Sep 1
About 04:00, we were awakened by the wind starting to pick up. Barb got up and said she was nervous and was going to stay up. I thought nothing of it and was going to go back to sleep. But, the wind kept building and the rain started, so I got up about 04:45. We turned on the instruments so we could see how fast the wind was blowing, and saw it was over thirty knots. By 05:30, we had sustained wind over forty knots, with gusts over fifty. The highest gust I saw was fifty-four knots. This lasted about an hour, and then it died back to under forty for another hour. By 08:00, it was down to about twenty-five knots and felt like a gentle breeze. During the height of the wind, the rain was coming down so hard we could barely see the bar from the boat. The lights on the outside of the building were on and it looked like a car in a wind tunnel with smoke flowing over it as the rain blew by. About 05:45, the power went off, making it a little spookier with no reference points until the light of dawn started to come.
By 07:00, people were coming out on the docks, even though it was still raining and blowing. Bob came around making sure everybody was alright. In the marina, there was a little damage, but it was due to people not preparing or preparing wrong. Lone Fox, the very pretty sixty-five foot wooden boat had significant damage to it's transom and toe rail. They had tied the boat too far back in the slip, so when the big wind came and their dock lines stretched, they hit the dock. By the time they started the motor to power forward and reset the lines, the transom was badly bashed up, an the dock had caught the teak toe rail and ripped it of the stern and about ten feet forward on each side. The catamaran next to Lone Fox also hit the dock, but didn't get significantly damaged. They did have their mainsail cover tear off. One power boat had parts of his enclosure flapping afterwards, but I think they just came unsnapped.
Elsewhere, we heard several conversations on the VHF during the storm about boats at anchor dragging. One boat that we know got hit by another boat that dragged. We heard he has some damage but not severe. Our friends on Southern Cross had their dinghy, with motor, sink. They have a hard dinghy, not an inflatable, so it can sink. An inflatable can fill with water and still not sink. Lots of stuff in the bar got wet. The walls have a gap at the ceiling for ventilation. In normal rain, even downpours, the roof overhang keeps water out. But with the wind like it was and the rain going sideways, lots of rain came in. Had Bob expected the strength of the wind, he would have covered some things, but as were the rest of us, he was caught off guard. The Direct TV box got wet and doesn't work now. The TV itself is ok. The wireless router will pass through if you plug in an Ethernet cable, but isn't communicating wirelessly. The karaoke machine was drenched, but after drying for a while, it works fine.
By afternoon, the wind had subsided to the normal trade wind breeze, and the sun was coming out. We made an announcement on the VHF that the Saturday evening pot luck would go on as usual. Thinking that the participants might be limited to those of us in the marina, we got together and ordered eight pizzas to be delivered at 18:00. Several people also made salads and appetizers. We did have a light crowd, but it was still about twenty-five. Karaoke went on and we had a good time. By 21:00, Barb was beat and went to the boat. I stayed a little longer and ended up closing the place down with Bob about 01:00. I guess even though we had been up since the early hours, we were celebrating the storm not hurting us. Felix became Felix just as it passed over Grenada. The exact point of passage is still a debate between the National Weather Service and the two guys who forecast for boats, but it was damn close. Since our wireless connection is down, I don't have a copy of the track map to post.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Sep 2
This morning, I helped Bob wire up the new transformer for us. He never had gotten around to it yesterday. The new one is not an outdoor unit, so we will need to keep it protected from the rain. But, it is powerful enough that running our a/c shouldn't be a problem. I donated the power cord I just replaced that had the burnt end to Bob for whatever he wanted to do with it. It came in handy for our new connection. He cut off the burnt end and put on a European plug. That cord can now come from the dock to the cockpit of the boat where the transformer will be. It will plug into the transformer, and then he put a 50amp plug on the output of the transformer. He thought I would not be able to use my splitter though, because it expects to split 220v to two 110v lines. However, I have a second 50 amp splitter that splits 50 amp 110 into two 30 amp 110's. Back in Houston, we had one dock we went to occasionally that had 50 amp 110 plugs instead of the more common 50 amp 220 plugs, so I bought both kinds of splitter. Everybody said I was nuts then, because the splitters cost about $250 each, but I'm sure glad I had it now. We dollied the thing down to the boat and plugged her in. One the first try, the ground fault breaker on the dock blew immediately. Bob switched two of the wires on the plug and we tried it again. It worked! I first turned on just our battery charger and it worked fine and started charging. We smelled something hot by the transformer, but determined that it was just because it was new. I turned on the small a/c unit, and everything kept working. After about an hour, I turned on the large a/c unit, and the water heater. Everything still worked, and I felt the wires to make sure nothing was getting hot, and all was good. Barb fashioned a little roof out of two plastic cushions to protect the transformer from the top, and we put our two folding stadium seats over it also to protect from the sides. It can still get air, but shouldn't get wet. If we have another storm like Felix, we'll probably disconnect it anyway and put it in a bag.
