motor apart. I set
the motor upright, and sprayed Aero
Kroil on the bolts holding the motor
together. I will let the Aero
Kroil sit on the bolts for a couple of
days before attempting to take the motor apart.
It was about 1500, so I went off to take a
shower. We were planning to eat an early dinner up in the
rancho because
I am doing all of the cooking in the outdoor
kitchen.
After the shower I cleaned and dressed my ankle.
It is getting better and better.
My Foot Before Applying The Dressing
We have been looking forward to the meal tonight
ever since I purchased the breadfruit yesterday.
We hare having grilled butterfly chicken,
Tostones
de Pana, and green salad.
I got all of the goodies together that I would
need for preparation, the chicken, breadfruit, and an adult
beverage, and headed up to the outdoor
kitchen. First item on the agenda is to get
the oil hot. This is no mean feat the way the wind blows here in
the afternoon.
Oil In The Skillet Getting Hot
Next I butterflied the whole chicken, applied
the Garam
Masala spice as a rub on the chicken,
and put it on the grill. Now the fun begins.
Making the Tostones
de Pana is not an easy task. The
breadfruit has
to be peeled, cubed and washed. Once the cubes are ready, the
cubs must be fried, drained, squashed, and then fried again.
When I get the Tostones
de Pana out of the hot oil the second
time, I sprinkle a light dusting of garlic powder.
Breadfruit Ready
For Peeling And Cubing
Breadfruit Peeled
And Cubed
Jim Monitoring The Tostones
de Pana First Fry
Tostones
de Pana After First Fry
Kitty Helping With Tostones
de Pana Taste Testing
Tostones
de Pana Ready For Consumption
Grilled Chicken Ready For Consumption
Kitty and I sat down to a wonderful meal. To be
honest we did do some Tostones
de Pana testing before the meal. We also
ate way too many, but they were SOOOOOOOOOO good.
After dinner we cleaned up, put the
outdoor
kitchen dishes and silverware away, and
brought back all the stuff we carried up from DREAM AWAY. Kitty
and I then relaxed with our books until bedtime!
July 27, 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.
After breakfast, I went up to the
outdoor
kitchen, and poured the oil I used last night
to make the Tostones
de Pana into a jug, and cleaned up the
skillet and the area.
Got back to DREAM AWAY and started in on
troubleshooting on the continuing problem with the
generator.
Today was more to verify that there was not something very
obvious.
I pulled the generator out
on its slides, and removed the junction box cover. I looked at
all of the wires looking for a bad wire or a burnt wire. Nothing
that obvious. I decided I wanted to check the windings on the
generator.
Generator Junction
Box Open Fuses Removed
I got out my digital VOM, and checked winding
A-B, and it was a short. I checked winding V1-V2 and it was .5 M
Ohms. I checked winding U1-U2 and the reading was the same, .5 M
Ohms. I thought those numbers weird, but I was going to ask Paul
about them.
Paul is the person who is working with me on
this problem at Northern
Lights. Later in the day I was getting ready
to put together an email for Paul about what I was seeing with
ohmmeter. I decided to look at the AC drawing for the M673
generator.
The AC drawing for my generator,
the M643 does not show the windings to the actual generator.
My Actual Wiring Diagram For My Generator
The AC drawing for the M673
generator,
shows the windings as U1-V1 and U2-V2! So earlier in the day I
was not measuring the windings.
I got Kitty to help me again, and pulled the
generator out
on it slides. The junction box was already taken apart, so I
measured the “real” windings and got a short across both U1-V1
and U2-V2. This is what I would expect, since I am just
measuring a single wire from one end to the other.
Now it really looks like my AC voltage regulator
has gone bad. Does not give me confidence to replace it, until I
found out why.
Out Of Focus Photo Of My Voltage Regulator
Armed with all of this information, I generated
an in depth email to Paul at Northern
Lights to see if he could throw some
light on my problem.
While I was working on the
generator problem,
I kept looking at the Aft
Security Panel. I had made a new panel,
because I had to replace the off/on switches for the aft air
conditioner. I did the replacement, but I had never put on the
labels.
In fact, I went to the trouble of purchasing a
Brother
PT-90 labeling machine, but never
actually got to applying the labels on the
Aft
Security Panel. Today it finally got to me,
and I put the labels on the Aft
Security Panel.
