Living close to nature is a really wonderful thing. The howler monkeys were celebrating the passing of the weather this morning. They make a horrific shriek, and there were hundreds of them going about it as the sun was coming up. Their howls are usually annoying, but I could relate to them this morning. I wanted to howl with them at the approaching sun.
The past 4 days have been windy and rainy. Two boats drug onto the beach, and dozens more dragging around the anchorage. My neighbors looked pretty beat up yesterday morning as they didn’t get any sleep on anchor watch all night. I slept like a baby knowing my oversized Manson would securely hold Splendid where she lay.
The squalls had a violent nature. It would blow like hell from the north, and 10 minutes later it would blow like hell from the east. If your anchor doesn’t reset well you’ll end up on the beach or bashing into your neighbor. It’s still grey and rainy but the violence seems to have past. As I’m writing this it just started raining with a good gust of wind so 
maybe I’m totally off base. Oh…, here is goes, got to run outside…
I’m back and took the following picture, kind of a weird sun squall. the sun was kind of out but raining and blowing the boats about.
I took a break from writing yesterday and worked on my electrical system. I found that my motor was not grounded to my battery, not directly anyway, and instead grounded to the dynaplate. How could I have over looked that? The batteries take more of a charge now but unfortunately don’t seem to hold it. The batteries are at about 12v in the morning having had very little load on them during the night. They are only a few years old, bummer. Once I get a DC voltage regulator that I can equalize with I’m going to cook the hell out of them and see if I can bring them back.
The squall has already passed.
New batteries are not cheap. I have 4 Trojan T-105’s. When I bought them here 5 years ago for Namaste they were $100 each, not they are $240.00 each, how does that work? I don’t think I’ll buy Trojans again as I think buying brand names is a waste of money. I’m going to look into some of the local Panamanian wet celled battery manufacturers.
Another big gust of wind!
Life is quiet these days and I spend all of my time writing and thinking. My book has been helpful putting everything into perspective for me. I still get sad about the girls but life is so. Love passes like a squall, and the aftermath what you make of it. I choose to make something positive.
I’m still messing around with the Kubota and have it charging nicely. Something is leaking and i think it is the coolant, I have to look into it today. I’m also going to take a dinghy ride a few miles to the east to the village of La Guiera. There is a small Chinese store where I can buy some things. I’m out of everything and have been living on oats, rice and bread with no butter. I hope they have some fruit & veggies, its usually hit or miss.
I’m hoping to be off to Panama City in the morning to get the Laptop that I got from my buddy Paul. I’m looking forward to getting some video posted. I tried crunching video with this little Acer aspire one, but no way, it’s just too much for it.
Remember when I got hired onto the cruise ship as a carpenter last year? Well I have the opportunity to do it again in March and think I’ll take it. I need some money for some medical stuff and should have enough left over for batteries, chain plates, a scuba tank, and paint and supplies. Once I get a drifter I’ll be good to go.
My visa is up on Dec 22 and I’m thinking of taking a bus up to Coasta Rica for a few days soon. The bus is $15 each way and I can get a hotel room for about $15 bucks a night as well. When I was here last time i used to have to spend three days out of the country, now I hear it is only 24 hours. That makes it a bit easier to deal with and my stamp coming back in is good for 6 months and my cruising permit is paid up for another 11 months so I’ll be on easy street for a while :) At that point I’m going to head off to the San Blas for a few months before I take this job.
I thought I’d want to spend longer in Panama but I’m really looking forward to moving on. I thought I’d want to spend years in the San Blas but sailing far is calling pretty hard. I want to cross another ocean and spend long amounts of time at sea and discover new places. Going through the Canal is expensive (about $1,100) and I’m thinking of going across the Atlantic to Bermuda, Azores, Canarias, Cape Verde islands, and down to the Falklands and on to round cape horn. I’ve been intrigued reading Annie Hill’s book “Brazil and beyond”. I’d have to get another diesel heater as mine barley kept me warm during the winter in Florida. I’d have to get a good wool sweater and some real foul weather gear (Grudens). I have nice expensive “breathable” gortex fowlies and always seem to be soaking wet in them, and I don’t believe its sweat. A total waste of money.
