Maintenance/Cruising Log - September 2015

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is started, I feed our two cats, Jillian and Jordan, and attempt to brush their beautiful coats.

I listened to the Rio Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the local news and events, and a good source of local information that matter to cruisers.

I did my announcement for the specials at Backpacker’s Hotel on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net.

After breakfast, I needed to go into town. I wanted to see if I could get some wax to mix with the Gelcoat. We also ran out of data on our USB modem, so I needed to stop at the TiGo store and purchase new modem.

I got into the tender, went upriver and docked at Bruno's. First stop was the TiGo store. I purchased a new modem for Q300, that includes 8 Gbyte of data. If I add data to my current modem, it costs Q300, but you only get 6 Gbytes of data.

Next stop was Comercial W&L. I purchased the wax for the Gelcoat, and some hangers for pictures that I needed for DREAM AWAY. That was as far north I went into town, so I turned around and started heading back to Bruno's.

I stopped at the Despensa Familiar and purchased some cat tuna, and some groceries, then it was on to the veggie stand to get some veggies. I was looking for a green leafy veggie, and found chard. It turned out to be wonderful when we cooked it for dinner. After the veggie stand I went to Ingrid's Tienda and purchased rum and wine. I was loaded up and done shopping, so it was back to Bruno's. I got into my tender, and went back to DREAM AWAY.

I docked the tender near DREAM AWAY. I unloaded the groceries, and put them away. I changed into my work clothes, and got back into the tender. I pulled it behind DREAM AWAY. I got my scrub brush and hose, and cleaned the stern of DREAM AWAY of all of the dead mayflies. There were hundreds of them all caught in the spider webs around the windows in the stern. When I finished the cleaning, I moved the tender to the dinghy dock, located between the main dock and the owners house.

Slowly I am trying to remove all of the new parts Kitty brought back from the states, that are on my work bench in the garage. She had brought a new Shurflo pump for the freshwater system, but I could not get the pump housing off of the motor.

One of the things that just frustrates me to no end. These pumps are sold for the marine environment, so they use stainless steel fasteners in mild steel. So I could not get the fasteners out of the housing. I had soaked the fasteners in AERO KROIL and even that had not loosened them.

At this time I decided to just put the pump in the freshwater system and check it out. When I put the pump into the system, it would not work! The pressure switch would not turn on. I messed with it for about 20 minutes, and gave up. I actually purchased this pump for the motor, as the motor on my second spare pump had failed.

I was able to break off the three screws holding the pump head to the motor. I removed the pump head with the bad pressure switch, and put one of my good spare pump heads on the new motor. I put this combination into my fresh water system and it performed perfectly. I removed the new pump, and now I had a good second spare fresh water pump.

I then took the bad pump head apart, and took all of the parts out of it I could use as spares. The parts I could not use got chucked.

I had purchased some picture hangers on my trip into town this morning, so I got to work on a photo in a frame that had fallen off one of the bulkheads in the aft cabin. The photo was held up with hook & loop patches. I put the new picture hanger on the frame. Kitty was taking a nap, so I was not able to put the framed photo back up on the bulkhead.

I had also purchased some coffee filters on the morning trip into town. To be useable in my coffee percolator, I have to drill a hole in the center of the filters, and then trim about 3/8" off of the top of the filters. I tackled that project next.

Another project that had been awaiting parts, and work, was my spare carburetor for the Yamaha outboard engine. The place where the float pin holds the float in place needed to be drilled out. I took the carburetor out to the shop with the proper drill bit. I got the carburetor set up on the drill press, and drilled out the hole.

I then took the carburetor back to DREAM AWAY, and verified the pin fit into the holes of the carburetor housing. Took a little work with a very small round file, but got the pin into the housing. With the pin fitting properly, I put on the float and needed valve. I put new gaskets on the float housing, and then all new gaskets on the fuel pump. Now I had a rebuilt spare carburetor. I just had to test it!

With the carburetor finished, and untested, I fixed an adult beverage, got my shower stuff, and Kitty and I went up to the rancho for a nice reading break. After about 30 minutes, I went off to take a shower. I came back to the rancho for another reading break. Pretty soon Birgit and Andreas came in and we had a nice visit. When it started getting dark and the bugs came out, we went to our respective boats.

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 went out to the tender with my newly rebuilt carburetor to test it out. I removed the original carburetor, and installed the spare. I started the engine, and adjusted the idle. I took the tender out for a test drive. The spare carburetor was OK, but did not get up to as high a speed as it should. I did not have the time to check it out further now. I went back to Monkey Bay Marina, and put the original carburetor back on the engine.

Next project, is the wind vane at the top of the main mast. The current wind vane did not operate properly, and needed to be changed out. I had a spare wind vane that had been sitting on the work bench in the garage for several weeks. I wanted to get it moved! There is also a man here on the river that does electronic repairs, and I wanted to get mine repaired before he left the river.

I got all of the stuff prepared and had Kitty enlisted to help me up and down the mast. I got the spare wind vane and some tools in a bucket and attached to the spinnaker halyard so I could get the bucket up to the top of the mast after I get up there.

I got into my bosun's chair, and connected to the main halyard. Even though I have steps to climb up the mast, I still like to use the bosun's chair. Kitty can tie me off at the top of the mast, and I am able to use two hands to do work.

While I climb up the mast steps, Kitty is taking up the slack in the main halyard. Once at the top of the main mast, she ties off the halyard on a cleat, and then I can work. After Kitty tied me off, I replace the wind vane. To be sure I had Kitty turn on the instruments, and make sure the wind instrument worked. It worked great, so I cam back down the mast. Kitty went below, and I put all the tools, material and halyards away.

Now I had to get busy with the cockpit hatch project. This was not on my "leak" project list, but while I was working on the aft cabin deck and hatch project, I noticed some rot around the hinge for the starboard cockpit hatch. The rot had to be repaired, and the water to cause the rot was getting in somewhere.

I had already removed the starboard cockpit hatch, and took it back to the shop. I had cut out a piece of 3/4" plywood to fit over the hole to try and keep bugs and rain out of the boat while I work on the hatch, and the area around the hatch.

So now I started to dig out the hardened sealant, and the rotten wood. There is a lot more rotten wood, than I had hoped. I dug out all of the rotten wood. I will have to shore up the wood with finishing putty. Once I get the putty to seal all of the wood, I will mix up some of my Smith's penetrating epoxy, and soak all of the remaining wood around the finishing putty. I will probably have to drill some holes in the wood, to get the Smith's penetrating epoxy in places around where the rot is.

This is the third time I have had to do this to one or both of the cockpit hatches or seats. Kitty and I talked about it, and we have put it on the long term project list. We will replace all of the wood in the cockpit with fiberglass. That will stop any possible leaks, and no more wood maintenance!

It was getting late, so I put off the application of the finishing putty until tomorrow. Earlier in the day, I had removed the covers from two of the main cabin cushions, and we had washed them. They were now dry, so I put the covers back over the foam and put the cushions back into place.

Kitty was up and around, so I put the framed photo I had worked on yesterday back up with a screw in the bulkhead. I am pretty sure it will not fall down again.

We were invited to Birgit and Andreas boat, MUKTUK for drinks and a tour of their yacht. I was looking forward to the tour, as MUKTUK is a steel schooner built for the high latitudes.

I went and took a much needed shower. When I came back to DREAM AWAY I fixed an adult beverage for myself, and ice water for Kitty. We then headed down the dock to MUKTUK. As we were walking towards the west we were treated to a beautiful sunset. Of course I took several photos.

We made our way to MUKTUK, and went below. The main cabin is at the stern, so there is lots of room. We had a great visit, and Andreas made a great snack. The snack was made of dough and cheese. It was like a blintz, but the literal translation from the German is windblows! Birgit and Andreas said the translation makes no sense. Bottom line the snack tasted wonderful and we all enjoyed them.

We got the tour of MUKTUK, and it is a great purpose built boat. It is built for the high latitudes, in fact when the boat was for sale and Andreas first went to look at it, it was in Ushuaia, Argentina!