Jim Peeling Back Off Of Label For
Aft
Security Panel
Jim Making Aft
Security Panel Labels
Aft
Security Panel Labeling Complete
It was time for a nice long shower, and an adult
beverage.
July 28, 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.
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 did my announcement for the specials at
Backpacker’s
Hotel on the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net.
Worked on the computer catching up on email, and
trying to find sources for parts needed for DREAM AWAY. Some
good news, and some bad news trying to find some parts.
I did get an email from Tekris
Power saying they had repaired the two
terminal boards, and the Ideal Regulator that are part of the
LINK
2000R monitor system. The parts are on
the way to Stacy’s. This may be super overkill even for me. This
will give me three spare Ideal regulators, and three spare
terminal boards.
Kitty will bring these parts back with her when
she returns from her trip to the States next month. She is going
to Ft
Myers, Florida to attend the trial of the man
(ex husband) who murdered her dear friend and her fiance two
days before their marriage in May of 2014. Very, Very sad.
Waited until the Casa
Guatemala grocery boat came, and we got
our stuff. What they did not have, I would pick up when I go to
town this afternoon. I have to go to
El Dragon
to get my propane tank.
I had to pump out the tender before
I could leave, but I finally got underway and headed into
Bruno’s,
and docked my tender there.
My mission today, besides the propane tank was to try and find
the small fuse for the AC voltage regulator on the
generator.
My first stop was one of the auto parts stores
in Rio
Dulce, Repuestos
El Buen Precio. They did not have the fuse,
so I went down the road to San
Felipe to the electrical store, and they
did not have it either.
I walked back to the main road and started to
head out of town. The store for the fishermen, El Pescadero, was
closed, and the hardware store next to them did not have any
fuses at all. I walked close to the concrete mall, and stopped
at the veggie
stand there, and purchased veggies we
needed.
From the veggie
stand, I walked back into town to
El
Dragon to get my tank of propane. The
lady at the electrical parts store suggested that
El
Dragon might have the fuses. When I
asked, they did! I thought I was purchasing 2 amp fuses, but
when I got them back to DREAM AWAY, they were 5 amp fuses.
I will not use the a 5 amp fuse in a circuit
that calls for a 3 amp fuse. I have some 2 amp fuses, and I have
the three amp fuse from my spare AC voltage regulator, so I will
be able to get some answers when I get back to troubleshooting
the generator.
Went off on a bit of a tangent. When I picked up
the propane tank at El
Dragon, they offered to deliver it to the
dock at Bruno’s.
I said yes! The propane tank is a big one that holds 30 Lbs of
propane, plus the tank, and I already had a big bag of veggies.
I walked back to Bruno’s,
and met the kid at the dock, he carried the tank out to my
tender.
I loaded all of my stuff into the tender,
and headed back to DREAM AWAY. I got the veggies on the boat and
mostly put away.
I installed the propane tank in its proper
locker, and connected the hoses. I have a leaky propane valve in
my system, so I had to install a closed empty propane tank in
the locker while I was getting my tank filled. I had to remove
that tank before I could get my newly filled propane into the
locker. I returned the borrowed propane tank back to the
shop where
I borrowed it from.
It was late in the day, so it was time to take a
shower, and then enjoy an adult beverage. While enjoying the
adult beverage, I cut up all of the required veggies for the
black bean pico de gallo I was making. I also cut up a bunch of
veggies for our meal tonight.
The dinner was sort of a ragatoli DREAM AWAY
style. I chopped up a bunch of fresh mushrooms, onions, garlic,
and two eggplants. I made a cup of cooked macaroni, and sauteed
one pound of ground meat.
I then sauteed the veggies in coconut oil, with
lots of nice spices, added the cooked macaroni, then the ground
meat, and let it all simmer for about 10 minutes.
That was our dinner, and it was delicious. We
had an avocado and diced tomatoes for a salad, and of course
wine with an episode of All
Creatures Great and Small during the
meal.
July 29, 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.
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 did my announcement for the specials at
Backpacker’s
Hotel on the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net.
After breakfast, I had to go into town to get
some cream recommended by Dr. Riley. We are starting a new
regimen for the healing of the residue on my foot. I will also
be looking for the elusive miniature 3 amp fuse.
