Review of Past Week

Elisa flew off on Tuesday evening for business in Las Vegas.  Hurricane Irene disrupted her subsequent travel plans to Europe but she managed to get a flight out of Philadelphia and telephoned us last night from Frankfurt.  We have all been encouraging her to keep a log of her travels because she'll never be able to remember all of the places she's visited.  She is the "travelingest" person that I've ever known.  I was shown where an additional set of pages was added to her passport to accommodate all of the stamping going on.

Port Townsend Boat Haven

I made my first visit to Port Townsend on Wednesday and it was good to see Mark, Zee, and Seth again at Shoreline Marine Diesel.  While Mark was busy inspecting an engine for an insurance assessment I had a good chat with Zee then walked over to Port Townsend Rigging and said hello to Lisa and Shannon.  Unfortunately, Dan was out but I'll catch up with him later.

Kingston Harbor at Low Tide

Back at Shoreline Mark had the Red Dot R-254 boat heater waiting for me.  He included the two fitting required for the engine connection and will discuss the installation with me later.  It's a great little unit that is easy to install (thanks to Mark's inclusion of the heater option when he set up my Volvo engine) and is rated at 16,000 BTU/Hr@150F while drawing only 3.3 amps.  (http://www.thermokingmichigan.com/showcaseproductdetail.htm?ID=-23254)  Back at the house Arnold checked out the heater's electrics using a 12V motorcycle battery and confirmed that the unit has a 2-speed fan.


Arnold expressed concern about the risk of carbon monoxide asphyxiation, given my plan to have the heater fan extract warm air from the engine compartment.  On Friday we ordered an MTI 60-542 Carbon Monoxide Detector from amazon.com.  It is a hard wired  unit designed for RV and marine use with an 85 db alarm and a memory for reporting the CO level that triggered the alarm.  It draws only 60 milliamps of current.    The cost was $62.93 plus $5.41 tax (and free shipping). (http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/lp-gas/carbon-monoxide-detector-rv.htm?utm_source=google&utm_medium=partsshopping&utm_campaign=partsfeed)

Open Market at Kingston

One of Many Interesting Stalls

Live Entertainment at Market

Elisa had taken me to WalMart where I purchased a Seagate 1TB external disc drive for $89 (plus tax).  It is such a compact unit that conveniently takes its power from the laptop's USB port that on a return solo trip to WalMart I purchased a second one.  I have named one of the drives "Backups".  Stephen helped me to back up an image of my little Acer computer's C drive on the Seagate drive.  When I return to La Paz I'll also back up images of the C drives of the two Toshiba laptops.  I expect to sail out of La Paz with hundreds of movies and lots of music stored on the other Seagate drive, appropriately named "Movies and Music".

At WalMart I also purchased several other items on my USA shopping list: two pairs of hiking shoes of reasonable quality, and two pairs of polarized sun glasses, and a USB hub. The big issue of the shoes is the half sizes available in the USA for my short feet with high insteps.  I was also very happy to find the same model of watch that I had been using since Hawaii, so I purchased two of them at $12.99 each.  (Sometimes it doesn't take much to make me happy.) 

I plan to visit Seattle next week to address my boating shopping list, which includes 2 x 80' spinnaker sheets, a fire blanket, and a couple of good knives.

Yesterday morning I accompanied Sandra to the open market at the picturesque Kingston waterfront and enjoyed the relaxed and jovial atmosphere under a blue and sunny sky.

Larry the Organizer at Left, Arnold at Right, Sandra in Background

Arnold and Sandra's Property at Left

In the afternoon I was privileged to attend the first "street" party in years of this community of 11 or 12 houses.  The venue was the public space at the corner of the Morales property which fronts onto the two dead end streets of the enclave. Arnold's neighbor Larry organized the event and also provided the barbecue meat if I'm not mistaken.  However, everyone in the neighborhood contributed food, drink, tables and chairs.  It was a lot of fun and I very much enjoyed meeting Arnold and Sandra's neighbors. 

Sail on Orisha

On Saturday Arnold and I took the ferry to Edmonds then drove north to Utsalady Boat Ramp Park on Camano Island where we met Christoper Boscole for an afternoon's sail aboard his McGregor 65 "Orisha".  It turned out to be a great afternoon for sailing when we were generally doing over 6 knots in very calm waters. 

Christopher at winch, Arnold at helm

Arnold did most of the helming while Chris and I investigated the sources of problems with his Monitor wind steering that has never performed satisfactorily for him.  We got some good insights into the issues and Chris is now getting good support from Scanmar, the manufacturer, toward a resolution.