In the afternoon, we played cards with Dave & Sue. We decided to change up from dominoes. The game we played is called Hand & Foot. It's a variation of Canasta and uses four full decks of cards. We played a round to learn the rules and then played two real games. You play teams, and to make it fair Dave & Barb were a team, and Sue & I were the other. Dave & Barb won both games.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Sep 3
We are running some errands today. We have gotten out of sync with our errand/grocery runs, because of being in the yard last week. But, Sue has a doctor's appointment this afternoon anyway, so we piggybacked with the taxi. Bert picked us up at 14:00. First we stopped to drop my SCUBA tank off for it's five-year hydrostatic test. It's only four years overdue, but since I only use it occasionally to get under the boat, it hasn't needed refilling since we left Texas. But, it needs refilling now, so I need to have it recertified. Next stop was at the canvas shop to pick up our remaining pieces of the enclosure. They were done and I paid for the whole job. Next, Bert dropped Barb and I at the grocery store and took Dave & Sue on to the doctor. We knew it would be an hour before they got back, so we killed some time wandering around the mall before starting to grocery shop. We timed our shopping perfectly, as we were done and waiting only about five minutes before they got back.
In the evening, we watched several episodes of House that we have on DVD. We fell asleep during the fourth episode, so we'll have to watch that one again.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Sep 4
Today I'm going to continue working on my project list. We did a lot while at the yard, but we left inside things for when we were back here and air conditioned. The first project involved the a/c. The last couple of days before we left for the yard, the condensation tray on the front a/c was overflowing. Unfortunately, when this happens, the floor in the v-berth gets wet. Having been back in the marina with the a/c running for a couple of days, there was still water under the floorboard. I had to remove the forward head door, and the cover in front of the a/c unit, in order to remove the floorboard and dry it all up. Once I did that, I didn't see any dripping from where it had been a week ago. I checked the drain hose that should take condensation to the bilge, and it seemed to be clear. So, I didn't accomplish anything except cleaning a lot of cat hair out from under the floor and drying it all out. That in itself is suspect because the cat NEVER goes in the v-berth. We'll have to keep a close eye on him. I put it all back together and will have to wait until it happens again to diagnose it.
Next, I attacked a project I have been dreading. If you recall, last year in the Bahamas, our head clogged. A clogged head is a boater's nightmare, but sooner or later it happens to everybody. Last year, I had to beat the clogged hose on the dock to clear it and replace the same piece of hose since none was available there. Recently, we have noticed more pressure on the handle when we pump the head, and a small leak of flushing water is coming from the pump. So I got new hose and had a rebuild kit for the pump. First I took the whole toilet out of the room and put it in the cockpit. Then I wrestled the old hose out. It was easier than last year, since I made an access hole last year, but it still goes around a tight corner and put up a fight. I measured the length of the hose and then carried it up to the garbage burn pit to dispose of it. I cut the new hose and put it in place. Then I started taking apart the pump in the cockpit and rebuilding it. There are about twenty rubber parts in a marine head. O-rings, joker valves, flapper valves, seals, and gaskets. I disassembled, cleaned and reassembled everything. I then took the toilet back to the head, attached the hoses and bolted it to the floor. Then, the moment of truth - Barb opened the input thru-hull and I pumped the toilet. It worked! And nothing leaked. By now, my back was killing me and I was done for the day.