We had a great visit, and we finally left to go back to DREAM AWAY and have dinner. They are a wonderful couple, and we enjoy visiting with them.

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.

Good work day, but I did not take any photos during the work day nor during our pot luck in the afternoon to celebrate German Unity Day.

Yesterday I had dug out all of the rotten wood I could get to in the starboard cockpit hatch area. Now it was time to fill all of the gaps with finishing putty. I put two big globs of the putty on my work board. I added and mixed the cream hardener to one of the globs of the putty and applied it to the bad area around the cockpit hatch. I added the cream hardener to the second glob of putty and applied it to the same area.

I cleaned up the area, and put all of the tools and materials away, and went out to the shop. Yesterday I had suspended the ships wheel from the roof of the shop, so I was ready to begin work on it. The wheel is not in bad shape, it just needs three or four maintenance coats of Cetol Marine Natural Teak finish to get the wheel looking sharp again.

I got out a sheet of #220 Grit sandpaper, and went over the entire wheel with the sandpaper. When I finished, I went over the wheel with the tack rag, and that removed all of the sanding dust and any other residue. I used one of my strainers, and poured a small amount of the Cetol Marine Natural Teak finish into a separate container. I then applied the finish to the wheel. It took some time, as the wheel has lots of separate parts, and they are almost all round.

When I finished applying the finish to the wheel, I cleaned up the brush, containers and the area, and went back to DREAM AWAY. I needed to get a shower and get ready for the celebration this afternoon. The plan is to start cooking on the grill in the outdoor kitchen at 1500, so I needed to get going.

I was making pork kabobs. I had been marinating the pork for two days so I was ready. Kitty was working in the galley making some baked beans, and also cooking an Angel Food cake. I gathered up the box of pork, some onions, tomatoes, and peppers, and all of the extra cooking stuff I would need and headed up to the outdoor kitchen. Once there I prepared the kabobs, and got ready to put them on the grill.

It was a great meal and I believe everyone enjoyed the occasion of German Unity Day, and the good food. I have already mentioned what we brought to the occasion.

Christina and Reinhard off of BONOBO brought German potato salad of course, and a large plate of Wiener Schnitzel, that was wonderful. Birgit and Andreas off of MUKTUK baked some rye bread which was delicious, and they made some meat sausages with roasted eggplant, called Mititei. They also made an eggplant spread for the bread, Salata de Vinete, which was very good. Art and Elana off of GOOD KARMA made some typical Russian Pierogi's that were stuffed with cabbage, and were excellent.

Everyone ate their fill, and we had lots of leftovers. We all took something home with us to enjoy the next day.

I had found the film, Around Cape Horn by Captain Irving Johnson as a video file on my computer. We decided Kitty and I, and Birgit And Andreas, and Christian and Reinhard would all get together and watch the film on the DVD player in the rancho. The film itself is wonderful because it was made in 1929 while Captain Irving Johnson sailed on the bark Peking.

What started all of this about older sailing ships, was that I had mentioned to Birgit and Andreas, that I had married some good friends of ours on the tall ship Elissa. They told us they were married on the tall ship Passat, which is located in Lubeck.

What makes this all interesting is both the Peking and the Passat are sister ships and they both sailed under the same company, the German Flying P Line. That made watching the film, Around Cape Horn, all the more interesting.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is started, I feed our two cats, Jillian and Jordan , and attempt to brush their beautiful coats.

Did not have the Rio Dulce Cruisers net this morning, because it is Sunday.

Right after a small breakfast of fruit, we got into the tender, and went over to MAR Marine for the monthly swap meet, or flea market. Kitty found two packages of movie DVD's for Q20 each, so she purchased them.

When we returned to Monkey Bay Marina, we stopped in the ranchito, so Kitty could look over her find. Lots of good movies, but we found one entitled "Captain Bob In Paradise". We were intrigued, because Birgit and Andreas were just yesterday, telling us about a Captain Bob they had met in the Canary Islands. The Captain Bob they had met had sailed around the world alone. We agreed to get together later in the afternoon, and watch the DVD together in the rancho.

The remainder of the day was not very exciting day. Worked all day on the computer. Caught up on many computer related issues, and worked a lot on the Maintenance/Cruising Log but did not get current.

We all got together in the rancho, Kitty and I, Christina and Reinhard, and Birgit and Andreas after we all had showers and were pretty relaxed. It turns out the Captain Bob on the DVD was Bob Bitchin. The name of the film on the DVD was, Captain Bob: Other People's Paradise. It was a good film, with some great photos. It was interesting that the boat boy on Dominica that Captain Bob used, was the same one used by Birgit and Andreas. Small World.

After the film, we asked if anyone had seen the film Captain Ron, which for us is a sailor's cult movie. No one had heard of it, so Kitty went down to DREAM AWAY, and got our Captain Ron DVD. We all watched that film, and everyone loved it. After that Kitty and I went back to DREAM AWAY to have dinner, and then hit the sack.

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. I also made the announcement of the Monday special at Hotel Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas.

Today after breakfast I got started on sanding and scraping the finishing putty from around the starboard cockpit hatch area. I also drilled some holes into the teak wood where the rotten wood used to be. I will use the holes in the wood to inject large amounts of Smith's penetrating epoxy into the teak wood.

When I finished all of the sanding, scraping and drilling of holes in the teak wood, I got out the shop-vac we have on board, and cleaned up all of the debris. I then mixed up a batch of Smith's penetrating epoxy. Using a plastic syringe, I injected as much Smith's penetrating epoxy as I could into the holes around the cockpit hatch and also some areas where the sealant between the pieces of teak wood had hardened, and I had removed the sealant. Once the epoxy was injected, I had to let the epoxy set up. I also had some help from my trusted sidekick, Jordie.

I cleaned up the area, and put all of the tools and material away, and went out to the shop. I got out all I needed to apply the second coat of Cetol Marine Natural Teak to the wheel. I wiped down the wheel with the tack rag, and then applied the second coat to the wheel.

I cleaned up from that project, fixed and adult beverage and went and had a shower. Went to the outdoor kitchen, and cooked my butterfly whole chicken and cooked beets in the pressure cooker. The chicken and beets turned out wonderfully, and Kitty and I ate dinner up in the rancho.

After we cleaned up, we went back to DREAM AWAY with the left overs and watched some TV before going to bed.

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.

This morning I am filling in on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net as the net controller. I gathered the weather for the Fronteras, Guatemala area, and I also have the latest tides at the Livingston sand bar. I reported this information to the Net, and then guided the Net through the several categories before we finished. Kitty was a great help writing down boat names and telephone numbers, so we could refer to that information if requested.

I did my announcement for the specials at Backpacker’s Hotel on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net also.

First item after breakfast was a trip into town. Kitty did not want to go because of the heat, but Christina off of BONOBO needed some grocery items, so she went with me. Went we walked down the dock to get into the tender, but it was full of dead Mayflies! I told Christina we would be delayed about 15 minutes while I cleaned out the tender. She checked her dinghy, and she had the same problem!

I got the tender cleaned out, and we headed into town and docked at Bruno's. Our first stop was a carniceria at the north end of town. This particular carniceria, Rancho Grande, had been recommended to us by Birgit and Andreas, and I was anxious to give it a try. I purchased 1 pound of ground meat with 10% fat. The plan is to make hamburgers, and see how that goes.

From the carniceria Rancho Grande, we walked back into town and stopped at the Despensa Familiar, as both Christina needed some groceries there. Next stop was a man on the street that sells fresh pork. This man was also recommended to us by Birgit and Andreas, so I wanted to give it a try. The meat looked very fresh and good, so I purchased 1 pound of fresh pork. If the meat turns out to be good, I am hoping to get some ribs from him one day, and give it a try.

Next stop was the my normal veggie stand to purchase some fruits and veggies. From there I went to the fresh chicken lady in the plastic alley and purchased a whole chicken. It was late, so she was out of chicken livers, which was a disappointment. We left the chicken lady, and went back to Bruno's

We got into the tender, and made our way back to the Marina. I got all of the groceries, meat, fruits and veggies on Board DREAM AWAY, and with Kitty's help, got them all put away.