We had some rain last night, so I had to pump
out the tender before
I went into town. I finally got going and docked the
tender at
Bruno’s. I had to get some groceries at
the Dispensa
Familiar, but I would get them on my return.
I knew of another auto parts store north of town past the Navy
Marine Infantry Base.
I left Bruno’s and
walked north. I stopped at the Suzuki motorcycle
shop, and the Yamaha motorcycle
shop. No fuses. I then stopped at the Suzuki outboard
store and Westerbeke generator
store, and no fuses! I continued on up CA13 and stopped at the
second auto parts store, and no fuses! I knew of one more
motorcycle shop further up, and asked in there, and again no
luck!
I decided to turn around and walk back into
town. I stopped at a pharmacy, Green Cross, and purchased the
cream I needed and some more adhesive tape. Continuing on, I
stopped at a ConstruRed hardware
store. Would you believe they had the miniature 3 amp fuses!
I purchased three for Q1 each, and I went out on
a limb and asked about the PC1 20 amp fuse I needed. They had
them, but only in 15 and 25 amp sizes, no 20 amps. But at least
they are a source if I need them.
From ConstruRed,
I walked further into town and stopped at the
Dispensa
Familiar and picked up some groceries.
When that was completed, I went back to Bruno’s,
got into the tender,
and went back to DREAM AWAY.
I wanted to take the time to check on the spare
freshwater pump I have with the bad bearings. My hope is I can
take the motor apart, and get the bearing number and find
replacement bearing here in Guatemala.
I gathered up my tools, and went out the the
shop.
The pump was already out there because I had applied some
Aero
Kroil on the bolts holding the motor
together. It had been on for almost three days, so I was hoping
there would be no problem taking out the bolts.
Top Of Motor With Bad Bearing
Bottom Of Motor With Wire Entrance
I was able to remove the bolts from the motor
very easily. This was good. I have gone through one of the bolts
breaking and having to make a new one. The motor came apart very
easily, I did not have to use my brass hammer!
That is the good news! The bad news is much more
than I expected. One of the magnets is broken, One of the brush
springs is broken, plus I still have the bad bearing. This motor
is toast! Now I have to find a replacement pump or motor.
Armature, Broken Magnet And Brush Holder
Brush Assembly With Broken Spring On Right
That is not going to be easy, as the pump
is obsolete, and not manufactured. Of course they have new
better pumps, but the pump heads are much larger that my current
one, so I would have to find another place to install the pump.
I also have quite a few spares for the original model pump,
except a motor. I would have to get another set of spares if I
purchased a new pump. I have found a replacement motor, for
$244.00.
I am looking around, but I will probably end up
getting an old “new” pump, or even a used pump off of
eBay,
just so I will at least get a newer motor, and still have two
spare water pumps.
When I got back from the
shop,
I did not have enough time to fully test the
generator,
but I inserted the newly purchased 3 amp fuse into the AC
voltage regulator, and started up the generator.
We have output voltage, so tomorrow I will do some more testing
on the generator.
Kitty had lunch, more like early dinner, when I
returned from taking a shower. We did this because we are going
to MAR
Marine to see a film,
Far
From The Madding Crowd. The meals at
MAR
Marine are so expensive, that we eat at
home, and then enjoy the free popcorn, and the happy hour
drinks.
The launcha picked us up at 1730, and we saw the
file. There were no subtitles, and with the road noise, and the
British accents, it was difficult to keep up with the film. It
was not that much fun! The launcha brought us back around 2030.
We headed off to bed, and we had a lot of rain,
thunder, and lightening. It is going to be a wet night.
July 30, Thursday, 2015
I was waked up at 0300, by a tremendous
thunderclap, and a lightning show. It was not raining, so I got
up and went and pumped out the tender.
I took a big bucket out with me, and I was very glad I did it.
The tender was
very full of water, but I got most of the water out of it, and
made it back to DREAM AWAY before any rain started. In fact it
did not rain any more the remainder of the morning.
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.
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 did my announcement for the specials at
Backpacker’s
Hotel on the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net.
Had a nice leisurely breakfast, and then went
down and did a final pump out of the tender.
There was still some water in it from earlier this morning.
Believe me at 0300, and dark with the thunder and lightening all
around I did not do a perfect job.
I got set up to do the generator troubleshooting.
I got my tools together, and had Kitty help me slide the
generator out
into the galley so
I would have access to the Junction Box on the
generator.