Nav Station and Cabin Interior

Monitor Setup

Arnold at his work bench with the soldering iron

Soldering and heat shrink task

I've included a couple of photos of Arnold's repair of Pachuca's spare flux gate compass.  His task was to repair the cable that had been severed by the electrical fire.  Each of the four wires was soldered and insulated in heat shrink insulation.  Then the entire 4-wire join was protected by heat shrink insulation.

Cruise on Lakes

Seattle skyline from one of the lakes

Our Cruise Boat

Arnold chatting with guest

Floating Houses

Sandra at top middle

On Saturday afternoon a group of about 40 of us went on a cruise aboard the MV Fremont Avenue from Lake Union through a canal into Lake Washington, then back.  We were able to see Seattle from a unique perspective, with great views of parks, bridges, all sorts of commercial and recreational vessels, and of course the floating homes that have evolved from shacks built on rafts put together from logs stolen from the timber mill to the multimillion dollar gems that they are today.  We didn't have time to visit Bill Gates' starter home on Lake Washington.  He's somehow managed to cram 1.5 acres of house into his 4.5 acre property on the lakside.

It was a brilliant day with many boaters enjoying the lakes with the unique Seattle skyline in the background.  On board our boat everyone had a great time with our own brand of recreational boating, which included plenty of food, drink, and laughter.  I understand that the group - Sandra and her work colleagues - plan to make it an annual event.

 Sandra and Friend

Inter Lake Canal

Seattle Skyline

Here are a few of the many photos that I took.

Storm Jib

The second hand storm jib that I had ordered on line from La Paz was waiting for me in Arnold's garage when I arrived.

I spread out the sail on the lawn and confirmed that the information upon which I had made my decison to purchase was reasonablyaccurate:  actual luff `17'7", leech 14'7", foot 9'3" (yielding about 80 sq ft).  It appeared to be brand new rather than "very good", and the stitching was excellent.  It had a wire luff as described.

Unfortunately I didn't have all of the information.  The sail is off a Montego 25 (http://www.sailingjoy.com/sailboat_specs/view/570/montego-25) and the cloth is very light - probably lighter than that of Chiquita's storm jib that Victor sent over last year.  One sail maker supplies storm jibs for Montego 25's with material ranging from 7.25 oz to 11 oz.  I'd guess this to be 7 oz material but I'll learn more when I visit Port Townsend.

Having said that, the sail cost only $300 and who knows, it might even survive.  If it blows out it blows out, and end of story.

5th Day in USA

This is my first blog entry since flying from La Paz to Seattle.  I'll bring the blog up to date by making several entries which of course will appear in reverse order.

The flight to the USA was marred by an inexcusable blunder on my part.  I decided to carry the three bottles of top quality tequila in my cabin luggage and when my bag was checked during the boarding procedure I got the bad news that no liquids were allowed.  It was too late to consign the booze as cabin luggage, and I had no friends or relatives at the airport to take the bottles.  I wished the airport staff Merry Christmas with their $80 windfall and headed for the plane.  I knew better.  I focused so much on packing, preparing and closing up the boat, etc that I didn't think of the simple and obvious.

I also forgot the USB cable for my Fujifilm camera but Arnold saved the day by pointing out that he never uses a cable but rather slips out the SD memory card from his camera and inserts it into his computer.  Fortunately Stephen had sent the new camera configured to save the images on an SD memory card that he had included in the package.  (Thanks, Stephen.)  I figured out how to extract the SD card from the camera, saw a likely looking slot on the side of my Acer netbook, slid the card in a voila!

I planned this visit with some coordination with Arnold, but primarily to fit in with my tight schedule.  Happily, the timing could not have been better for three reasons.  First, the weather for the four days of my visit have been the best all year: warm, dry, and brilliant sunshine.  Second, Sandra had set up a 3-hour fully catered cruise in lake Union and Lake Washington as a "Thank You" retirement party with her work colleagues.  Husbands were not included, so it was going to be an all female event until Sandra relented and included Arnold and myself.  Larry the boat captain expressed gratitude for our male presence.  Even his deck hand was female.  (More on the cruise later.)  Third was the surprise visit by Elisa, who had decided to take 5 precious days from her jet setting career to visit her home for her birthday (Aug 21) and join in the boat cruise.  This was very good because I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to see her again.

Elisa and Arnold on barbecue duty

The lake cruise was on Saturday.  On Sunday Arnold and I took the ferry to Edmonds and drove up to the Usalady Boat Ramp Park on Camano Island and met met Christopher Boscole whom I had not seen since Hawaii and not spoken with since an HF radio session last year between him in Hawaii and me in La Paz.  We had a splendid sail on his McGregor 65.  (More on this later.)