I changed into my work clothes, and got ready to put the teak wood bungs into the holes I had drilled into the cockpit hatch area. The Smith's penetrating epoxy I had injected into the holes, had set up and left the holes empty, and now needed to be filled with the teak wood bungs.

I got out all the material I would need to do the project. The first thing I did was to dry fit the holes to be sure the teak wood bungs would fit in each hole. When I made sure each hole was ready, I mixed up a pot of epoxy, and epoxied a teak wood bung into each hole.

After I got all of the teak wood bungs put into the holes, I mixed some teak dust into the epoxy to thicken it, and to give the epoxy the teak wood color. When I got that mixed up, I applied the mixture to one of the galley cutting boards that had a split in it. I used a pipe clamp to clamp it together.

I also applied this thickened epoxy to the top and sides if each bungs that I installed. This insures that any spaces around the bungs gets filled. I also applied the mixture to a channel between pieces of teak wood that had a lot of rot cleaned out.

I cleaned up all of the tools and material from this project, and got started on another project that needed to be accomplished. A couple of days ago, I had purchased 10 gallons of diesel fuel, and 5 gallons of gasoline. I mixed the two cycle oil with the gasoline, and poured the 10 gallons of diesel fuel into the starboard fuel tank on DREAM AWAY.

I finished that project, and cleaned up all of the tools and material I had out, and went and took a shower. When I came back, I started in working on the Maintenance/Cruising Logs.

Later we had a nice dinner and watched a couple of episodes of All Creatures Great And Small, and then went to bed.

Even before getting my coffee started this morning, there was a beautiful sunrise, so of course it had to be recorded!

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.

One other part of my normal ritual, is I go out and sit in the cockpit, sip on that first cup of coffee, work on my computer, and keep an eye on our two felines Jillian and Jordan. If they decide they want to "escape" the boat, it is normally this time of day and it is usually Jordan who gets off of DREAM AWAY.

This morning as I looked up from my computer work, I noticed Jilly had jumped up and onto the hummer grill on the stern of the boat. from the grill, she jumped up on the awning, and decided that was not a good move, so she jumped down on the mizzen sail cover. I do not have the mizzen sail on DREAM AWAY at this time, so the sail cover is very slippery. She realized she was stuck, so I went back and rescued her.

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 checked the area around the starboard cockpit hatch, and the thickened epoxy I had applied yesterday had set up. I got out my electric sander, and sanded down all of the teak wood bungs put into the holes. I sanded them all even with the teak wood around the cockpit hatch.

I got out our shop-vac, and vacuumed all of the dust I had made. I then masked off the areas around the starboard cockpit hatch, and applied the black sealant into the channels. I smoothed out the sealant, and removed the masking tape to allow the sealant to dry.

I cleaned up from that project, and headed back to the shop with a load of scrappers, sandpaper, sander and a file. I got started on scrapping all of the varnish off of the grate for the floor of the head. There is some small places where rot is starting, so I am taking it all down to the bare wood and soaking it with the Smith's penetrating epoxy.

I also noticed a small soft spot on the underside surface of the starboard cockpit hatch. I scrapped away all of the rotten wood, until I got to good wood. I looked on the topside of the hatch and I cannot see any place where water could be soaking in.

I decided to try a reverse process. I poured into the bad area of the cockpit hatch some acetone, and filled up the hole. I did not see any sign of leakage on the topside of the hatch, but I will wait and see.

While waiting for the acetone to soak into the wood and dry out the water or come through to the top side of the hatch. I started scrapping the varnish off of the head deck grating. The grating is made of teak wood. It is very difficult to get all of the old varnish off of the grating.

Before leaving the shop, I got the cutting board I repaired yesterday, and sanded it down so it was useable again.

When I went back to DREAM AWAY, I fixed an adult beverage, and got my shower bag, and went and had a shower. We enjoyed a nice dinner, and watched a couple of episodes of All Creatures Great And Small.

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.

Next item on my list, is something I needed to do, and it would involve an experiment. The Gelcoat that I had purchased here locally, and applied to the deck of the aft cabin did not kick off for several days. Because of the delay, lots of dirt and trash had accumulated on the surface. When I did some research, and some previous experience played a part also, I knew I needed to mix wax with the Gelcoat before application.

If you want to know all of the chemical reasons for the wax, you are welcomed to do some research on it, but for now I knew I needed to add wax to the mixture. I had purchased some wax locally, so I was very anxious to experiment with the wax added to the Gelcoat, to make sure the mixture would kick off in a couple of hours or less depending on the amount of catalyst added to the mixture.

I have on the back of DREAM AWAY what I call my aft deck box. This is used for storage of lines, anchors, rode, propane tanks, and lost of stuff. What is sometimes confusing, is there are actually two deck boxes in the aft deck box. What I have cleverly named the forward aft deck box and the aft aft deck box?

Now onto the purpose of all this explanation. The underside of the lids of the aft and forward aft deck box are both heavily covered with mold and mildew. The underside of the aft aft deck box lid is half white and yellow, from a previous Gelcoat experiment.

I wanted to remove the two lids, one at a time, and use them for my Gelcoat experiment. I removed the aft aft deck box lid, and laid it out on the dock for cleaning. I then got out one of my plastic tarps and covered the aft aft deck box to protect it from the rain.

After getting the tarp over the aft deck box, I mixed up a very strong solution of bleach and water, and scrubbed the aft aft deck box lid with a brush. I poured more of the bleach solution on the lid and let it set in the sun.

I then went back to the shop with my sack of scrapers, sand paper, sander and file so I could continue on with the removing of the varnish from the head deck grating.

While I was working in the shop, a single male howler monkey came very near, so I had to try and get some good photos.

During the whole afternoon, I was smelling the piece of pork I had purchased from the street vendor in town. Kitty had rubbed it down with garlic powder, and then made a sauce of balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. She put the piece of pork and the sauce in the slow cooker around noon. We put the slow cooker up in the outdoor kitchen so I could keep an eye on it, but the smell as it was cooking was wonderful!

When I went back to DREAM AWAY to get my shower bag and go take a shower, Kitty came back with me and added a cinnamon and brown sugar sauce to the pork. I went and took a shower, and the pork cooked for another hour.

We had the pork for dinner and it was delicious. Our only complaint was that the pork was a bit tough, but that is not the first time we had had that problem.

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 I had planned to work on the computer all, catching up on the maintenance logs, financial paperwork, and to spend time on the Internet doing research. I need to look into our health insurance and make some changes. Neither Medicare or our supplemental policy covers us outside the USA. So we are paying huge premiums on health insurance we do not use, and I have to pay out of pocket for all our medical expenses in Guatemala.

You know how those plans go! We had a power failure last night around 2300, and did not get power back until 1500 today. No computer work done. I ended up working in the shop all day.

After breakfast, I gathered up my tools and materials, and headed out to the shop. The first item on the list is to run my Gelcoat test on the aft deck box lid. As mentioned previously, the underside of the aft deck box lid had been used in a previous experiment with yellow Gelcoat. If this experiment goes well, I will completely cover the underside of the aft deck box lid with white Gelcoat.

First item is to get the underside and the topside of the lid clean, free of dust and dirt, and any rough places sanded down smooth. I then wiped down both sides of the lid with acetone. When that had dried, I wiped down both sides of the lid with the tack rag.

The deck box lid was now ready for the Gelcoat application. I mixed up a 100 ML of the Gelcoat, and 5 ML of wax, 10 ML of acetone to act as a thinner, and 1 ML of catalyst. I thoroughly mixed it all up and applied it to the top and the bottom of the aft deck box lid. Time will tell how the experiment went.

With the Gelcoat experiment well under way I got back into the scraping of all of the varnish off of the grating from the head. I had completed the cleaning of the varnish off of the bottom side, so now I had to complete the top side. I got the top side completely clear of varnish. The grating is now ready for the Smith's penetrating epoxy application.

I got all of my tools put into the carry bag, and all of my material put away. I swept down the shop so it is nice and neat, and went back to DREAM AWAY with the carry bag. Made an adult beverage, and took a shower. When I returned, I made some hamburgers from the ground beef I had purchased from the carniceria. They turned out to be very tasty, and they had enough fat in them, they held together very well.

