Two Things Fixed

This morning I looked into the problem of the sticking anchor winch foot switch. It took 30 minutes of patient work to remove the switch because I had put so much silicone sealant on the underside of the switch that I had trouble getting to the wiring terminal nuts. I took the switch apart and got confirmation on my hypothesis. The line of silicone sealant that I had put under the perimeter of the flexible rubber pad had been squeezed when I screwed the switch down and had oozed from the perimeter of the rubber pad to the flexible part so that when I put my foot down to turn on the windlass the silicone sealant would hold the rubber down which meant that the switch would not release. I spent a lot of time removing every bit of sealant that I could find, figuring that likely more frequent failure due to corrosion will be compensated by the fact that everything will be so easy to remove and take apart.

We then went ashore and Arnold went to do his laundry and I headed on foot across town with the trolley in tow to pick up the new main halyard. I arrived after a brisk 45 minute walk and the man seemed pleased to see me and was trying to tell me things and ask me questions that I simply could not understand. "Esta Listo?" (Is it ready?) I asked. "Ah, si!". He had done a beautiful and neat job with plenty of stitches. "Esta muy bien" I said approvingly. He then showed me the thread that he had used indicating that it was marine grade. "Claro. Muy bien." I responded. "Cuanto dinero?" I asked. "Ochenta" he replied - 80 pesos. I shook my head and said "No". He got a worried look until I said "Mas" (More!) then he smiled. I handed him two hundred peso bills and said "Por cerveza" (For beer).

I didn't want to abruptly grab my goods and walk away so I told gave him the Spanish version of my name, "Roberto Jose Morales". He smiled and said that there are a lot of Moraleses in Mexico. I couldn't recall the exact word for "born" so I tried "Naciento? Nato? en San Juan Puerto Rico". He knew what I meant and he said that Yes, Americano because Puerto Rico is a territory of the US. I told him "Soy de Australia" and "Navegamos aqui desde Australia" (We have sailed from Australia) followed by "Dos anos", trying to tell him that we had been at it for 2 years. He understood. Then I told him "Nuestro barco se llama Pachuca" and he liked that, asking me, I think, if I had visited Pachuca here in Mexico. He asked me the length of the boat. "Doce metro" I replied. He have me his card and I could see that he was Senor Miguel Angel Galvan Lopez, proprietor of "El Velero". We shook hands, I thanked him again, and bid him Adios feeling pretty good about the encounter.

I walked back to the marina where I met Arnold just finishing his laundry. He had washed his own clothes, bringing his own soap and paying 40 pesos per machine load. He saw many Gringos picking up bundles of washing all folded up and he read the sign that for 50 pesos per load the lady do the washing, provide the soap and softener, and fold the clothes. DUH!

I then dropped off two books at the exchange and walked out with A Cruising Guide to the Caribbean. Regarding the prospects of crossing the Panama Canal and turning right to go around Colombia and Venezuela the book states "Many have set a counterclockwise course from the Panama Canal to Grenada and have had horrendous tales to tell of head seas encountered, and some have aborted their plans and headed north to Jamaica. One hardy sailor who did it tells us: 'The coasts of Colombia and Venezuela at that time of year (January) are almost impossible, three boats before us were dismasted.'"

We had lunch overlooking the marina over some beers (steak for Arnold, fish for me) then headed back to Pachuca with the results of our day which included some bananas and other things that Arnold had purchased. While Arnold topped off both water tanks with the latest lot of water I got cracking with the new halyard. At the end of 30 minutes of patient work where I had to avoid at all cost breaking the pull-trough cord lest I have to climb to the top of the mast to dangle a new cord, I had the halyard fitted from the mainsail head board to the winch.

That meant that two of the three problems with Pachuca had been fixed: the sticky anchor windlass foot switch and the halyard buggered up by Captain Crossover had been replaced. The third and most important item remained: the intermittent problem with starting the engine.

Mark from Shoreline Marine Diesel at Port Townsend had given me some good broad advice on the problem, suggesting that I begin my investigation with the switch and the wiring to the solenoid. As luck would have it we got a visit this morning from Dennis off a nearby boat. He is a Seattle man who grew up sailing in Puget sound. He knows his boats because he spotted the IOR lines of Pachuca and wanted to know more about it. And by the way his profession is marine electrics. Well of course I had to ask him about our starting problem. From the symptoms he though that we should start with the switch and wiring to the solenoid, as Mark had advised. Arnold and I plan to do some basic tests in the morning but I told Arnold that whether it turns out to be the wiring or not the fact is that it should be changed on spec. It is probably copper wire, possibly from when the boat was built, and probably passes through the bilge to get into the engine compartment. I would like to replace that with marine grade tinned wiring of the proper gauge and with good connectors so that I can eliminate this as a problem for the foreseeable future.

I asked about internet service at the marina yesterday and learned that it is available only to people in slips, not those at anchor. That doesn't matter. Two days ago on one of my walkabouts I spotted an internet cafe and bakery with free wireless service not far from the marina. If not tomorrow then the next day I will visit for a long internet session where I will upload some photos and videos to the blog.

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