We went up to the bar about 16:30 for happy hour and to check e-mail. Without the wireless, we have to carry the computer to the bar and plug into the Ethernet cable. Bob's wife, Leslie, had just gotten in from Canada, along with Gee & France from Moana who have been back in Canada for a month. Leslie was supposed to bring a new wireless router, but was unable to get it before she left, so it will have to be FedEx'ed. We'll have to deal with a couple more days of taking the computer to the bar to connect. Wow what a bummer that you have to sit in a bar to check e-mail.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Sep 5
I lowered the dinghy this morning to replace a bridle that we hoist it with. There are two lines from the davits to the dinghy to hoist with. The front one connects to a u-bolt through the dinghy hull. The rear one connects to a small bridle I made a few years ago. The bridle is rope and connect to u-bolts on either side of the transom. The line from the davit connects to a ring in the middle. The rope has been chafing on the edge of the transom for some time now and was in danger of breaking. While we were in the yard, I had the rigging shop make me a similar bridle but it is made from stainless steel lifeline wire instead of rope. With the new bridle in place, I set about finding the leak we have developed in one tube of the dinghy. I mixed up a soapy water solution in a spray bottle and started spraying seams. To my surprise, instead of a seam, I found three pinhole leaks on the topside of the tube. I'm not sure how they got there, nor how a tough material like a dingy tube can even get a pinhole leak, but they will be easier to fix than a seam would be. I also replaced the cockpit mic for the VHF that had gone flaky after the storm last week. I think all that was wrong was it got water in the connector and now that it has died out it seems fine. While I was doing all this stuff, Barb was busy scrubbing the deck. The boat has not had a good scrubbing in ages, and there is noticeable discoloration on deck from the Sahara dust getting imbedded in the non-skid surfaces.
About noon, we quit for lunch and because that was enough hot work for one day. Barb fixed us some lunch and we turned on the local TV. One station was showing TNT and the movie Lethal Weapon 2 was on. Neither of us had seen it, so we watched. It was immediately followed by Lethal Weapon 3 which we hadn't seen either. At 15:00, about halfway through the movie, the channel changed to the Cartoon Network. No announcement, no apology, just like the kids came home from school and changed the channel. You could even see the channel display from the satellite feed that they get the programming from. It's truly bizarre how the local TV works.
We have a special happy hour tonight, Steve from Liward has put together a couple other local guys to play music with him. Steve plays the guitar and sings, one local guy plays the bass, and the other local guy has an electronic drum set. Steve borrowed a mixer from somebody else that he knows and plugged it all into Bob's sound system and voila, we have live entertainment. They only played for a little over an hour, but they were good. It was especially good when you consider that the local guys had never even heard most of the songs. They did some Buffett, some Larry Joe Taylor, some Kelly McGuire, and a couple of old rock and roll songs. The local guys just watched Steve and got the gist of it all quite well. Unless you really knew a song well you wouldn't have known they were winging it.
After they were done, a friend of Bob's showed up to install the new wireless router that had shown up via FedEx late this afternoon. When we got back to the boat it was working. It'll be nice to not have to carry the computer to the bar to connect but our bar bills will not suffer any longer.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Sep 6
Today was one of those do-nothing days. Dave was working on something, so they weren't available to play cards or dominoes. We did find the website of friends Kevin & Amanda on Solstice. It was fun to read the logs of their past two years since they have been to lots of the same places we have been.