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 went into town to do some grocery shopping, and some chemicals for DREAM AWAY. I docked the tender at Bruno's, and headed down to the concrete mall. I went into Comercial W&L, and purchased a gallon of acetone. I walked across the mall to Pintorsa, and purchased some strainers, and a quart of two part polyurethane paint.

I then walked back toward town and stopped at the Despensa Familiar to do some grocery shopping. As I was walking out, I ran into the honey lady. This is a lady that sells local honey on the street. The honey is in old liquor bottles, but the honey is great. I had not seen her in some time, so I was running low on honey. I purchased two bottles, then went to my veggie stand.

I purchased some veggies and a papaya, and went back to the tender at Bruno's. I loaded my purchases and headed back to DREAM AWAY. When I got back the Casa Guatemala food boat arrived, so I made some purchases from it.

Kitty and I had a bite of lunch, and then I got into the tender and headed up river to RAM Marine to check on TANTALUS for Nicola & Noel and to check on SERENITY for Paul. When I first arrived, I went to the office to ask the manager, Karen, if Paul's drip-less seal had arrived. It had not, and she said to check back in two weeks. I signed out the key to Paul's boat.

I left the office and went to TANTALUSfirst. I had one of my wooden hatches with me to see if it would fit on a hatch frame on TANTALUS. It did not, so that was a bit of a bummer. I went down below on TANTALUS, and verified their new prop was safe and sound. While there I also checked the bilge. There was a very small amount of water in the bilge, but nothing to worry about.

I locked up TANTALUS, and verified their dinghy had not gone walk about. I moved the ladder from TANTALUS over to SERENITY. I climbed on on deck and then unlocked the boat and went below to check for any problems. I had forgot a flashlight, but I took a photo of the bilge. No significant amount of water. No problems noticed.

I locked up SERENITY, and took the key back to the office. I left RAM Marine, and went back to DREAM AWAY. It was late, so I could not start any projects, so I took a shower, and took the remainder of the day off. Kitty and I enjoyed reading and staying cool, while in the cockpit.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is started, I feed our two cats, Jillian and Jordan , and attempt to brush their beautiful coats.

Did not have the Rio Dulce Cruisers net this morning, because it is Sunday.

After breakfast, I got all my stuff together and went out to the shop to continue work on the head grate and the aft dock box lid.

First item on the list is to apply the dye to the top of the head grate. I affectionately call this dye "agent orange"! It is an orange dye I use on all of the teak wood on DREAM AWAY. It is an attempt to get all of the teak wood the same color. Does not always work, but overall the impression is all of the wood is close to the same color. I am getting low on the dye, so I saw no use in applying the dye to the bottom of the grate, although some did leak through.

While the dye was drying on the grate, I mixed up a batch of the Smith's penetrating epoxy. I had to apply some to the bad spot in the cockpit hatch, and I wanted to apply a good soaking coat to the underside of the head grate. It does not take very long for the dye to dry, so after I applied the Smith's penetrating epoxy to the hatch bad spot, I applied the Smith's penetrating epoxy to the underside of the head grate.

The Gelcoat experiment on the aft deck box hatch lid seems to have worked, so I decided to cover the yellow area on the underside of the hatch. I mixed up another batch of Gelcoat with the 5 ML of wax, and applied it to topside and the underside of the aft deck box hatch lid

Last DREAM AWAY project for the day is to apply the third coat of Cetol Marine Natural Teak to the helm wheel.

I cleaned up the brushes, and put away all of the material in the shop, and went back to DREAM AWAY. I got my shower, and Kitty and I got dressed. We are going to Backpackers Hotel for a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner.

I will try and give a short background here on Backpackers Hotel and the tie in with the Casa Guatemala orphanage. The children that live and are educated at the Casa Guatemala orphanage, as they get older, become employees of the Backpackers Hotel. At the hotel they learn a trade and gain valuable experience in the tourist industry, so they will be employable when they leave the orphanage. The director of the orphanage and the hotel is Heather, and she is a Canadian by birth. So that is why she is putting on the Canadian Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings and your choice of apple or pumpkin pie, with whipped cream for dessert!

We jumped into our tender, and went up river to Backpackers Hotel. We were surprised, and pleased at the size of the crowd. In the end they were between 35 and 40 attendee's, almost all of them cruisers. We all enjoyed a wonderful meal. I had the pumpkin pie, and Kitty had the apple pie, so we each had a taste of the two offerings.

One of the cruisers, Sandy, off of BONNIE, helped with the cooking and also did the homemade apple pie. Sandy has a sideline business, where she cooks to go meals during the week. They are all wonderful and very tasty.

Several pictures follow that show the attendees, Heather as a server, the great meal, and the desserts.

It was a great meal, and we were all full. We also enjoyed visiting with all of the cruisers at our table. It was getting dark, and we do not like to be out on the river at night, so we said our goodbye's, and went back to DREAM AWAY. We watched an episode of Poirot, and an episode of All Creatures Great And Small. We then went to bed very satisfied and relaxed.

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. I also made the announcement of the Monday special at Hotel Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas.

Today turned out to be a catch up day. I worked all day on the computer. I worked on catching up Maintenance/Cruising logs, and financial stuff, and filing of electronic paper work. I also did a lot of research on our medical plans and health insurance.

I used the on-line chat feature to try and get as much information as possible. When I finally got to the bottom line, HP does not offer any insurance plans that will cover medical issues outside the USA. Of course neither does Medicare.

To keep the tone of a catch up day, our dinner consisted of what we call "must go downs". That is left overs! It was accompanied by a nice fresh avocado and tomato salad. We actually watched two episodes of Poirot, and then went to bed.

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.

This morning I am filling in on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net as the net controller. I gathered the weather for the Fronteras, Guatemala area, and I also have the latest tides at the Livingston sand bar. I reported this information to the Net, and then guided the Net through the several categories before we finished. Kitty was a great help writing down boat names and telephone numbers, so we could refer to that information if requested.

I did my announcement for the specials at Backpacker’s Hotel on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net.

The Gelcoat experiment seems to have been good. The aft deck box lid that I had applied the Gelcoat to yesterday had kicked off very well. Today the plan is to install that lid back on the aft deck box and remove the forward aft deck box lid.

First item is to remove the tarp from around the aft deck box. Then fit the lid to the frame, install the hardware and all of the fasteners, and it is back in place. Sounds easy, but it took about an hour to accomplish the task!

Now all I had to do was the reverse process on the forward aft deck box. I removed all of the fasteners and all of the hardware, and removed the lid and turned it upside down. You can see how the mold and mildew builds up.

I took the lid out to the shop, as I planned to work on the lid later or more likely tomorrow.

The next project is one I had put off way too long. I needed to check out the SCUBA Compressor. I had a SCUBA tank that only had 2000 PSI of air in it. John, the Monkey Bay Marina manager, also had a SCUBA tank that was empty. So it seemed like the stars were in alignment.

When I checked my SCUBA log book, the last time I had used the SCUBA compressor was 06-15-09! I was not very hopeful. I checked the oil and it was topped off. I took the cover off of the drive belt so I could turn over the compressor by hand to get some oil up into the cylinders.

I connected the hose and pressure gauge to the SCUBA Compressor, and the other end of the hose to the SCUBA tank. I also put on the air extension tubes which suck air into the compressor about three feet above the compressor. This is to make sure we get good clean air into the compressor.

When I had everything connected, I had Kitty help me by turning on and off the SCUBA Compressor. I had run #8 AC voltage triplex wire out to the compressor, and had a circuit breaker for the SCUBA Compressor on the panel, but no off/on switch at the compressor. I was going to monitor the SCUBA Compressor and the SCUBA tank while Kitty turned the power on or off at the panel.

Before attempting to fill the SCUBA tank, I ran a quick test. I closed the air valve to the SCUBA tank, and had Kitty turn on the SCUBA Compressor. With the valve closed the pressure built up to the 3200 PSI very quickly, and the check valve actuated. This caused the air being compressed to vent rather than go into the SCUBA tank. At this time Kitty switched off the circuit breaker. This was how it was supposed to work, so I was very happy, and felt confident about filling my SCUBA tank.

