Someone in the last blog said they thought my spelling got better since Carla was around and the truth is a lot of things have got better. She really wants to see the Pacific. Our loose plan is to transit the canal in 8 months or so. David (my web guru) just set up a blog page for Carla and she is working on her first blog.
I like quotes and found this one appropriate today:
You don’t get something for nothing, you can’t have freedom for free, you won’t get wise with sleep still in your eyes no matter what your dreams may be.
– Neal Peart
I dream of sailing once again and putting my tools away for a while! I must say I do feel a huge sense of satisfaction every time I see my decks & cabin house :)
I’m really excited for my visitor to come in just 8 days. Not only am I looking forward to making a new friend through the world of Project BlueSphere, but he also comes bearing my new editing computer and memory foam topper for my bed. My back has been in bad shape and I’m hoping it will make a difference.
I’m having battery issues again. I looked at the back of my solar charge controller and the negative terminal is all corroded. I have some sort of EVIL electronic gremlin in my system and I cant find it, its really driving me nuts and I hope I’m not frying the $600 in batteries I installed about 4/5 months ago. I think I may have damaged them :(
Anyway life has been continuing with finished decks and I’m getting to other projects these days.
I went aloft the other day to swap the split backstays on the mizzen mast. The insulated stay was on the port side and I wanted it on the starboard side as I moved the SSB tuner and remounted my radio in a different spot in the aft cabin.
I don’t mind working aloft as much as I used to. I prefer a climbing harness to a bosons chair, I just feel more secure.
I also had to rebuild the cockpit table as the hinge went along with some rotten wood. Man, there really is always somet
hing. Looking back on the easy days of maintaining Namaste or my other small boats was a dream. Why is it sailors get larger boats as they get older? It would make sense if boats got smaller as one’s energy decreases with age?
I’m hoping I can make enough coconuts for the cruising kitty. I have 2 pending deliveries, and a few interested charters. That coupled with a few backpacker runs and some fortunate luck I may be able to pull it off. One of the things I really need to get my hands on is a alternator regulator that will “equalize”. Party Poker offered me just about enough to buy one for posting their link in my blog. I’m looking at a Balmar max charge.
I’m hoping to bring back my battery bank with some controlled overcharging. I disconnected my solar panels this morning and I’m trying to give them as much of a charge as I can. I’m also thinking the problem may lay with my inverter and will try disconnecting it as well today.
I shot a strange fish the other day. I thought it was a stone fish then was told there are no stone fish in the Caribbean. After some research I’ve concluded it is a scorpion fish (poisonous). After tossing it I read despite their poisonous spines they are lovely to eat.
In the coming weeks it is my intention to install an old radar a friend gave me years ago, my hailing/foghorn speaker, and to rebuild the forward hatch. It’s nice having smaller projects I can see to fruition in under a week:)
Peace from paradise.
Sail far and live slowly.
– alex