I took the top of the Junction Box off so I
would have access to the test points inside. I also removed the
back cover of the generator so
I could measure the field voltage.
Generator Out
On Slides Junction Box Exposed
Inside Of Junction Box
I had Kitty start the generator,
and let in run a minute, and then switched it to provide power
to the boat. I call it a no load situation, but it did provide
power to a couple of low wattage fans and computers and
monitors.
I then started taking voltage measurements. The
voltage measured at the output terminal board in the Junction
Box is 120.1 VAC. The meter on the circuit
breaker panel is measuring 120 VAC, so
life is good. I measured the voltage on the two brushes.
The brushes are labeled Brush J and Brush K. The
voltage on J is 2.7 VDC, and the voltage on brush K is 1.2 VDC.
Jim Doing The Voltage Measurements
I then had Kitty turn on the water heater which
provides a 1200 watt load on the generator.
The voltage measured at the output terminal board in the
Junction Box is 117.1 VAC. The meter on the
circuit
breaker panel is measuring 120 VAC. I
measured the voltage on the two brushes.
The brushes are labeled Brush J and Brush K. The
voltage on J is 2.8 VDC, and the voltage on brush K is 1.2 VDC.
I then had Kitty turn off the water heater, and
turn on the Heart
Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger. It ramped
up to it’s full output of 125 amps DC. This in itself was good
news, which means the generator is
putting out what is required.
The AC amp meter on the circuit
breaker panel was showing a load of 25
amps AC, I then did the voltage measurements. The voltage
measured at the output terminal board in the Junction Box is 128
VAC. The meter on the circuit
breaker panel is measuring 120 VAC. I
measured the voltage on the two brushes.
The brushes are labeled Brush J and Brush K. The
voltage on J is 3.0 VDC, and the voltage on brush K is 1.9 VDC.
I actually have no idea what the brush voltages should be, but
they seem to be acting the way I would expect them to.
My experience with alternator field voltage, is
very little change in field voltage causes a large output change from
the alternator.
I let the generator run
for about 10 minutes, then shutdown the battery charger, and
then shutdown the generator.
I disconnected the exhaust hose from the
generator,
covered the Junction Box, pushed the generator back
into the engine room on its slides, and then re-connected the
exhaust hose.
I checked the oil and water in the
generator,
and started the generator at
1123. I then turned on the Heart
Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger and
watched it ramp up to it full output of 130 amps DC. If the
generator performed
properly, I wanted it to run through a full charge cycle on the
batteries.
The Heart
Freedom Marine 25 Inverter/Charger is a
three stage charger. It starts off in bulk charge mode, switches
to accept mode, and then goes to float mode. During the modes
the actual amps going into the battery drops down during the
bulk charge mode, and then stays steady during the accept mode.
After two hours of running, the AC amp meter on
the circuit
breaker panel was showing 16 amps AC. At
1324, I then switched on the water heater, and the AC amp meter
jumped up to 28 amps AC. The voltage on the AC voltmeter held at
120 VAC.
Once the water in the water heater heats up to
the proper temperature, the water heater cycles off and on
depending on water usage and temperature. I wanted to make sure
the generator could
keep up with these swings in demand. The
generator performed
just fine and kept up as designed.
At 1505, the battery charger went to float. The
generator had
run for approximately four hours and did fine. I think the
generator can
be called fixed, and really fixed when I get the proper fuses to
put into the Junction Box.
While the generator was
running, I spent most of the time working on the computer just
catching up on various projects, looking for and researching
parts, and staying current on emails, and yes, the
Maintenance/Cruising
Log.
With the generator shut
down, it was time to go get a shower, as we are going to
International Trivia being held at Hotel
Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas. I got my shower, did
the cleaning and dressing of the wound on my foot, got dressed,
and Kitty and I got on the launcha to take us to
Hotel
Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas.
There is a German couple, Birgit and Andreas,
here at Monkey
Bay Marina, and they have decided to join us
for International Trivia. We left Monkey
Bay Marina, and went up to
Mar
Marine to pick up some additional
players. While waiting, we all saw a beautiful rainbow, which is
always a good sign. I am not sure of what, but a good sign!
Rainbow While Waiting At
Mar
Marine
We got the folks at Mar
Marine, and then headed upriver to
Hotel
Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas. The owner of
Hotel
Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas, Gary, was also our
launcha driver, so we were able to catch up on the news as Gary
and Gracella had just returned from a trip.