My SCUBA tank that I was topping off, has 2000 PSI of air in it, so hopefully it would not take long to bring it up to the 3200 PSI. I opened the valve to the SCUBA tank, and then had Kitty actuate the circuit breaker. The pressure started building, and as expected at 3200 PSI the check valve actuated.

Hard to see the numbers in the photo, but you can tell air is going because the pressure is reading 2500 PSI!in

I removed my filled tank and went looking for John, the Monkey Bay Marina manager. I had promised to fill two SCUBA tanks for him. He was off in town, and I did not want to bother him, so I decided I would fill his tanks tomorrow.

I went back to DREAM AWAY, and put all of the hoses, cables and parts needed to run the SCUBA Compressor away. I then put the cover back over the SCUBA Compressor.

Kitty had closed up DREAM AWAY so she could run the air conditioner, and do some cleaning of the interior. I got out scrub brush, bucket and hose, and did a complete wash down of the exterior Of DREAM AWAY. When I finished, I went below to take a break and get some ice water.

When I was drinking my ice water, that is when Kitty told me she had received an email from Jodie, who runs the International Trivia games. Jody is delaying her return to the Rio for at least 10 more days, and would we volunteer to run the International Trivia for this week on October 15, 2015.

We thought about it, and decided why, not?? We would have to decide where to have the game, and we would also be the quiz masters. We are friends with Gary and Graciella who own Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas hotel and restaurant here on the Rio Dulce. Kitty called them and they were more than happy to host the International Trivia games for two weeks.

Kitty and I felt that finding a place for the games was the hard part, and now that was done! It was late in the day, so we fixed an adult beverage, and went out into the cockpit to relax.

As we were sitting in the cockpit, the sun was going down and leaving some unusual colors on the clouds, so I had to take a picture.

I got my shower stuff together, and went up and had a wonderful shower. On the way back to DREAM AWAY, I saw John, and told him I was ready to fill his two SCUBA tanks. He said great, and went and got both tanks, and put them on the dock by DREAM AWAY. When I returned to DREAM AWAY, I got the stuff I would need to grill pork chops for dinner, and headed up to the outdoor kitchen. I grilled the pork chops, and Kitty and I had a nice relaxing dinner, and finished off the evening with two episodes of All Creatures Great And Small.

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.

I did the announcement that we would definitely be having International Trivia tomorrow in the evening at Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas. I also went over how to contact us to arrange for a launcha.

Our next project was to help Julia unpack and repack mattresses and blankets that had been purchased with the proceeds from the chili cook-off. A local woman named Rita, had purchased 40 mattresses, and two boxes of blankets. The problem was the mattresses were wrapped two to a package, and the blankets were separate. We had to unpack the mattresses, then separate the two mattresses, add a blanket to each mattress, then roll the mattress back up, and put them into individual bags for transport to the village of Sumach.

Kitty and I left Monkey Bay Marina in our tender, headed up river and docked at Bruno's. This is where the work is to be performed. Rita got us into the storeroom, but she had to return to her office.

It was myself, Kitty, Julia, and a friend of Julia's from Hungary doing the labor. The mattresses are to be delivered tomorrow, so it was important we get the job done today. Once we got set up, and everyone had a function, it went very smooth, and we had it done in about an hour and a half.

These photos are not very good, as I cleverly forgot to bring my camera, and we had to depend on Kitty's iPhone camera, which does not take close to quality pictures.

We knew we would be in town with the mattress project, so we wrapped that around grocery and veggie shopping. I took off to the veggie stand and purchased fruit and veggies. Then it was Despensa Familiar to purchase groceries. I finished there and went to Ingrid's Tienda. On my way there, I came across a woman on the street selling grapefruit. She was selling 4 grapefruit for Q5, so I purchased 20 grapefruit! When I got to Ingrid's Tienda, I purchased wine there and met Kitty. We walked back to Bruno's with all of our purchases, and headed over to the BONNIE.

A woman named Sandy lives on the S/Y BONNIE, and prepares take away meals for Q25, that are reputed to be excellent. Today we decided to give it a try as she advertised chicken pot pie. We stopped by, and purchased two.

As we left BONNIE, it started to rain, and it really rained all the way back to DREAM AWAY. On top of that problem, the rain, the engine on the tender decided it was time to act up and quit! I coaxed it back home, but Kitty and I were soaked by the time we got to DREAM AWAY.

We got back aboard with all of our purchases, and out of our wet clothes, dried off, and into dry clothes. Of course by that time the rain had stopped, and the sun came out! We put all of our purchases away, and then hung the carry bags out to dry. We sat down and throughly enjoyed the chicken pot pie. It was a delicious late lunch!

After lunch, I gave some of the trivia questions I had left over from previous games, and gave them to Kitty. She is going to work on formatting them, and to generate some questions of her own. I am going out to set up the SCUBA Compressor to fill John's two SCUBA tanks.

I got the cover off of the compressor, and got the high pressure hose and valve connected to the first of John's SCUBA tanks. After I turned on the circuit breaker, the SCUBA Compressor came on, but it would not build up any pressure in the tank. I did some looking around, and I discovered a hole in the side of the valve on top of the tank. This tank could not be filled.

I changed it out for John's second tank, and got it all connected to the SCUBA Compressor. I turned on the circuit breaker, and discovered a leak on the second tank. This problem was fixable, as the O-Ring on the tank valve was dry rotted. I had a couple of spares, so I just replaced it. After that the tank filled up with no problems. It was stamped on the side of the tank 3000 PSI, so that is all I put into it.

Because forcing the compressed air into the SCUBA tank causes a lot of heat in the tank, I put the tank in a bucket of "cold" water, which helps keep the temperature of the tank lower, and lets it fill quicker.

I put away all of the hoses, the gauge, bucket and the tools. I put the cover back over the SCUBA Compressor, and got everything secured. I took John's two tanks back up to the ranchito.

Kitty had done a great job on the trivia questions. We still needed a couple more questions, and we wanted to verify the answers, but we decided to put that off until tomorrow! We fixed an adult beverage, and relaxed in the cockpit before getting our showers. Kitty also mentioned that we had four cruisers signed up for the game tomorrow evening.

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.

I did the announcement that we would definitely be having International Trivia tonight in the evening at Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas. I also went over how to contact us to arrange for a launcha, and that we would be announcing the launcha pickup schedule on the radio at 1400 on channel 68.

After breakfast, Kitty got to work on the trivia pickup schedules as we were getting lots of folks calling in. I went out to the shop to have a look at the cockpit hatch. I looked very close, and found some more rotten wood areas. I scrapped out the rotten wood, and poured a lot of acetone onto the area, to dry it out and see if any comes through to the top.

I had no leak through with the acetone, so I went back to DREAM AWAY. We were still getting calls on the phone and radio about folks wanting to join us for International Trivia, so we could not work on the launcha schedule until after noon. That was the cut off time we had announced.

Kitty and I worked on getting the 12 questions we needed, plus the bonus question, and just in case a tie breaker ready for tonight. When we got all of the questions, Kitty worked on formatting, and I verified that all of the answers were correct. We also had over half the questions as multiple choice. To make sure there were no hints, we listed all of the choices on the multiple choice questions in alphabetical or numerical order!

Kitty and I finalized the questions and the format. We then printed out seven copies of each question, the bonus question, and the tie breaker. We did this in case we had seven teams tonight. We cut the questions up so we had a packet of seven copies of each question.

After noon we had a final count of International Trivia participants, so we called Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas, and got the launcha schedule for the pickups worked out. At 1400, we announced the schedule on channel 68 on the VHF radio. That is the good news. Also at 1400, it started to rain, and wow, did it rain.

While the rain was coming down, I discovered another leak on DREAM AWAY that will have to be repaired. The hose from the cockpit drain to the thru-hull fitting had come loose and exposed a split in the fiberglass cockpit drain. Nothing to do now while it is pouring rain.