While Arnold and I were sailing Sandra and Elisa were in Victoria, Vancouver Island.  They had managed to hastily arrange ferry and hotel accommodation for the trip.  They got up very early on Sunday morning after only a few hours of sleep and took the early ferry out of the Seattle side of Puget Sound, giving them the afternoon and most of Monday in Victoria.  They plan visit the world famous Butchart Gardens and will undoubtedly do a bit of touring in their car.  We expect them back at home at around 11 PM on Monday.

Ready for Visit to the USA

I expected the last few days in La Paz after finish of the boat yard work to be easy and relaxed, but the days turned out to be as busy as ever.

It became obvious that the screws penetrating the deck from Reggie's teak work were a serious health hazard.  Many of them protruded 1/4" and it was only a matter of time before I embedded one of those sharp screws into my skull while rummaging around the quarter berth in a rough seaway.  I tried nipping the tips of the screws with side cutters but the stainless steel screws were much too strong for the mild steel cutters.

Last Sunday I decided to take the bus ride to Home Depot and purchase whatever tools I needed to deal with the screws, knowing that the solution would probably be a Dremel tool, which is a small palm-held high speed drill which can take various attachments. Of particular interest to me would be the grinding attachments.  Fortunately I decided to drop off something at my lockup storage ("bodega") on the way to the bus stop and as luck would have it John the rigger happened to be in his workshop.   I explained my problem and explained that I normally have no hesitation in purchasing tools as I need them, but it would gall me to have to buy a 110 volt drill when I'm about to depart for Australia's 240 volt world.  There was more good fortune when John produced a Dremel tool and had no hesitation in lending it to me.  I still went to Home Depot, to get various grinding tips.  (I returned the Dremel kit to John today, with 5 or 6 new attachments, 2 of which haven't been used and are still in their blister packs.)

Yet again I had to clear the quarter berth area and yet again I had to create a lot of dust from hours of grinding down what turned out to be over 100 screws.  One of the grinding bits that I had purchased outperformed the others so on Monday I returned to Home Depot for two more of them.  By the end of that day all of the screws had been ground down, the quarter berth area cleaned, and all of the material stowed in its proper place.

On the weekend Bob Carroll had dropped by and helped me drop the headsail, to meet one of the obligations of every sail boat owner who is leaving the Marina de La Paz during the hurricane season.  That went without a hitch but  Bob pointed out a parted join the UV strip along the leach of the sail.  I had already noticed it but had decided to ignore it and sail on - quite foolishly as I learned.  My reaction to Bob was along the lines of  "Yea, maybe I'd better get it looked at."  On Monday Doug and I got the sail to his "Snug Harbor" loft and as he had predicted most of the stitching holding the UV strips in position was perished.  I could run my finger along a line of stitching and the seam would part as though there was no stitching.  The sail's UV protection was hanging on by, well, a thread.  Doug told me that even "UV resistant" thread will succumb after a few years. Carol Hasse's team had checked out the sail in Port Townsend two years earlier, but a lot of degeneration can happen in two years. (Besides, I expected to be back in Australia 4 months ago.)

I caught Doug at the right time because today, Tuesday, the sail was ready at 3 PM.  He charged me only 720 pesos for 1.5 hours work.  He said that most people wait too long, then bring the sail in for repair when everything is in tatters, and that I had wisely (thanks Bob!) brought it in brought it in at first sign of trouble, making the repair relatively easy.

At 4.30 PM the repaired sail was safely in Pachuca's V berth and I set off for my last venture before departure, to the Chedraui supermarket to purchase some good quality tequila to take to the USA.  It was a hot ride because the temperature had been predicted to hit 100F.  (But tomorrow's prediction is worse: 104F.)

I finished off the day by making further requirements of preparation of the boat.  I removed the anchor off the bow roller and lashed it securely behind the mast.  I then used a long rope to tie down the mainsail, even though it is in a zipped-up stack pack sail cover.  Then I removed the spray dodger and lashed down its stainless steel framework lest a high wind lift it and slam it back toward the cockpit.  This leaves the companionway instruments a bit exposed so I'll probably cover the entire companionway with a tarp.  I also immobilized the Rutland wind charger blades.

This marina was basically destroyed by Hurricane Marty.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wyzlZdTiHo will show some of the devastation of that event, which left many of the boats stacked up in one corner of the marina.  The lessons learned from that led to (1) new marina protection barriers put in place and (2) new set of protocols and procedures, some of which I am following now.  I've been told that Marina de La Paz is the only marina in La Paz where during a hurricane all staff are on duty attending to the boats, whereas in the other marinas they are sent home.  The following shows the success of the new protocols when the eye of Hurricane John passed over La Paz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd0WOj8CTuk.  
 