We arrived at Hotel
Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas, and got settled at
our table. We ordered dinner and some liquid refreshment, and
got into the Trivia game. Our team name is the “Howlers”,
because the four of us are from Monkey
Bay Marina. Monkey Bay is named as such
because of the Howler
Monkeys so prominent in the area.
The dinner, as always, was wonderful and
delicious. We all thoroughly enjoyed the International Trivia,
and that was because the “Howlers” won the night! The
competition was crushed!
As we were sitting around gloating over our
victory, I realized that the team was deserting me for the game
next week on August 6th, in which the “Howlers” are the quiz
masters.
Birgit and Andreas are heading off to the
interior of Guatemala to
do a Spanish immersion course. Kitty is leaving
Rio
Dulce for her trip to the states on the
noon Litegua bus
August 6th! I will be the lone quizmaster.
As we left Hotel
Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas, the other team
members assured me they would help get all the questions
together before they left. Gary was again the launcha driver and
took all of the player's home.
When we got back to DREAM AWAY, we opened up the
boat, changed clothes, and hit the sack.
July 31, 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.
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 did my announcement for the specials at
Backpacker’s
Hotel on the Rio
Dulce Cruisers net.
After breakfast, Kitty went up to the
ranchito to
do a couple of loads of laundry. I stayed on DREAM AWAY and got
busy taking sails off of the boat. We had the
spinnaker sail
in the forward cabin. I repacked the spinnaker into
a smaller sail bag, and put it out into the cockpit to be moved
back to our storage area in the shop.
Spinnaker Sail
In New Bag In The Cockpit
Next sail is the mizzen
sail to be removed. I took the sail
cover off, and removed the sail from the mizzen mast and boom.
Mizzen Sail Cover Removed Mizzen Sail Still On
I took the bagged spinnaker sail
and the unfolded mizzen sail up to the rancho,
so I could properly fold the mizzen sail and bag it for storage.
Unfolded Mizzen Sail In The
Rancho
Mizzen Sail Laid Out On The Floor Of The
Rancho
I got the mizzen sail folded properly, and put
into a bag and ready to be moved back to the
shop.
Folded Mizzen Sail In It’s Bag
I rolled the bagged mizzen sail and the
spinnaker sail
back to the shop and
put the sails up in our storage area after doing some
rearranging of stuff!
Sail On Trolley In Shop
Our Storage Area In The Shop
When I finished the sail project, I took a
shower, and cleaned and dressed the wound on my left foot.
Wound On My Left Foot
We had a social and working engagement scheduled
at 1400. Mar
Marine is trying out a Friday Fiesta
special. The are offering a chicken, beef or vegetarian taco for
Q10 each. They also have Pico de Gallo, Guacamole, Arroz con
Cilantro or Nachos for Q10 each. They were also having happy
hour drinks from 1400 to 1900.
The “Howlers” trivia team decided to go to
Mar
Marine, sample the new fare, and to work on
the trivia questions for this coming week. When we got to
Mar
Marine, Kitty, Birgit, Andreas, and myself
ordered our goodies and of course adult beverages of choice.
Working On Questions
We then set ourselves to the hard work. Kitty
also invited a newcomer, Daniel, over to join us while we ate
and worked on the questions.
The food arrived, looked great, and tasted
wonderful. Kitty had ordered the Pico de Gallo and Guacamole
with her meal, so we share that.
Our Food When It Arrived
As a sweet Kitty and Birgit ordered chocolate
ice cream. The ice cream came with cookies in it and drizzled
with chocolate sauce.
Ice Cream As It Arrived At The Table
We looked over our questions, and we were pretty
pleased with the results. All I have to do is type them into a
document and check the accuracy of the questions.
We finished up the meal, and headed back to
Monkey
Bay Marina. Just to add a bit of information
about our “Howler” teammates, Birgit and Andreas. As I said
previously, they are a German couple, and they are here on a
yacht with the name MUKTUK.
The blog is in German, but will give some idea of
their travels.
Kitty and I went back to DREAM AWAY, and I fixed
an adult beverage, and we took a reading break in the cockpit
until the sun went down. We then went down below and watched two
episodes of All
Creatures Great and Small, and then went on
to bed.
