Carla and I have been burning the midnight oil, and from both ends. The Pacific is in our thoughts and dreams daily! Carla wants to go surfing.
We accepted a small loan to get Splendid into real shape for chartering. Her hull looks like crap and it’s time to change that. I have some good hard working guys here ($20 day + lunch) and I need to put some real elbow grease into the hull. My shoulders are shot and working a 9”angle grinder with a sanding disk for 8 hours a day just isn’t going to happen, and I have a number of projects going on.
I bought a small diesel genset (Mase is3500) in trade for my not-working motorcycle and $400. It will save my main engine and run the water maker at a liter an hour, as opposed to nearly a gallon. It runs strong but needs to be cleaned, painted, rewired, and re-plumbed. It uses a Yanmar diesel engine, and the cool thing is I can buy a completely new engine for it for $600 if need be, or rebuild for just over $100. I think it will be good, cheap, dependable power.
I’m off to Panama city to buy said angle grinder 
and supplies, and will put the boys to work next week. I have to pull off the rub rail and have them strip the hull back to the original gelcoat or primer. After that, we will roll on new primer, sand, roll & tip, and sand, sand, sand some more. And yes, I’m painting the hull in the water 
I’ve had a painting breakthrough!
Spraying is just too difficult outside. The weather has to be perfect (sunny, no rain or wind), and there is a lot of stuff floating in the air 
here (dust/bugs). The problem with rolling & tipping is the lack of brushing liquid. Interlux makes a product 333 but it’s not available here, stupid expensive, and not easily importable to Panama. Well, I came across a post about mixing my own brushing/rolling liquid (thinner) and found that it (333N) is only a mix of kerosene and naphtha.
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?8811-Brushing-Liquid-substitute
$52.99 a gallon or $8.00, I’ll go with $8.
Needless to say I’ll be making my own brushing liquid (thinner) for 2-part polyurethane. I’m sure it will take a little experimenting (finding the right roller, brush, etc.) to get a decent finish but this is huge!
I’m also planning on building my new ice box soon. I’d like to open a discussion with anyone interested about Aspen Aerogel’s Spaceloft insulation for such an application.
http://www.aerogel.com/markets/building.html
PDF download:
http://www.aerogel.com/products/pdf/Spaceloft_DS.pdf
I’m tired of working on the boat and want to go sailing. In March/April we will be chartering in San Blas again and running some backpackers. We will be doing local (Coasta Arriba) day charters in 3 weeks or so. We need to pay off the loan and make some cake for a haul-out. We also may have an opportunity to do whale-watching charters on the Pacific side of Panama later in the year.
If anyone wants to see Panama and take an affordable Charter $150 P/P, or $125 and you bring your own food & booze. We will really show you a good time : ) I’m thinking about running a raffle again too?
I really miss the Pacific, it is my ocean! We have been talking about the sea of Cortez lately. I could really use the dry weather for a while and I hear the spear fishing is superb.
The sea calls daily.
Sail far and live slowly!
– alex
Published in Alex Dorsey
Kevin,
In response to your question on the previous post:
If you know anything about me you’ll know my answer.
The boat I owned before Namaste was a 1983 34’Hunter. Looking back I would not hesitate to take her across the Pacific and for extended cruising, especially at your age. I have a really good friend Jamie (Australian) that had a little 25′ fiberglass boat with a barely working outboard on the stern (possibilities) and he circumnavigated it. Not only did he circumnavigate, but he did it under all 3 capes.
It’s not about the boat, it’s about YOUR journey.
Don’t buy into the West Marine (you need to buy every product under the sun) philosophy. And don’t buy into what the big “cruising”magazines shovel. Their loyalty is to their advertisers, and their order is to sell big expensive boats.
20 years ago it was rare to see 40-50’ “cruising”boats, average was about 32-34’.
If I were in your shoes I’d stick with the cherubini. If you were my son I’d make sure she was solid and send you off into the world with my blessing.
If you have a good head on your shoulders (common sense) you’ll be fine. I came across a number of medium to small size Hunters and Catalina’s in the S. Pacific. If you decide to cross make sure to get a windvane.
Have you read Robin Lee Graham’s book “Dove”. If I had a copy I’d send it to you but you can pick up a used one cheap.
http://www.amazon.com/Dove-Robin-L-Graham/dp/0060920475/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387282918&sr=8-1&keywords=the+dove%2C+robin
I saw a thing on Facebook a few weeks back. It was a little card with a picture of a sunset or something and the caption read:
If you could go back to your childhood and tell yourself just 5 words, what would they be. Mine would be:
Sail a small boat far!
If you have any questions about anything please feel free to email me at any time. I’m here for you.
Peace
Thanks for the reply Alex.
I am about to know you better, just downloading the quicktime player, kind of slow as i am in the Bavarian forest with poor signal :)
Can i ask you why you didnt continue with the hunter
I was in the process of buying a house. Getting rid of it was a bad call but ultimately lead me downthe path I neneeded to travel.
Feel free to emal me, alexdorsey at gmai
Get Dove if you can, a great read and one of my childhood heros.
Peace.
http://keys.craigslist.org/boa/4197135733.html
Nice genset! How do these hybrid air/water cooled units work out compared to the true water cooled ones? We currently have a yamaha portable which we put on the deck for when we need some AC, but I am hankering for a real powerhouse that I can run a grinder and a welder off of. Probably a tall order, but still holding out hope that there is something out there I can afford on a vagabond budget. With a steel boat, being able to grind and weld are the keys to self-sufficiency.
Peace –
Devon from S/Y Sea Munchkin
Devon,
For welding check out http://www.zena.net. replace your alternator with 200 amp welding. Ive wanted one for years.
the Irwin is gone.
Alex, I’ve owned a Mase 2.5 for a year and a half, came on the boat. Put over 700 hours on it since I’ve owned it. Had 20 hrs on it when I got it.
It’s a strange bird, some of the engineering for servicing on my size is really questionable. Like who designed this thing?
But this could be just my problems, and the next size up was FIXED.
When you install it, do your self a favor and put a “drip pan” under the whole unit. This will catch all the oil and diesel leaks into one drain.
You see, being an “air cooled” radiator, it carries all the oil/diesel leaks throughout the whole unit, and will drip out of all the fittings in the bottom.
Good luck with the unit tho, when it runs it puts out good power.
Congrats on the Marriage between you and Carla, many years of happiness ahead.
Dennis, sv Moon Pearl
HO HO HO
ok, ok honeymoon is over…..talk to us
If you want to see a website where you can buy the panels airgel http://www.buy-aerogels.eu