What I really need to do before taking a long trip like this is to replace the stainless piece that my forestay attaches to. It is the piece in-between the two anchor rollers in the picture. I think I could have it manufactured for about $400.00. I’d like to have the chain plates strapped to the hull (About $700.00), and I need to either make or buy new stanchion bases, stanchions, and life lines. I’ll do the life lines out of galvanized rope to keep it cheap. That’s about another $800.00. I need a drifter, and that’s about it. Handling a spinnaker is just too much work for me and I cant go to weather with it in light wind.
My other projects like a bottom job and getting my big refrigerator working are not so important. I want to make sure there are no “weak links” in the rig, and I want to make sure I don’t go overboard. Since not to many people have been interested in Charters I’m thinking to go to a US territory (The states, USVI’s, or Puerto Rico and maybe finding some work for a few months before i set off. I could run backpackers here but I’m just not so motivated to have so many (5-8) strangers on board. With backpackers comes cockroaches, and bed bugs from the hostels. I also want a hard sailing & rowing dinghy. I can sell my Yamaha 9.9 for around a grand.
I’m really looking forward to sailing far again. Sometimes I really miss having a small boat like Namaste. I do believe once I can manage to get Splendid into “maintenance” mode as opposed to “restoring mode”, I’ll be just fine. She was, and still is a big project!
Well it’s almost 8am and i should have something to eat and start my day.
Sail far and live slowly.
Alex
About the food situation, I recall you saying you can’t spearfish there due to dirty water, but how about the old-fashioned rod fishing method? Also, are there laws against having a howler monkey over for dinner? I recall you hunting chickens in the South Pacific with a slingshot. I’m sort of joking but maybe not.
Fletch
I dont have a light acting (casting) fishing rod & reel, it’s on my list. I allways troll when I’m under way, and yes, getting in the water to shoot fish the last 4 days has been impossible, no visablity.
I dont know if I’d want to eat a monkey. They do eat sloths here.
Okay, who knows about hydraulic systems?
I need to design one. I seem to have my little kubota running well and charging my batteries. I will use one of the 2 pulleys on the flywheel to run a raw water pump an 70 amp alternator. I’m thinking the other pulley should go to a hydraulic pump to run the water maker and ultimately the refrigerator, and possibly a dive compressor. Could I use the dive compressor to fill a big tank to use pneumatic tools? Also I cant seem to figure out how much energy loos I will see going from a pulley to a hydraulic system, someone said about twenty percent? I know I’ll need a belt driven hydraulic pump, a hydraulic motor for each device, lines, and a reservoir. I know there are some other valves but I just don’t know so much about this.
Calling all tech weenies!
Cheers
one pump and several ways of directing the flow (by hydraulic valve and pipe run) to the hydraulic items you require, springs to mind! Downside maybe having to rev your rngine to speed up the “bow thruster” :o)) or slow it down to run the power sheet winch, and finding a way to drive (through a gearbox, possibly) your water maker maybe?
Rob!
alex….for your life lines use old 3/16th rigging wire…..there was pleanty in byc by the haul out….think i found the boat, know tomorrow………………..g
I have tried about every kind of battery over the years. I now believe the 6 volt golf cart batteries is the way to go. Cheap (by comparison) and the are built to be rugged and tough. They will take many charges and last for years. I doubt you have a Sams club there, but, if you can get your hands on them go for it.
I agree Ron:
I did the motor home thing for years and I had solar and 6 volt batteries and I could run ’em dead at night and by noon the next day I was up and full again.
I’m planning on putting some panels on Panacea this winter sometime. I think it’s a good idea.
I’m trying to get to just a “12 volt” life, but it’s hard because of refrigeration. Looking at other options there too. Technology has come a long way in making refrigeration with much smaller draws then what’s on Panacea now.