I finished the day by spending 30 minutes washing down the boat.  It will be filthy when I return in 4 weeks, but I may as well begin my absence with the boat as clean as possible.  At the end of this it was 9 PM and I couldn't be bothered going to a restaurant after my shower, so I settled for 4 fried eggs smothered in Parmesan cheese.


I'll be returning to the USA a bit leaner that when I visited last year.  I had stacked on a lot of weight during the year and by the end of April I was in pretty bad shape.  That 'flu that Brenda and I picked up in Topolobamp was the last straw.   When Jak left in late May I was still weak, coughing, and having bouts of vertigo.  Three months of hard work, the hot La Paz climate, no alcohol, and a diet of fruit, vegetables, and one meal a day seems have done the trick.  I haven't had bread, butter, sugar, honey or milk for 3 months - but lots of nonfat yogurt.  I managed to lose 3.5 inches in my waist, leaving me with what I think is a 39 inch waist. For two months I had no beef, chicken or pork - just fish six nights a week and the occasional main course of beans or eggs.  I could have done better but a grumbling back has prevented me from doing any jogging or situps.  I've got no weight numbers because I haven't had access to a scale.  Anyway, now for the hard part: keeping the weight off.

I expect to board a cab for the airport at noon tomorrow.  It'll be a long day, with arrival at Seattle at  10.15 PM.

Catalina 38

On one of my visits to San Evaristo I saw what appeared to be another Sparkman and Stephens 39.  The hull looked identical to Pachuca's but somehow the boat looked a bit smaller.  I went by and asked the owner if it was an S and S.  The captain told me that Catalina had commissioned Sparkman and Stephens to design their 38 footer and the result was the Catalina 38.

There was a Catalina 38 next to Pachuca at the boat yard and here are some photos that might be of interest.

Back in the Water and a Surprise Sail

The splashdown yesterday morning went without a hitch.

The items on the bill were exactly as quoted, with no surprise ad-ons.  The final bill came to $1866 USD (21832 pesos).  Of this, $660 USD was for the 3 gallons of antifouling.  The gallon of primer would not have been cheap either.

Dynaplate in position.  Note large gaps filled by epoy bed.

I told Antonio that I was very happy with the work done on Pachuca.  I was particularly impressed how the senior Abaroa, patriarch of the wealthy family, presented himself at the boatyard every morning to discuss and oversee the various activities at the yard.  He was the ultimate quality control person and checked my boat carefully before it was lowered into the water.

Bob Carroll arrived shortly before the appointed hour of noon to find me tied to the jetty because the splashdown was an hour early.  While helping  remount the long VHF antenna at the stern he suggested a short motoring cruise around the bay to exercise the engine.  We headed down the channel pleased to be doing over 6 kt over the ground with the engine running at only 1500 rpm.  We must have been getting an assist from the ebbing tide.  Bob noted how smooth and quiet the engine was.  It was the usual bright and sunny day and after a couple of comments about the fine sailing breeze we decided to go for a sail using the jib only.

It was a splendid sail, banking WNW along the Mogote on a beam reach off a 10 kt (average) breeze from the north.  A clean hull must make more difference than I had thought because the boat zipped effortlessly through the water at over 6 kt - just on the jib.  Due to the impromptu nature of the sail all I could dig up for lunch was black coffee and a small can of tuna each.  It was a shame because I had a refrigerator full of bananas, mangoes, pears, yogurt, pineapple juice, etc, but that that was a small price to pay for a great sail.

After two hours we headed back, sailing close to the wind in order to clear the Mogote and make the entrance to the La Paz channel.  At times the boat was sailing 30 degrees to the wind, according to the instruments.  We were amazed.  We tried flattening the jib way beyond anything I had ever done before and we lost significant boatspeed.  We found that we got much a much better result by easing the jib sheet and getting some "belly" in the sail.  Into an apparant wind of 11 kt we were doing close to 6 kt.

I enjoyed very much having the new GPS on the binnacle.  We could trim the sail and instantly see the result. What luxury.

During the sail I checked out the chart plotter, radar, AIS, and the autopilot, which we used a lot.  All of those systems were working fine.  The autopilot had been a concern because we had done a lot of crawling under the wires that connect to the autopilot's linear drive.

It was my first sail in Pachuca since April.  For the last 3 months my perception of Pachuca had become fragmented: she was no longer a boat but rather a series of work sites according on the project of the week. In those few hours she became an integrated boat again and it was great to have her back.

