After a pleasant meal with Ib at a restaurant in town on Wednesday evening I woke up on Thursday morning comfortable with the state of my preparations for the trip. I had until 2.30 PM before we were due to leave for the airport - plenty of time given that my bags were packed and there was little to do besides closing up the boat.
Things got interesting when I decided to start up the Volvo engine for the first time in several weeks. Twenty minutes into the run the alarm sounded with a battery symbol on the tachometer display. I checked around and everything seemed to be functioning normally: engine at 1000 rpm, Volvo meter showing 13V, temperature good, and the independent BEP monitor reporting 52 amps flowing into the batteries. The House and Aux battery banks were at 13.1V and the Starter bank was at at 13.2V
Revving up the engine did not stop the alarm.
After a second engine run with similar results I sent a message to Mark in Port Townsend describing the problem and asking for his opinion. Mark is often out of the office for much of the day and I didn't really expect a reply before my departure. I was merely alerting Mark of the problem for discussion when I visited him in Port Townsend.
Soon I heard "Hello Pachuca" and went outside to see Cheryl Ainsworth from Stolen Kiss. I had not seen Peter and Cheryl for months because they had been based on the mainland side of the Sea of Cortez. They had just arrived to deal with a battery problem and would leave in three days. After a hug and a quick chat with with Cheryl I then walked over the Stolen Kiss and had a brief conversation with Peter, who was busy making preparations for a technician due to visit the boat. I told him that I would return to their boat at about 2 PM for our final farewells. Cheryl soon passed by the Pachuca again and told me that their faulty batteries were being replaced under warranty.
I checked my mail while munching on a turkey sandwich and saw a message from Mark to phone him immediately. He asked me to check the output voltage of the alternator and after probing the leads with the ammeter I reported to him that the alternator output voltage was running at about 13.5V. Mark replied that it should be 14 V, and the alarm was set to go off when that output voltage dropped down 13.1 or 13.2 volts (which I realized later happened to be the same voltage as the battery banks).
I then ran the engine for a fourth time and found that the alarm was now intermittent: on for maybe 30 seconds, then off again. Bob Carroll then paid me a farewell visit and when I started the engine for the fifth time there was no alarm. By now the battery banks were a bit higher - at about 13.5V. I also noticed that the Volvo volt meter was reporting 13.25V instead of the previous 13V. I reported this to Mark.
Unfortunately due to the alternator drama I did not get to see Peter and Cheryl again. They are headed for Ecuador via various stops in Central America, but by the time I get to Ecuador they will be on their way across the South Pacific. Worse, it is likely that by the time I reach Fremantle in the spring of 2012 they will have already left on a planned cruise of the Indian Ocean. But you never know how this sailing life will work out. I'm just grateful that we had a chance to say hello.
At the La Paz airport we waited for Ib's wife Yadranka to emerge from her flights from Australia and I knew that the timing was going to be close.. Fortunately we all caught sight of each other briefly through the door and waved, but I was then forced to say my goodbye to Ib and rush to my boarding gate. Again, I was grateful that we at least had a chance to wave.
There was a hitch with my documentation and I knew that it was serious when a girl asked for my FM3 residency card and passport then set off running. Well after the other passengers had boarded she came running back to tell me that everything was OK but next time to visit the Immigration office before flying out. I told her that I would remember to do that, but protested that I was the victim of bad advice from Eco Naviera, the office that had helped me to get my FM3 residency. The previous week I had visited their office with the specific question of what formalities I must attend do for the trip. I was told to simply fly out and then present my FM3 card the re entering the country. Wrong! I'll send a message to Eco Naviera so that this needless trouble can be avoided in the future.
The flight to Seattle went well, though with modern Coach transport being what it is due to competitive pressure, there wasn't much to eat and drink. Between my lunch on the run aboard Pachuca at noon and arrival at Arnold's house after midnight I had two glasses of white wine on the LA leg and one glass of orange juice with a bag of pretzels on the Seattle leg. That turkey sandwich saved my bacon.
LA airport was a real zoo with its hordes of humanity controlled by flimsy lines of rope. I needed every bit of the 2-hour layover to make the Seattle flight, arriving at the counter after boarding had started. Fortunately during the transfer of my baggage to the domestic flight I asked one of the attendants if it was OK to keep the two bottles of tequila in my carry on back pack. The reply was an emphatic No, so I moved the booze to my duffel bag and the alternator to my back pack. So at the next screening I was asked to step aside and follow. "It's an alternator from a marine diesel engine." I explained to the lady as we walked to the inspection bench. She took out the alternator, put it on the bench, and I exclaimed "Beautiful, isn't it?" as we stared at the marvel of engineering and design, set off nicely by the gleaming copper winding. She replied that she didn't know much about these things but her boss had one look and let it pass. (I mean, hadn't she ever seen a gray haired old guy humping a heavy alternator on his back?)
Arnold was waiting for me at the baggage claim area and I must admit that it was great to be headed to Kingston in the comfort and security of his car rather than having to battle my way across the airport hoping that there would be enough room for me on the next shuttle to Kitsap.
1 comment:
Relax now! Life is full of problems!
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