At 1630, when the launcha picked us up, it was still raining! What a great group. Even though it was still pouring all the way up to Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas everyone that had said they would come, did.

It was a great night, we had 18 local cruisers participate, and some of the guests at Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas got three teams together so we had a total of 30 folks. The questions, I guess were pretty easy, and at the end of the game we had three teams tied. It was the third tie breaker, that finally decided the winning team, The Armadillos!

We all had a great meal, and a great time. When Gary brought us all back to our marina's it was still pouring rain. It kept that up until 0200 the next morning. When we got back to the marina, I had to pump out the tender, as it was ready to capsize. John had already pumped it out once before we returned.

I have pictures of some of the teams, and I hope I remember the correct names. You can see from the photos, there are signs of the rain!

Kitty and I got out of our wet clothes, and dried off. Nothing else to do but go to bed and read!

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 needed to get to work on the flange for the cockpit drain. Initially it seems like the hose has come loose, so hopefully, all I have to do is slide the hose back up over the flange and tighten the hose clamps. Just in case I run into a problem and it starts to rain with the hose completely removed, I decided to cover the outside of the drain in the cockpit with duct tape.

I cleaned up the area around the drain, and applied the duct tape to the surface around the drain.

This whole project was a down hill slide! Between the engine room, and the floor of the cockpit is an area for storage. Two drawers and two drop down doors in the galley for access to this area, and three drawers and a drop down door on the garage side. The aft most of these storage areas is where the cockpit drains are located. One on the galley side, the other on the garage side.

When I cleared all of the stuff out on the galley side, to gain access to the hose on the cockpit drain, I noticed the shelf was collapsing. Not a big problem on the galley side, but on the garage side, I have the storage area filled with pumps, compressors, alternators and other critical spares. I certainly did not want the shelf to break and all of the stuff fall into the engine room. Now I have an additional project in addition to the leak project.

To be on the safe side, I decided to move all of the pumps, compressors, alternators and other critical spares to the forward cabin until I can repair the shelf.

Now back to trying to get the hose up over the flange of the cockpit drain. When I took the hose clamps off, three of the four were no good! I have plenty of spares, so I was able to recover from that problem.

No matter what I did, I could not get the hose to go up and over the flange for the cockpit drain! It is almost like the hose shrunk! I decided I would have to replace the hose, so I measured the length that I would need.

I will be going into town tomorrow to purchase the necessary piece of hose. I cleaned up from that project and put all the tools and materials away. Now to move into the next project, which is to finally squeeze all of the grapefruit I purchased a couple of days ago.

It is a bit messy, so I prefer to do the squeezing out in the outdoor kitchen. I loaded up the KitchenAid Stand Mixer, the juicer attachment, and all of the other equipment needed for the project, and headed out to the outdoor kitchen.

I got set up, and squeezed the 20 grapefruit. Jim was really looking forward to an adult beverage made with fresh squeezed grapefruit juice.

I finished up with the squeezing project, and got all of the material washed up, dried and back on DREAM AWAY, along with a half gallon of grapefruit juice!

I then had to go out and try and figure out why the outboard had failed on me day before yesterday. I did some looking around and investigation. It seems the fuel filter inside the engine housing is leaking. I guess at high speed it is sucking air instead of fuel, and it just starves.

I have a very good in-line fuel filter, so I just decided to not use the fuel filter inside the engine housing until I can get a new spare. I ran the fuel hose directly from the base connection to the engine fuel pump. I tested the engine, and it ran just fine.

I put away all of the tools and parts, and finally had the adult beverage with the fresh grapefruit juice. It was wonderful. I went and took a shower. We had the rice and black beans for dinner, and we watched two episodes of All Creatures Great And Small. After cleanup, it was off to bed!

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 and I went into town. We got into the tender, and went upriver and docked at Bruno's. Our first stop was the Litegua Bus Station. I got cash out of the Cajero (ATM), and we purchased our bus tickets for the trip tomorrow to Guatemala City.

From the bus station, we went to our normal veggie stand and purchased fresh mushrooms. we left the veggie stand, and Kitty went to the Despensa Familiar to get groceries. I went to Mangueras Del Caribe to purchase the hose for the cockpit drain. I left the hose store and met Kitty at the Despensa Familiar. We paid for the groceries, and went back to Ingrid's Tienda, to pay Kevin for the DVD he had made for Kitty. After we paid Kevin, it was back to the tender, and went across the river to Backpacker’s Hotel. We picked up the kitty food and cat litter we had ordered from the city, and also had lunch.

After lunch we went up river to Tienda Reed. Kitty purchased her stash of chocolate, and then we went home to DREAM AWAY.

When we got back to DREAM AWAY, I changed into my work clothes and got to work changing out the hose for the port side cockpit drain. I removed the old hose, which was a lot of fun. The old hose would not twist off the thru-hull at the bottom, so I had to cut the old hose off. Of course not a lot room to work either.

I installed the new hose, and cut it a couple of inches long to make sure I had plenty of hose. I also put three new hose clamps on the new hose. Now I know I had four good hose clamps on the hose, two at each end.

I opened the seacock, to check for leaks, and then I ran water from the dock into the cockpit. Kitty was down below checking for any leaks, and there were none! That is good news. We now feel confident leaving DREAM AWAY for three days while we are in Guatemala City.

Secured from that project and cleaned up tools and material. I went out to the shop to get to work on two projects out there. I mixed up a batch of Smith's penetrating epoxy, and applied it to top of the head shower grate, and to the bad spot in the cockpit hatch. I applied a large amount of the Smith's penetrating epoxy on the cockpit hatch so it would really soak into the surrounding wood.

I cleaned up all of the pots, containers and brushes, and got out all of the material I would need to apply the Gelcoat to the forward aft deck box. For this application, I am doubling the amount of wax for 100 ml of Gelcoat from 5 ml to 10 ml. If this does not work properly, I will double the amount of wax again.

I cleaned up all of the brushes and containers from the Gelcoat project, and went back to DREAM AWAY. I prepared an adult beverage for myself, and went off and took a welcome shower.

While I was in the shop working, Kitty was working on a homemade mushroom and onion soup. When I cam back from the shower, she had dinner ready. We were having our black beans and rice, but also a nice bowel of the mushroom and onion soup. We watched two episodes of All Creatures Great And Small during dinner, and then we cleaned up and went to bed.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather. I feed our two cats, Jillian and Jordan , and attempt to brush their beautiful coats.

I worked on getting ready to leave the marina at 0715. Kitty got up at 0630, and we got all packed and ready to go. John, the marina manager, took us into the dock at Bruno's. We walked over to the Litegua Bus Station, and waited for the 0800 bus.

It was an uneventful bus trip to Guatemala City. We stopped at the normal stop for a short meal around 1040. We arrived at the bus station in Zona 1 around 1340. Ovidio was there to meet us, and he took us to the Hotel Las Torres where we normally stay. We got checked in and settled, and Kitty took a short nap while I worked on the computer.

When Kitty got up we walked up Calle 13 to a comedor called Guate Al Instante. They have a limited menu, but the food is good and inexpensive. Kitty and I had dinner, and then we walked back to the hotel, We stopped at a small tienda to purchase a baked dessert, and I purchased some canned mango juice to go along with my rum!

We enjoyed a quiet evening. Kitty watched TV, I took a shower, and worked on the Maintenance log on the computer. It started to rain, and continued to rain all night. We finally closed up shop and went to bed.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather. I went to the lobby area and got a couple of cups of coffee, which I drank while I worked on the Maintenance Log on the computer.

When Kitty got up and was ready to go out it was still raining, so we donned our ponchos and walked up to Guate Al Instante, for the Chapin Breakfast. It was hot, very good, and very inexpensive. Guate Al Instante is obviously the place to be. Even though it was pouring down rain, the place was crowded, and people were lined up outside for to go meals.

We finished up our Chapin Breakfast and headed back to the hotel. It was still pouring so we had on our ponchos, and wearing flip flops so our shoes would not get wet.