Almost Finished

Ground Foil Run
To Tuner

Batteries Reinstalled

I arrived at the boat just before 8AM and after a leisurely cup of coffee sitting in the cockpit and enjoying the panoramic view of the bay I got to work on installing the platform for the upper two batteries.  As planned, Antonio arrived at 9AM and all was ready for the lifting of the two big gel batteries into position.  They did the job with remarkably little trouble and I am confident now that I can remove and reinstall those batteries myself were the need to arise.  The two young men then left me to it and I spent over an hour connecting up the batteries after the usual cleaning and sanding of the connectors, then fastening them down with the piece of timber provided for  the job.  I then used a small artist's brush to coat all terminals and connectors with a thin layer of lanolin grease.

Then I turned my attention to the lazarette, where there was still the task of connecting the copper grounding foil to the tuner.  I had used two packages foil thinking that they both contained 24 ft lengths, but one turned out to be a bit shorter than the other.  The upshot was that two of the four foils were about 18” short of the tuner.  I used the excess from the longer pair to create a generously overlapped join of the shorter pair.  I don't like these joins because they can introduce resistance, but I wasn't too concerned because two of the foils were full length and one piece.  I used screws with big washers to fasten the foils to the lazarette floor and to effect the join. 

Then there was the tricky job of bolting the foils on the tuner post.  I have read several complaints on the Net about the tiny post provided with these tuners, and I agree.  Nevertheless I managed to get the four foils from the Dynaplate and three foils connected to the Monitor self steering onto that post, on the theory that the more paths to the water the better. 

I ran the foil along the floor of the lazarette both to minimize the length of the run (which I estimate to be about 10 ft) and to avoid all sorts of awkward complications associated with running the foil up and along the ceiling of the lazarette.  I plan to protect the foil with some sort of cover, and I'll review the storage role of the lazarette.  The gas cylinders will remain, well restrained on the starboard side.  But I will no longer cram the lazarette with containers of spare diesel and gasoline.  Much as I dislike the idea of cluttering up the deck, my plan is to sail out of La Paz with diesel and water containers strapped along the rails.  They should serve me well to 20 or 30 degrees south of the equator.  After that if they get swept overboard in rough seas well, too bad, but they will have done their job because they will be empty.  I'm not going to lash them too securely because I don't want the rails to be bent over.

Antonio then dropped by just before lunch to show a colleague the new teak work and I asked him the status of the project.  He said that the only things to be done are to move the supports holding the boat up so that two layers of antifouling can be applied where the support pads currently are, and to apply antifouling to the bottom of the keel when the boat is lifted on the slings in the morning.  I noted later that also the line of masking tape at the waterline must be removed.  In summary, all jobs are essentially finished and we'll comfortably make the splashdown scheduled for noon tomorrow.

Now some technical notes for the record. 

The keel and waterline were primed with Interlux Primocon.  The antifouling is “Proline” by Sherwin Williams, described as “ablative”, which suits me fine.

The lower batteries are Delkor N120 calcium, rated 120 a/h (20 hr) and 230 a/h reserve.  Cold cranking at -18C is 800 (amps, I guess).  The interesting thing about these batteries is their age.  Their stamped date is Nov 2002, making them almost 9 years old.  However, since the electrical upgrade in New Zealand they have had a very easy life because now they are dedicated primarily to starting the engine.  (They can also be combined with the bigger house bank in an emergency.)  So they start the engine and the engine immediately charges them back up.  They are “maintenance free” batteries each with little window at the top.  A green window means that all is OK, an amber window means that the battery needs charging, a white window means that the battery should be replaced.  Both windows are green.   I recall  driving them hard a year ago when I ran the starter in many 20 and 30 second bursts in my eventually successful attempt to get the old Sabb engine running.  The batteries didn't show any sign of faltering.  If it ain't broke don't fix it so I'll stick with them for my return to Australia. 

Also for the reacord, I took the opportunity to grease the lower bearing of the steering mechanism.  I brought a grease gun for that one job and it was with great pleasure that I saw the grease being forced out through the lower seal.

Wednesday - Third day at the boat yard.

4 Strips of Foil on Dynaplate Gold Post

I arrived at the boatyard at 8AM and in the cool of the morning I started to look at the task of laying the grounding copper foil between the HF tuner in the lazarette and the “golden bolt” of the dynaplate, low in the section below the cockpit.  I had intended to lay down four strips of foil and connect one to each of the four bolts of the Dynaplate, but the instructions were very clear that the foil should be connected to the only one of the four bolts that is literally gold plated.  I would still lay down the four strips but connect them all to the golden bolt.

The idea behind the use of these wide and thin foils is the physical fact, so I am told, that electrons travel along the surface of conductors, and these foils maximize the surface area for a given quantity of copper.  My intention was to stack four foils in order to minimize the resistance between the tuner and the Dynaplate.