In the evening, the power went out. I thought at first it was a problem with our transformer, but as soon as I stuck my head outside I saw the whole marina was off. The town across the bay was lit, so we probably blew the main meter to the marina again. I went out on the dock and Bob was coming around telling everybody the power company was on the way and it would be a little while. But the generator will keep the beer cold in the bar.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Sep 7
Today is grocery day. We have our regular taxi lined up with Dave & Sue for 09:30. There is also a group taking a large taxi after us. We went to the produce market downtown first. We haven't been down there since we first got here and thought it might be a fun switch from getting the produce at the supermarket. Bert dropped us off and agreed to pick us back up in an hour. We wandered from booth to booth checking out the goods. We got some bell peppers, bananas, cabbage, and potatoes. At one booth, there was a little kid sitting in a chair staring at us. He was probably not two years old yet, and he just kept looking at these strange people probably wondering why they were so white. We waved to him and tried to get him to smile, but he just kept staring. I suspect the lady running the booth was Grandma. When she saw us trying to make him smile, she picked him up and gave him to Barb to hold. We thought Grandma was telling him to give Barb a kiss, but then realized she was telling Barb to give him a kiss. She did, but the baby still never cracked a smile. He never cried or squirmed to get away either, but he just had this wary look on his face the whole time. Barb set him back down in his chair and he watched us walk away, still wondering what the heck just happened.
We met Bert and he took us over to the IGA. The van that brought the rest of the cruisers was parked in front. To our surprise, there were only a couple carts available out front. This can't be good. Inside we found a mob scene. Not only were the dozen other cruisers shopping, but half the student from the medical school must have been there. I guess everybody knows that the store is stocked best on Friday and has the same idea we do. It's funny watching the students shop. Many of them are British or Indian and a disproportionate number of them seem to be vegetarians, so their selections are quite different than ours. I watched an interesting scene as four girls, who were vegans, kept reading labels and rejecting things for one reason or another. Just a minute later, three other girls came down the same isle and one was saying "I want meat and cheese". Things like the large bags of corn tortilla chips were getting snatched right out of the cartons as an employee was trying to put them on the shelf. And the Ramen noodle shelf has been picked bare. We eventually made it through the crowds and got checked out. This was the first time we had to stand in line at the checkout. They have ten lanes and they are almost always all open, even if the clerk is just sitting there. Today every clerk was busy and even some of the managers were bagging to keep up. Bert took us back to the marina where we stowed the groceries and had lunch.
Sue and I both have doctors appointments this afternoon, so we are sharing the taxi back to town. Bert was supposed to be there at 14:15, but was ten minutes late. My appointment was at 14:30, so we were definitely going to be late. Bert dialed my doctor on his cell phone and I told them we would be there by 14:45. They said no problem. Bert dropped me and then took Sue to her appointment. I had to wait about thirty minutes since I had been late and they took the next appointment in before I got there. The purpose of my visit was to have two raised moles removed and the doctor did it quickly and easily. It took her about twenty minutes from when I got in her office, and I was on the way. Total cost for two removals, and lab tests, $118US. I had several of these removed back in the States for over $200 each plus the office visit charge. Bert was waiting for me when I came out of the office. We picked Sue up and headed back to the marina.
When I walked down the dock, Barb was sitting in the cockpit with that something's amiss look on her face. Turned out the hot wire on the output side of the transformer had fried. She had unplugged everything to avoid further burning. I took a look at it, and not only had the wire burnt it's insulation an inch or so, but the plastic around the lugs where it attached to the transformer had melted badly. It wasn't something I could fix myself without getting new connectors from Bob. I hated to bring this problem to Bob, because he has been fighting power problems all week, between blowing the meter again last night, and trying to get the new three-phase power connected. He also had bad news today when a mechanic told him the engine on the backhoe he uses for various purposes needs to be rebuilt. I hated to add to the list.