When we got back to the hotel, Kitty got dried off, but I prepared to head out again. John, the Monkey Bay Marina manager had asked me to purchase some LED lights for a good friend of his. He told me where it was, so I headed off to get them in the pouring rain. It was quite an adventure, but I eventually got the purchases made, and back to the hotel to dry off.

I worked on the computer until it was time to go to the Centro Medico for my dermatological appointment. At the 1500 appointment, Dr Riley was not sure what the lesion on my left foot was, so she decided to take a biopsy. After the biopsy was done, and the dressing put on, we went down to the street and hailed a taxi.

We took the taxi to another building in Zona 10 to see Kitty's cardiologist. He turned out to be a very good doctor, spoke excellent English. He looked at all of Kitty's medical record and cleared up some of her misconceptions about the valve leak and some chest pain she has.

After the appointment, we were so close to our hotel, and it had actually finally quit raining, we walked back. On the way back we walked by a McDonald's, and Kitty said she a burger for dinner. We went in ordered burgers and fries, and went back to the hotel and tab ate dinner. By that time we were both tired, so we went to bed, read for a while and went to sleep.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather. I went to the lobby area and got a couple of cups of coffee, which I drank while I worked on the Maintenance Log on the computer.

When Kitty got up at 0615, we got ready, and our luggage packed, and brought everything down to the lobby. Our taxi driver, Ovidio, showed up at 0720. He took us to the Litegua Bus Station in Zone 1. Today is a holiday in Guatemala, so there was traffic in the city. We were at the bus station in 20 minutes! Our bus did not leave until 0900, so we had a bit of a wait.

Once we got started it was a pretty good trip. We were delayed 45 minutes by one landslide just outside Guatemala City. We did our normal lunch stop, and we pretty much arrived on time in the Rio Dulce. The driver did a good making up the lost time. John was waiting for us at the Litegua Bus Station. Kitty and John waited for me while I went to get some time on Nicola's phone that we are using. I also purchased some tomatoes and avocados, and we headed back to DREAM AWAY.

When we got on the boat the female cat, Jillie, was giving me her opinion of being left for three days and two nights. She was not very happy, and she let me know. We got all unpacked, and Kitty went and took a shower. We had a small dinner of must go downs, and watched two episodes of All Creatures Great And Small and went on to bed by 1930!

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 trying to get caught up, but did not do a great job. Kitty did a load of laundry in the marina washer, and I hung the laundry out on the bow of DREAM AWAY to dry.

I did get one project completed. I got the forward aft deck box lid put back on the aft deck box. The Gelcoat I had applied on the lid seemed very well set up after our trip to the city.

On the many trips back and forth from DREAM AWAY to the shop, there were several of the howler monkeys in the trees, so of course I had to take some pictures.

I am not feeling very good, as I am coming down with a cold, which is not good. What was good was a very long shower! Because of the procedure I had done in Guatemala City, the doctor said I could not get it wet for 48 hours, so no showers.

Because I was not feeling very good, Kitty made a great dinner of spice pan fried chicken and green bean fritters, with a tomato and avocado salad. we watched two episodes of All Creatures Great And Small. Kitty did all of the cleanup. I took some drugs, and hit the sack hoping I would feel better in 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.

That was about it for me for the day. Kitty made all of the arrangements for the International trivia game tonight at Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas. I spent the day in bed taking some medicine and trying to get better.

Kitty went to the International trivia game, and had a great time. Not near as wet as it was last week.

A real lost day for me. Did not get up for coffee, feed the cats or to make my announcement on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net.

When Kitty got up, she fed the cats and had her breakfast. I did not feel like eating, and I spent the day in bed. John, the marina manager, took Kitty into town to get some medicine for me and some supplies. I had not put the tender in the water since our trip to Guatemala City, so we did not have our own transportation. Besides Kitty can not handle the tender.

Another lost day for me. Did not get up for coffee, feed the cats or to make my announcement on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net.

When Kitty got up, she fed the cats and had her breakfast. I stayed in bed pretty much all day. By the end of the day I was feeling better. Kitty made dinner, and I had a small portion, and I was able to join her for two episodes of All Creatures Great And Small, but then I was back in bed. Kitty did all of the cleanup.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is started, I feed our two cats, Jillian and Jordan , and attempt to brush their beautiful coats.

Did not have the Rio Dulce Cruisers net this morning, because it is Sunday.

Feeling much better today, as the cold is on the down side. I still have a pretty bad cough. I stayed on board DREAM AWAY, working on the computer. I was still taking gobs of medicine, so had a couple of naps during the day.

We had purchased two pounds of fresh shrimp from the oldest son of the Monkey Bay Marina guardian who works at the fish market in town. Kitty made a wonderful dinner of sauteed shrimp and vegetables. While eating dinner we watched two episodes of All Creatures Great And Small.

I was still pretty tired so Kitty did all of the cleanup, and then we went to bed. I am feeling a lot better, so I know tomorrow I will be help more with all of the meal preparation.

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. I also made the announcement of the Monday special at Hotel Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas.

Feeling so much better today, almost normal, except for the cough. I spent most of the day working on the computer and the Maintenance Logs. The only real work I did today, was get the tender off of the davits and back into the water. I also got the outboard engine back on it.

We are going to Graciella's grandsons christening tomorrow, so we needed our own transportation. Before I started the job, I had the inspection crew on the job to verify everything was ready!

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is started, I feed our two cats, Jillian and Jordan , and attempt to brush their beautiful coats.

I listened to the Rio Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the local news and events, and a good source of local information that matter to cruisers.

I did my announcement for the specials at Backpacker’s Hotel on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is started, I feed our two cats, Jillian and Jordan , and attempt to brush their beautiful coats.

I listened to the Rio Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the local news and events, and a good source of local information that matter to cruisers.

I did my announcement for the specials at Backpacker’s Hotel on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net.

Kitty got up early and we had breakfast. We had to be at Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas by 0900, so we could participate in the christening of Graciela's grandson, Solomon. We left our marina around 0840 in our tender, and headed up river. We arrived with no problems, but it was somewhat of a madhouse. Trying to get everything coordinated, the actual christening, the meal following, and everyone dressed and ready was fun. We helped where we could, and also tried to get out of the way of progress.

After breakfast, Kitty got Solomon dressed in his special christening clothes, while it seemed everyone else was swirling around.

Once everyone was dressed and all things running smoothly, we got into the large launcha and went over to San Felipe. We could not leave the launcha there, so Olga, a wonderful cook at Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas, came along to take the launcha back to the restaurant.

When we arrived in San Felipe, we walked up into the town, and then to the Episcopal Church. It was a lovely setting. Everyone came in, and had seats, and the minister started the service, all in Spanish. Since I am not fluent in Spanish, it was hard to follow what exactly was happening. About midway through the service, several people, including the mother of Solomon, got up and read passages.

In my crude language, we finally got to the point of the exercise! The actual christening. Solomon was so good during the entire service, and he is only 18 months old. In fact when the minister poured the water over his head, he reached down to play in the water that was in the baptismal!

When the ceremony was finished, we were able to take family photos in the church, before we all went outside and some refreshments. It was a bit warm but overall a wonderful setting. Let me just get the names straight, before moving on. Of course there is Solomon. Then we have the Godfather, Balam, who is Graciela's brother. The father of Solomon is Luis, and the mother is Ovette. I am bad because, I cannot remember the Godfather's wife name!

After the refreshments, we all walked down to the boat landing in San Felipe. Olga arrived with the big launcha, and we all got in and went over to Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas. I know this will probably be hard to guess, but Gary, one of the owners is Australian, and Graciela is Mexican. So the main course for the dinner this afternoon is lamb prepared in the Mexican style. Which is to say, the lamb was wrapped in banana leaves, and cooked in a huge dutch oven steamer device.

The process worked, and they had been slow cooking the lamb since 0200 this morning. When we did have the lamb for dinner, it was absolutely moist. And how could we go wrong. Graciela is a wonderful cook, and she has taught Olga for many years, and Olga can duplicate any recipe that Graciela makes. Graciela's other son, Balam, named after her brother, is a fabulous cook in his own right, so how could this go wrong?

