If I had an evil stepmother she would banish me to the engine room, WHAT A CRAPPY PLACE TO WORK IN! Luckily when I get out of such an evil ship-hole I have a real princess to reward my efforts with te frio (cold tea), a warm smile, and lunch.
There is an extra 30 gallon diesel tank in the engine room that was installed for a generator years ago. I carry about 200 gallons of diesel without it and I’m thinking of ripping it out to make my life in the engine room easier. When I have to climb into the engine room to access the port-side of
the engine I’m caught between the hot engine and the tank like a sardine cooking in a can, YUCK! I may move the tank into the lazerette and perhaps modify its size so I could have a gravity-fed day tank. A gravity fed tank makes your engine more reliable as there is less strain on the fuel pumps and you could get by without even having a lift-pump. Also I would have a better handle on how much fuel I had and was burning. Gravity-fed day tanks are a good idea in my humble opinion.
I’ve been in the engine room for 3 days now working on my raw water pump, attending to some hose leaks, and trying to degrease and clean up. At some point in my life I’m planning to rewire/cable everything and have a clean white engine room that I could serve tea in. I’m so far from that now its not funny 
I had to replace my impellor as 3 teeth were missing as well as take the cooling system apart to hunt down the missing teeth, found’em.
As soon as I’m able, I’m off to the San Blas. Carla is leaving for Patagonia on the 8th, and I have a guest arriving on the 15th. I always have good creative energy in the San Blas as there are not so many distractions. I need to clean up my 400 page book, finish my film, and make some money so we can start voyaging.
We seem to be fine living here on about $300 a month but when we move we will need closer to $500-$600 for diesel and various fees. Countries are asking for more and more money to visit. Funnily enough when I travel my food-shopping expenses go down as I tend to have more fish around. I catch bigger fish on the line (pelagic), than I do shooting reef fish with a spear.
If anyone is interested in a charter after the beginning of December let me know. Christmas in San Blas is fun but a bit untraditional, or perhaps for the New Year? I’m willing to let a week charter go pretty cheap if someone is interested, about 1/3 less (+/- $1000) if you’re willing to haul a stove. Shipping into Panama is a nightmare unless one physically brings equipment on a plane. I can also be wooed into a discount charter by a new laptop, sadly mine has gone by the way of the dodo. My big editing computer is AWSOME but draws close to 15 amps (2 screens) and I reserve it for editing and processing video. Spending the day writing on it isn’t so practical.
I’m toying with the idea of taking a group of backpackers to Colombia before the trades start blowing (February) . I really need a bottom job and I want to paint the hull. Hauling out in Colombia is cheaper however I’ll bring supplies (bottom paint) from here. A load of backpackers will just about cover the 
expense. There is also a good shop in Cartagena to rebuild injectors and that can tune up my hi-pressure fuel pump. Carla hasn’t been to Cartagena and I wouldn’t mind strolling down the streets of old-town with her 
I could also bring a load of backpackers back to Panama during the trades as the ride is all down-hill, it would cover a canal transit to the Pacific 
. Speaking of which, I found old Panama Canal papers aboard from 1976. Splendid’s home port was San Francisco and the Panama Canal transit only cost $14.41, how things have changed!
I hope everyone faired hurricane Sandy okay. Was it so bad? On the weather charts it just looked like a weak category 1. It did look huge in diameter though, and perhaps hit areas that were not so used to hurricanes. I don’t have a TV so I’m not so current on such events.
Well that’s it for today folks.
Peace, love, and sweaty engine rooms.
– alex