We went up to the bar at happy hour. Bob was still over at the dead backhoe talking to the mechanics, so I didn't bother him. When they left and he finally came in, you could see the stress in his face. After he got a beer, I told him what went wrong, but that I didn't expect him to even think about it tonight. We can go a night without a/c and deal with it in the morning.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Sep 8
This morning, I started to look at the transformer before I saw Bob. I took the fried lugs off and pulled the end off the unit so we could have enough room to replace the lugs. When I knew what we needed I went to look for Bob. Barb had come back form exercising and said he was on the riding mower up on the hill. Bob never mows the lawn himself. He has three guys who pretty much mow all the time. I figured this wasn't a good sign. I speculated that he was feeling so stressed that he just wanted to go do something mindless to get away from everything. After thinking about what I had available, I decided I couldn't fix the connections without Bob's help, so I carried the whole thing up to the office. I guessed that if he were stressed already, he wouldn't want to try to fix it aboard the boat with me watching. When I saw him stop mowing, I told him where it was and what I thought it needed and left it at that. I didn't expect he would get it fixed today, but he went off to town to buy new connector lugs. I was frustrated at this whole problem happening, since I had a perfectly good transformer before we went to the boat yard, and I don't think Bob should have given that to another boat when we were gone, knowing we would be back in a few days. But, there's nothing I can do about that now and we just have to make the best of what we've got. Hopefully the new three-phase power will be on next week and relieve the problem. I spent an hour reading stuff on the Internet about wiring and GFCI circuits and 110 electricity in general. Even before the wire fried, the big a/c unit would blow the dock GFCI breaker if I plugged it in before the rest of the boat. If I plugged in the rest of the boat first, it worked fine. I understand more about how GFCI circuits work now, but I still don't understand what we are seeing.
Tonight is the weekly pot-luck and karaoke. Being grumpy about the power, I don't really feel like partying, and figure we'll eat and then not stay for karaoke. We got up to the bar at 17:30 and were the second couple there. Bob's wife Leslie was there and she said Bob was still working on my transformer and was just about done. I was surprised to hear this, but certainly glad. A few minutes later, here came Bob with the transformer on a dolly. We went to the boat and hooked it up. We have power again. We are, however only going to be able to run one a/c unit to avoid overloading the wires again.
Back at dinner, I was feeling much happier now. You could tell Bob felt much better too. We had a small crowd today, perhaps because a number of people went to the bi-weekly hash. By the time we were considering karaoke, there were less than ten of us there, but then several people returned from the hash and several couples who had not come up for dinner showed up. So we ended up having a fun karaoke session after all.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Sep 9
We had a good night's sleep since we had air conditioning. We can only run one a/c unit at a time, but that's fine at night. The small unit just cools the aft cabin where we sleep, so it's perfect. My plan is to plug in one cord at night, which will run the small a/c and the battery charger. During the day we will switch to the other cord and run the large a/c. The rest of the boat can run off the batteries all day, with the solar panels up, and then at night the battery charger will be back on. Nice plan except for the GFCI problem I have if I try to plug in just the large a/c unit. I can't blame this problem on the general power problems here. This is something in the boat's wiring or the a/c unit itself. Since I installed this wiring and the a/c, it's especially suspect. It has never been a problem before, because I have never seen a dock with a GFCI beaker on the dock before. With the a/c unit turned off, the breaker blows as soon as I plug in the cord. I pulled apart the main electric panel and started checking for bad connections. I didn't find anything that seemed to be wrong. I tried to plug in again with the same result, which is good. I then shut off the breaker inside the boat and plugged in again. This time the GFCI did not blow. I tested the voltage inbound to the breaker and it looked good. I then reset the inside breaker expecting the GFCI to blow, and it didn't. I cautiously turned on the a/c unit expecting that surely then it would blow, since I haven't changed anything. It came on fine. Now this all may make some sense to a trained electrician, but it doesn't to me. But if all it takes to be cool is flipping switches in a particular order, I can adapt.
In an effort to actually fix something I understand, I patched the leaks in the dinghy. The two-part glue I bought the other day has no instructions - like perhaps the proportions to mix the two parts? It isn't one-to-one. I mixed some up and slapped it on the patch and the dinghy. After letting it dry about ten minutes, I put the two pieces together and it stuck. I repeated the process for the second patch. We'll see if it holds.
We are getting all the weather alerts we have set up because of Tropical Storm Gabrielle. While we don't want to wish bad things on anybody else, it's nice to be able to just ignore all the alerts.