Note Entry of /Foil to Lazarette at Top Right

I peered into the lazarette trying to decide the best location in which to cut a slot for the passage of the foil when I hit on the idea of cutting the slot not on the lazarette floor but rather in the vertical section just below the access doors.  This would solve two problems.  First, a slot in the floor would have acted as a drain allowing water – and worse, any gas leaking from the cylinders stored in that area – to drop into the bilge.  A slot slightly above the floor level makes the task of sealing much easier, and in the case of gas would buy more time for the gas detector in the lazarette to go off.  Second, a slot in the floor would have necessitated that the foil take a clumsy passage below the lower edge of a bulkhead, whereas the vertical section of the slot is the bulkhead, resulting in a much neater pathway.

I told Antonio how I would fold the foil to change direction and fasten it to the bulkhead with stainless steel screws spaced about 18 inches apart.  Antonio heroically volunteered to do the work in the cramped and hot conditions.  I started the process by punching the hole in the set of foils and fastening the set to the golden bolt.  Thereafter I supported Antonio by passing the drill, screws, screwdriver, etc.  At the end of that operation at about 11 AM Antonio was one hot puppy and I was not to see him on board again until 5 PM.

That suited me fine because it allowed me to install the lower set of batteries at my usual slow and methodical pace.  I strengthened the battery box with four  more thru bolts and several long screws in key positions.  It now has a better chance of containing all four batteries in a rollover, but still isn't foolproof.  I plan to jam a spacer between the top of the batteries and the cockpit floor.  I also took the opportunity to carefully clean and sand the battery posts and all connectors.  At the end of the day I was the hot puppy but was satisfied that the lower two batteries – the “starter bank” - were back in place.

Antonio came around at 5 PM and had a look at the progress.  We agreed that I would resume work at 8 AM tomorrow but would not be ready for his assistance in lifting the two gel batteries until 9AM.

Bob Carroll visited at about midday.  He showed me how to cut the ends of the screws protruding from the teak work above with small side cutters instead of a Dremmel tool.  This means that I'll be able to deal with those screws before my departure for Australia, which will undoubtedly save me from more than one nasty gash to my scalp.  Antonio dropped by and confirmed to us that two coats of primer and one coat of antifouling had been laid on both the keel and the perimeter of the Dynaplate.  Tomorrow the second coat of antifouling will be laid on the hull and keel, marking the end of that line of effort.

We set the splashdown for Friday between noon and 1 PM.  Bob and I will then have lunch at the marina restaurant.   I'll stick to the non alcoholic beer.  After last night's first beers in over 3 months I had trouble sleeping and felt lousy this morning.  I also noticed that my balance wasn't exactly 100%.  … That's how I used to feel when I didn't drink!  (Just kidding.)

[Note that I've added photos to yesterday's blog entry.]

Second Day on Hard Stand

This is Tuesday, the second day of Pachuca's hardstanding at Abaroa's “Don Jose” boat yard and things are going extremely well.

Hull Not Too Fouled at Haulout

Scraping the Lead Keel

Under the Cockpit Before Cleanup

Yesterday Bob Carroll arrived at 8.30 AM to help me fand soon we were on or way to the boat lifter which is only a few hundred meters from the marina. Bob was well ahead of me when he reminded me that the boat would have to be turned around 180 degrees and backed into the lifter. We set up our lines accordingly. Fortunately two men at the jetty in front of the lifter helped us out and soon we were turned around and being pulled into the lifter breech first.

Soon after the high speed spray was put on the keel I saw the problem, and after the hull cleanup Antonio told me that big patches of old antifouling were peeling off the lead keel and it should be sanded back to the bare metal so that two coats of primer could be applied before the antifouling was rolled on. I agreed. The labor and materials for sanding and priming both the keel and the “boot topping” at the water line was quoted at $465 USD and I gave the OK. This was one of those jobs that I was going to do in Fremantle but is being done in La Paz.

The rest of the day was quiet. Somebody began to prepare the keel with a chemical remover and scraper, and we engaged in some discussion about the Dynaplate. I presented to Antonio an inside view of the problems of selecting the best site for the Dynaplate.

Keel Scraped and Primered

Fitting the Dynaplate (Antonio at Right)

Batteries on Cabin Sole

Bedding Dynaplate on Epoxy

Dynaplate in Position

The real action was today, Tuesday, and as far as I am concerned we are “over the hump” with the hardstand project.

