Replacement Alternator Installed

I have just completed the installation of the new alternator.  Thanks to the simplicity of the design and the photographs that I had taken I had no problem.  I found the gauging of the belt tension a bit tricky because of the short spans so I erred on the side of caution (ie not too tight) and will ask Joel for an opinion and will have a look at the system in action.

The 20 minute operation took me two hours because I first cleaned the engine and bed then proceeded at a snail's pace checking and re checking everything.  Also, I had visitors.  Jose came by full of apologies for not showing up yesterday to reinstall the propeller.  I told him that it was no problem.  He will return between 10AM and 2PM tomorrow to do the job.  The delay was actually to my advantage because it gave me time to assemble the two new anodes for the shaft, propeller key and nut, as well as the new propeller anode that will replace the old nut.  He took away the bolt of that anode for a modification.  The bolt holds the anode to the brass frame which means that when the anode deteriorates the bolt becomes loose can back out resulting in the loss of the anode.  He will get a longer bolt to fit from the inside out with a locking nuts between the anode and the frame and outside of the anode.

Propeller Anode

Then Steve, a sailor whom I met this morning, dropped by with literature on a new kind of  heavy weather tactic using a series (ie lots of small cones) drogue developed by Donald Jordan that he swears by.

Steve is an experienced sailor and knows a lot about boats.  He gets regular emails from Jeane Socrates whom he got to know over the HF radio and we discussed her situation.

Steve is off to cruise the islands for a week and I am looking forward to seeing more of him after he returns to La Paz.