In the afternoon we played a new card game with Dave & Sue. It called Phase 10. It's sort of like progressive rummy, where you have to get a different combination of melds in each hand, but with twists. It takes a couple hours to play and was fun once we got the hang of how it worked. Dave led the whole game until the end when Sue came from behind us all to win.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Sep 10
The day started with our new electrical routine. I unplugged the cord that serves the whole boat, and plugged in the one for the large a/c. I then went inside and turned on the breaker. So far so good. Then I switched on the a/c unit, and the GFCI breaker on the dock blew. This worked yesterday. I repeated the process three times with the same results. Knowing that the problem stems from the large load at startup of the a/c unit, I tried one last time lessening the load. I turned on the breaker, then the fan independently, then the compressor. It worked! I was still frustrated, but getting cooler.
I thought I would attack another project today. The fresh water pump has been kicking on frequently when nobody is running water, indicating a leak downstream of the pump. This could be a loose connection or a hose leak in numerous hard to get places. I started by opening the engine compartment where a lot of the fresh water hose connections are, and got lucky. The problem was the accumulator tank was leaking at it's seam. The accumulator tank holds about a quart of water, and a charge of air separated by a rubber bladder. The pump fills the tank with water pushing against the bladder until a preset pressure is reached and the pump stops. Then, when you turn on a faucet, you get pressure aided by the air trapped behind the bladder, and when the pump kicks on, the water flow is smoother than just the pulsing from the pump would be, because the tank buffers it. I was happy to find the problem in seconds instead of hours, and happy that the part was available at both Island Water World and Budget Marine.
As long as I was going to make a parts run, I tackled another project. We have a digital counter on the primary bilge pump so we know how often it runs. Since leaving the Bahamas when we have pretty much bashed into seas and weather all the time, we have noticed that the pump runs hundreds of times each time we are on a passage. When we sit at anchor, it never runs. When we are at a dock with the a/c running, it runs a few times a day because the condensation from the a/c runs into the bilge. This either means we are taking on water while underway, or the float switch bounces around when we are in rough seas. Before any boater friends get real concerned, you have to understand that this boat has a very shallow bilge. When the pump runs legitimately, it puts out maybe a gallon of water. So, even if we really are taking on water somewhere, it isn't a lot. But it bothers me. One of my guesses was that perhaps the check valve in the output hose was bad, and water was able to come in the output thru-hull while underway. The thru-hull is right at the waterline, so this wouldn't be impossible. To test the theory, I pulled up the floorboards exposing the pump and the check valve. Barb watched inside as I took the hose outside and pumped water in the thru-hull. She didn't notice any water coming out of the pump, pretty much negating my theory. I guess the next test would be to shut off the bilge pumps while underway and see if we really get significant amounts of water inside. (Barb is not comfortable with this test! I get to say that because I proof read this stuff.)
Off to the store to purchase the parts. When I got back to the boat, I noticed the rear a/c was running. (You can tell by where the cooling water comes out of the side of the boat.) I could only guess that this meant there was another electrical problem with the large unit. Barb told me that during a squall that came through while I was gone, the a/c went off. She had found the GFCI breaker on the dock and tried to reset it, but it wouldn't. She unplugged everything, reset the breaker, and went through the same crap I did this morning, but couldn't get it on. So she switched it to the rear one. I tried to switch it to no avail. It pops the breaker now when the cord is plugged in, even with the inside breaker off. Maybe moisture got in the plug during the storm.
I installed the new accumulator tank and got soaked in the process. Picture me laying on my back on the galley floor, reaching up and installing this thing on the ceiling of the engine compartment. When first turned on, there was a small leak because the hose clamps weren't tight enough. I had Barb turn off the pump and then undid the connection to the tank without first relieving the pressure. I got blasted with a quart of water. At least it was clean fresh water.
At this point, it was happy hour and we needed showers. We packed up our shower stuff and went to the bar. We decided to drink first, shower second. While we were there, the wind suddenly picked up dramatically. It went from under ten knots to over twenty-five in seconds. The waters on the bay got choppy with white caps. Several people who are anchored at Hog Island and are here to use the Internet were trapped from getting back to their boats in their dinghies. While it looked very threatening, it never did really rain that much. When the wind died down a bit, we went on to our showers. We had a late dinner aboard while the wind still blew pretty hard, but not like before. This weather is an open tropical wave passing, which doesn't worry us.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.