There’s a stand up fridge at Camping World that draws what a couple of 10 watt lights draw. I’m looking into stuff like that.
I REALLY love my cold plates, but they are AC and need to be run for an hour every 18 hours unless I pack the freezer side with blocks of ice.
It all works though. I plan my adventures and pack accordingly.
But back to the topic… Those 6 volt golf cart batteries last a really long time.
Capt. Paul
s/v Panacea
As far as keeping things cold in a 12v life an engel is the best way to go, they really REALLY are fantastic. You won’t use your box but they are super-efficent!
Before I decided to fix my engine driven system I was going to cut my box open and make a shelf for 2 large engles. One for a refrigeraor, and one a freezer. The reason i’m fixing my big engine driven system is only for the sheer size of it. When I do long passages, I like to stock up on palagic fish, my box is about 11 square feet. In the S. Pacific there is a lot of ciguatera and reef fish are off my list for the most part. My day to day life is on the Engel. I met a giuy in the S. Pacific with an old Engel. I poked a bit of fun at the old box, he laughed and told me he bought it 14 years earlier and has never touched it since and it still worked like the first day he bought it. Mine has been plugged in for going on 2 years and the only problem I have with it is sometimes I accidently brush aginst the knob and it freezes everytihing in the box. I live in about the hottest place you can be and on a scale from 1-10, I keep the knob at about a 3, 10 being coldest. It will deep freeze its box in a snap! My solar panels keep it going full time. I’ve had a lot of systems on my previous 5 sailboats, but this is the best one by far.
http://www.engel-usa.com/At some point i am going to become a distributor for them as I really believe in the product!Cheers
Check out the testominals, there are working engles out there that have been problem free working on boats for over 30 years.
Actually now that I’m thinking about this I want to get a MT80 http://www.engel-usa.com/mt80.htm and call it a day. I’ll use it as a freezer and keep my MT17 a refrigerator. I like no hassle equipment.
They have front loading systems but i dont like letting all the cold air dump out.
re: lifelines
do you not still have the line dug out of the scrap yard in the fort?
I took a walk back in time and 2 years ago, from this same week, this is what you wrote: Wojtek is great, I couldn’t ask for Namaste to go to a better owner, he’s
like an old Polish hippie and our philosophies blend well, he reminds me of my uncle Sasha.
We are enjoying hours of good conversations. Namaste will be embarking on noble journey to
Poland and the Baltic sea in the near future. We will all be able to follow
Wojtec and Namaste’s progress along the way.
I’ve also become quite friendly with my Doctor, we had a nice dinner last
night, she’s is quite the interesting gal.
Wojtek and I are doing paper work today and trying to get the starter from
the shipping company, lots to do so my log will be short today.
I’m kind of in a weird transitional place.
Peace, Love, and. tomorrow? Do you still stay in touch with Wojtec? How is our old freind doing? Alex I think I can speck for alot of your followers, I’m so glad you back in the saddle, as they say. We’ve missed the old Alex. We’re so proud to read your blogs, see your pics, and feel the happness that you bring to us all in your writtings. Please keep reaching for the stars, and Please continue to share them with us, Your Followers….
Alex,
The energy conversion from the mechanical rotation of the Kubota to hydraulic pressure and flow isn’t efficient at all. Hydraulics are great for high force, high torque applications but the energy losses are high. I’ll donate mechanical engineering if you need it.
Brent
Helper monkey, who are you? I’m actually going to save the stainless rope for emergency stays. I’m going to get some stay lock fittings and keep them on board so I can replace a forstay or schrowd if need be.
Rguffy, thanks for the kind words but that was actually threee years ago :(
Brent, I’m still trying to figure it all out. I’m concidering just using the kubota for charging and watermaker. I bigger engel is the way to go. I just need to keep everything simple. I wanted to hydrolic so I could add a dive compressor in the future. I’m going a bit nuts trying to align belts get the right sized pullies and so on :(