It didn't! It seemed like it took forever to serve late lunch, because the smells emanating for the kitchen were wonderful. As I looked through the photos, I realized I did not take a photo of the late lunch/early dinner. The meal consisted of a delicious garbanzo soup, with chopped onions and chopped cilantro on the side. The soup was very spicy, so much so Kitty, was not able to eat hers, so I did the honors. The main meal was roast lamb, with rice, and it was wonderful.

After that wonderful meal, Graciela gave us some meat to take home with us. We visited with the guests, and then we took our leave and went back home to DREAM AWAY. We were so full, we just relaxed the remainder of the day away. We were both pretty tired, so we were in bed early!

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is started, I feed our two cats, Jillian and Jordan , and attempt to brush their beautiful coats.

I listened to the Rio Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the local news and events, and a good source of local information that matter to cruisers.

After breakfast, I had to go into town to get fruit, veggies and some groceries. With me being sick most of last week our supplies have dwindled. So I got into the tender, headed up river and docked at Bruno's. I walked into town and the first stop was the veggie stand where I purchased fresh fruit and veggies.

Next I walked to the TiGo store at the corner of the main road and the road to San Felipe. We have a triple coupon, so I purchased Q100 of time on the phone and actually get Q300. Always a good deal. Next, I went to the Despensa Familiar and purchased the necessary groceries. I then went to Tienda Miriam, and purchased the really good tortilla chips that we like.

From Tienda Miriam, I walked back to Bruno's, got into the tender, and headed down river to DREAM AWAY. I am still having some issues with the outboard motor on the tender. At high speed for a long time, it just seems to run out of fuel. I will have to spend some time investigating that problem.

When I returned to DREAM AWAY, Kitty and I put all of the goodies away, and I changed into my work clothes, so I could get some projects moving along. With the trip to Guatemala City to the doctor, and me being sick for several days, I have not made much progress.

First on the list, is the tender. Two items here, first is the fuel issue, and the second is the grate on the deck of the tender that holds the fuel tank down and broken loose. I am planning to put some finishing putty on the cockpit hatch, so I will use some of it to repair the deck grate.

I took the cover off of the outboard engine, and I noticed the fuel filter housing on the engine, was leaking. Perhaps this is my problem. I do not have a good spare. The spare I have has a crack in it, and can be used, but only in an emergency. First, fix the problem, second get a good spare!

It seems I have fixed the problem. I have a very good in-line fuel filter in the fuel hose before it even gets to the outboard engine. The filter on the engine is redundant. For now, the fix is to not use the fuel filter on the engine, just go straight to the carburetor. I am actually writing this near the end of November, and the problem has not returned.

I spent some time working on the head shower grating, getting it cleaned up, some sanding to get it prepared for the many coats of varnish.

Now I need to get working on the cockpit hatch and the grate on the deck of the tender. I mixed up a batch of the finishing putty and applied it to the cockpit hatch. I went out to the tender and applied a second batch to the grate on the deck.

I scraped and sanded the finishing putty I had applied to the cockpit hatch. When I finished, I mixed another batch of the putty and applied it to the cockpit hatch. I cleaned up all of the material and containers I had used, and put them all away.

I went back to DREAM AWAY, fixed an adult beverage, got my shower gear and went and took a shower. After my shower, I met Kitty in the rancho. We did some reading and enjoyed our beverages. When it started getting dark, we went back to DREAM AWAY, and had a nice dinner. While we were eating we watched two episodes of All Creatures Great And Small.

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.

This morning I am filling in on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net as the net controller. I gathered the weather for the Fronteras, Guatemala area, and I also have the latest tides at the Livingston sand bar. I reported this information to the Net, and then guided the Net through the several categories before we finished. Kitty was a great help writing down boat names and telephone numbers, so we could refer to that information if requested.

I did my announcement for the specials at Backpacker’s Hotel on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net also.

A reasonably boring day, as I spent the day working on the computer, and trying to get the Maintenance logs up to date. I am always behind.

It is Thursday, so we were going to International Trivia at Casa Perico. I took a shower in the late afternoon, fixed an adult beverage, and we went up to the ranchito to meet John, the marina manager, did not want the big boat from Casa Perico in the marina, because it is too hard on the pilings and docks. Because of that John took us over to Casa Perico, and then picked us up when it was over and brought us back to Monkey Bay Marina.

It was fun to be at the International trivia game, although we did not do well! We had a great meal, and it was just fun doing the social thing with all of the other cruisers.

After the game, as I said, John came and brought us home. We got on DREAM AWAY, read for awhile, and then of to bed.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is started, I feed our two cats, Jillian and Jordan , and attempt to brush their beautiful coats.

I listened to the Rio Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the local news and events, and a good source of local information that matter to cruisers.

I did my announcement for the specials at Backpacker’s Hotel on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net.

After breakfast, I got into the tender, and went upriver to RAM Marine. We needed more cash to get a new USB modem. The one we did have ran out of time yesterday, so we had no Internet access. I got more cash from the Cajera (ATM), then left RAM Marine, and went across the river, and docked at Bruno's.

I walked into town to Red Digital, which is the store where we purchase and activate our TiGo USB modem. I purchased the modem, went back to Bruno's, and went back to Monkey Bay Marina. When I got to DREAM AWAY, I plugged the modem into our router, and we have Internet again.

I spent the remainder of the day on the computer working on financial issues, and of course trying to catch up on the Maintenance logs. While I was working on the computer, Kitty was working and completing one of her jigsaw puzzles. Kitty made a great dinner with the left over lamb we got from the lunch at Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas.

Kitty made a great dinner with the left over lamb we got from the lunch at Kangaroo/Las Mexicanas. We watched two episodes of All Creatures Great And Small while we ate dinner. After cleanup, it was off to bed.

I started off the morning with my normal ritual of getting on the Internet, answering email, and checking the weather, while making a pot of coffee. When the coffee is started, I feed our two cats, Jillian and Jordan , and attempt to brush their beautiful coats.

I listened to the Rio Dulce Cruisers net on DREAM AWAY. The net is everyday at 0730 except Sunday. It covers all of the local news and events, and a good source of local information that matter to cruisers.

I did my announcement for the specials at Backpacker’s Hotel on the Rio Dulce Cruisers net.

Immediately after the Cruisers net, we got into the tender, and went upriver to Backpacker’s Hotel. We met John and Betty off of GYPSY ROVER. It had been so hot we had been able to get together for lunch, so we decided this was the way to go. The breakfast was nice but the company was great. We caught up on them and what has happened since they the Rio in April. We got them caught up on us and what has been happening on the Rio.

After breakfast with John and Betty, we went over to see David on EXPECTATIONS. We were dropping off our backup hard drive so he could transfer some electronic book he has on his computer. From EXPECTATIONS we went back to DREAM AWAY.

I changed into my work clothes, got my tools together, and went out to the shop. I did a final sanding on the head shower grating. I then did the final sanding on the cockpit hatch, and then wiped it down with acetone, and then I masked off the bottom of the hatch that needed to be painted. When I finished the masking, I wiped down the hatch and the head shower grate with the tack rag.

I got out the varnish, and applied the first coat to the bottom of the head shower grate. Not real easy applying varnish to the grate, but with patience, I got it done.

I cleaned up and put away all of the varnish stuff, and then got out the goodies for the two part paint. I mixed up a batch of paint and applied it to the cockpit hatch. The paint is a nice hard paint, and goes on very well.

I cleaned up all of the brushes and pots from the paint project, and went back to DREAM AWAY. I had to finish a project I started several days ago. I have several lines that I keep in the tender for several uses. They had become black with dirt and mold. I took them off of the tender, and put them in a bucket of bleach water and soap. I did not take a photo of them when I put them in the bucket, so you could see the comparison. Anyway, they were all scrubbed clean, they were dry, and I put them back into the tender.

I went back to DREAM AWAY, fixed an adult beverage, got my shower bag and went up and had a nice shower. Then it was back to DREAM AWAY. I got all of the goodies needed to cook dinner. I went up to the outdoor kitchen, and grilled pork chops, eggplant and potatoes. Needless to say we had a nice dinner to finish off the day.