We started by Antonio removing the two large batteries. During his effort I heard a crack and said “cuidado por favor!” (carefully please!) and later discovered that he had knocked one of the surge protectors off its mount when I noticed it plaintively blinking its light from below the batteries. With the upper batteries removed we had a look inside and it became obvious that the lower batteries would have to also be removed. I asked him for some time, and he said that he'd be back in 20 minutes. He came back in 20 Mexican minutes, which was more like 60 minutes, but that suited me fine because by the time he returned I had the two lower batteries on the the cabin sole and was almost finished removing their supporting platform. Soon that platform was out and for the first time during my ownership of Pachuca we had a clear rand elatively unobstructed access to the area under the cockpit.

Antonio drilled his first pilot hole from inside the hull and the position on the outside of the hull looked good. He then drilled the other three pilot holes, using a cardboard template that he had made.

We then fitted the Dynaplate on the outside of the hull over hull and saw immediately that the compound curves of the hull presented a problem. Pachuca has more curves than Bridget Bardot in her prime. The resultant gaps between the flat Dynaplate and the curved hull looked much too large to be dealt with 3M 5200 compound, so I suggested spacers. We agreed to use spacers of 2” diameter of “starboard” plastic material.

When I returned from the lunch break Antonio told me that there was a change of plans. His
boss, who I take to be Senor Abaroa, who owns the yard, deemed the spacer solution “feo” (ugly). He didn't want Pachuca hauled out in Australia to have people see what an ugly job had been done in La Paz. Professional pride. I liked that. The new proposal was to sand that area of the hull then bed the Dynaplate a layer of West System epoxy. It would be very strong, impervious to water, and provide a perfectly fitting bed. As soon as Antonio said that I could see that it made beautiful sense, I thanked him, and gave the OK.

At the end of Tuesday the Dynaplate had been located, its holes drilled, and it was seated on a bed of epoxy which would be cured in the morning. The keel had been sanded with a machine, primed, and faired in spots with epoxy. The first coat of antifouling had been rolled on the hull.

In addition of playing the role of anxious and ever watching boat owner (“Don't worry” said Antonio. “I've got to get all of the way to Australia!” was my reply.) I spent 4 or 5 hours of serious hot and dirty work cleaning the dark recesses of the under-cockpit space. On the surfaces I cleaned off the wood and fiberglass dust of Reggie's teak effort. At the bilge level I dredged out years of accumulated muck that had settled into a hard layer of mud. In that mud was rusted bolts, washers, bits of wire, shards of timber, etc. There is a “dead” section that holds probably 20 liters of stagnant water that would remain so unless there was massive flooding into the bilge. This water was seriously smelly, and unpleasant to remove one cupful at a time, followed by one spongeful at at time. I also reconnected the aft drain hose that we had removed for the teak work, firmly clamping it instead of having it merely slipped on as before.

I was VERY happy with the progress and the standard of work. We were on track for a splashdown on Friday.

I celebrated this hopefully last successful hurdle during my working summer in La Paz with my first beer in over 3 months. In the last week I've been easing up on myself in preparation for my reentry to “normal” life, but more on this later.

To the Boat Yard

Bob Carroll is due at 8.30 AM and together we'll ferry the boat to the boat yard for a haul out at 9.30 AM.  The big item on the agenda is the installation of the Dynaplate RF grounding shoe, to be bolted below the waterline at the stern of the boat.  There will also be the routine anitfouling, which I hope will see me through to Australia.  I've told the the boat yard that the boat must be back in the water no later than Saturday, six days away.  During this time I will have limited access to the internet, though I have a plan of visiting my slip at the end of each working day with my Acer netbook and internet cable, and use the internet while sitting on the plastic steps of the boat next door.

I've spent the last 3 days preparing the boat by giving it a major cleanup inside and out.  The cleanup got down to rinsing every item of cutlery and wiping every jar and box in the galley cupboards. 

Chain in Crates, Anchor at Right

The chain locker required a lot of attention because of the huge amount of sawdust that would likely turn to sludge and block the drain holes at the first sign of moisture.  I emptied it, removed the upper level, then swept, hosed down, and hand wiped the interior.  I detached the 12 meters of chain from the 80 meters of rope that normally resides on the upper level and stored it in a plastic crate on the forecastle sole.  That operation worked as planned.  I was able to feed the chain straight into the crate through the forward hatch with little trouble.  This 12 meters of chain represents about 55 lb that has been moved from the end of the boat's long and narrow bow closer to the center of buoyancy.  On a calm day when I am far out at sea I will move the 37 meters chain representing the primary rode to a second crate stacked on top of the first one.  This will represent another 170 lbs removed from the bow. 

The photo shows the crate with the 12 meters of chain.  To the right you'll see the hanging closet where I plan to stow the 45 lb plow anchor that I will be removing off the roller.  At present the lower section of that closet is filled with shoes, boots, and a portable vise.  I'll move the shoes to the forecastle and place the anchor in that compartment.  This will have the anchor closer to the center of the boat, below the waterline, and best of all, wedged in where it cannot shift when the boat rolls.  I'm hoping that these measures along with my newly sealed chain locker will do wonders for the performance of the boat,  particularly in heavy weather.

To make room for the crate I moved the heavy rope bag holding 100 meters of thick nylon rope of the para anchor into the cabin, on the port side of the mast.  This will nicely balance out the anchor on the starboard side.

FM3, Finally

I showed up at Immigration at 9.30 AM.  The man attending to me looked up my case on the computer then as me if I had paid the money for the tourist visa.  I dropped my head and shoulders in exasperation. Si, pagado hace once dias   Si,  recibo hace once dias  I said in a bored here-we-go-again monotone.  He understood: I had dealt with this 11 days ago.  Fortunately the guy who I had given the "high seven" two days previously was in the next cage and leaned over and told my attendant about my case.  The man went away for 10 minutes then returned and asked me to return at 1 PM.  He said something about "firma" which suggested to me that a signature was required.  He actually looked apologetic when he asked me to return.

I peddled my way back in the heat of the day and hallelujah, the FM3 procedure had been completed.  The man took my thumb prints, pasted my photos on the various forms, and produced my laminated FM3 card.

Then I asked him for my U.S. passport.

He replied that they never keep passports.  They may have looked at my passport but would have given it back.  He was so emphatic that I figured that he must be correct because he would be enunciating organizational policy, and I must have forgotten that I had put it safely away.  ... Except that I couldn't find it either in the apartment or on the boat.  I looked in every likely place.  I couldn't understand how I could have lost it because I handle my passports with great care and respect verging on reverence.  Let's just say that I wouldn't stick one in my back pocket and go shopping at WalMart.

I decided to take the big step of alerting the U.S. consulate of the situation.  Fortunately I looked in my blog to establish first day of the FM3 process and that's what saved me. In the entry for 12 July was the statement " I am to return in 10 days to pick up my new FM3 card - and my US passport!" I knew then that Immigration had - or was supposed to have - my passport.  It was 4 PM so I got on the bike and raced to the immigration office hoping that they were indeed open until 6 PM, otherwise I would have to wait until Monday to deal with it.  I found the place open, sort of.  The door was open, there were a few men talking in the waiting area, but all of the computer terminals had been removed from the counter.  The place was functionally closed.  Soon I saw the same guy who had gotten a face full of my 7 fingers two days earlier and told him  that I needed my passport, it was very important, and they had it.  He looked under the counter then shook his head saying that they didn't have it.

Let's think about this.  They've just moved into the new premises, so why would my passport be under the counter?  I told him that I needed to speak with someone in English because this was very important.  He went away for 5 minutes and returned with my passport in hand, explaining that it had been separated from my file.   So much for the earlier very emphatic statement that they never keep passports.  Had they not found the passport I would not have had a leg to stand on because they do not give a receipt when one hands in this most important document.

It left me thinking that Immigration is an organization driven not by policy and procedures and protocols, but rather by the whim of whomever happens to be at the counter at the time.  Bob has told me that he has gotten an adverse answer from them, returned the next day, and received the desired answer from somebody else. 

I peddled back from my 9th visit to Immigration - 3 on this day - hot and tired but satisfied that I finally had both my FM3 and passport.

Teak Work Finished

Reggie finished the teak work yesterday when he tidied up and put a nice bead of caulking around the perimeter of most of the work.  Previously the water was allowed to collect between the teak and the fiberglass where it turned up, and this cannot happen now.

In the photo of the bow you can see where he beaded around the windlass.

I paid Reggie the equivalent of $2,000 USD in cash, in a plastic food back that contained an account specifying the exchange rate for the day, the number of bills and subtotal of each denomination, and the grand total.

I told him that he is an ethical and honest man who didn't cut any corners, and I greatly appreciated that.  His work was first rate and he had saved the boat for certain water damage in the near future.  Fine words, but I also put my money where my mouth was and pointed to four 500 peso bills folded separately in the bag, which was a bonus to show my appreciation.  He seemed surprised and thanked me very much.

He then went off to pick up with his wife his recovering daughter from the hospital.

This morning he dropped by for an hour to tidy up the work that he had done yesterday and thanked me again for the bonus.  I told him that he had earned it.

The entire job cost me about $4400 USD.  Most of that went for the teak.  There are various grades of teak.  Some of the fast grown teaks have very little oil in them.  Reggie uses top grade European standard teak that has plenty of oil in it.  And as I said earlier, he uses 5/8" thick planking instead of the usual 1/2".