Boat Maintenance for Idiots

San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

Yesterday we officially moved onto the boat.  Up till then, we were still staying at the nearby Marinaterra hotel - we had prepaid the room on the assumption that the boat would not be back in the water until Monday afternoon.

As it turned out, getting launched on Saturday turned out to be a good decision.  On Monday afternoon, the winds started howling through the marina at a steady 20 to 25 knots - no way I would have been able to maneuver this beast in these tight quarters with that kind of wind.  As a bonus, I was able to accomplish a couple of tasks that were a lot easier without us trying to live on the boat at the same time.  My proudest achievement was being able to equalize the batteries.  For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, here is a quick lesson:

Boat batteries, especially those that operate primarily on solar power (as ours were for the entire summer and while sitting in the work yard for the last 5 months), suffer from a lack of opportunity to get a full charge.  This leads to a gradual loss of battery capacity, leading to premature failure.  To reverse this process, the batteries need to be given a blast of several hours of over-voltage charging to bring back that lost capacity.  This is know as equalization.  Unfortunately our shore-power charger does not support this function.  Our solar charge controller does have this feature, and our newly re-installed solar panels on our spiffy new stainless-steel rails were just begging for a trial run.

Since we were not on the boat and did not have any need to turn on an power-hungry devices such as the fridge, I was able to dedicate our full solar output to the equalization task.  In spite of the wind, we had a clear sky and were able fully equalize the batteries in about 4 hours.

Another plus was getting the dinghy pumped up.  I was able to jury-rig our kayak pump to work with the valves on the dinghy.  Since I am on such a roll, I decided to tackle one of the more important tasks on my to-do list...

A quick and easy oil change

Again, for those of you not familiar with how things work on a boat, here is a typical, routine oil change procedure:

Step 1 - Drain the oil from the engine.

Looks real pretty but doesn't actually do anything.

Slight complication on a full-keel boat such as ours since there is no access to the bottom of the engine.  Instead, we have a convenient hand pump plumbed into the drain plug which normally will allow me to get most of the oil out in as short a time as an hour of brisk pumping.  No today though!  Pump seals must have dried out or something since nothing I could do could get a single drop of oil out of it.  I tried, unsuccessfully, to take the pump apart.  I tried lowering the whole assembly into the bilge in hopes that the oil would run into the pump and prime it - no luck!

Maybe if I start the engine and get the oil a little hotter, it will flow better.  On goes the engine.  As long as I am running the engine, might as well make sure the transmission is OK - put it into forward and reverse - seems fine.  Now Susanne wants to know why there is a dripping sound coming from the engine compartment.  Hmmm!

Notice the pretty black stipes it leaves as it throws water
all over the engine compartment

OK, it appears that the dripless shaft seal is dripping.  I fixed this back before the summer but obviously it is at it again.  So out comes the Allen wrench to loosen the stainless steel slider and a couple of hammers and a crowbar to try and apply a little more compression on the slider while I tighten the Allen screw.  It sort of works - I get another 1/8 of an inch or so of compression - the water is stopped for now.  Wait a minute, what is that obviously broken hose clamp doing there?  Oh yeah, holding the non-moving (carbon) part of the shaft seal attached to the tunnel that the prop shaft runs through.  Not a big problem since it is double-clamped and not leaking as yet - but does need to be replaced.  There probably could be a more awkward place to try and put on a hose clamp but I can't think of one off-hand.  An hour later a new clamp is in place and all is well.

Now, where was I on the oil change procedure?
Oh yeah, step 1, getting the oil out of the engine.

While thinking about how I am going to do that, I decide to replace the engine zinc.  This is little piece of zinc attached to a brass bolt that is screwed into the raw water side of the heat exchanger to prevent the salt water from eating up all of the more important pieces of metal in the raw water system.  All I need to do is grab the right size wrench and back out the brass screw...  After a few attempts I have now nicely stripped the hex nut into a perfectly round piece, and it has not budged - even the vice grips don't seem to affect it.  Soak it in WD40 and come back to it later.  Put everything back together for the night and head for the Marina Cantina, where the draft beer is only 10 pesos (78 cents CDN) per mug.

Step 1A - Continue to drain the oil from the engine:

This morning, when we woke up and wandered out onto the dock, we were met by a beautiful white bird, which I took to be a sign of good luck.  Things have to go better today.

After a coffee and muffin at the coffee shop, I take a trip to the Star Marine chandler.  I find and buy a new oil-draining hand pump.  This pump uses a small hose plunged into the dip stick hole (that is the little hole hiding near the bottom of the engine - that round ring shown in this picture is the handle of the dip stick).  Basically, this pump works, although it seems to pump at a rate of about 5 drops per minute, requiring an immense amount of effort for very little gain.  It doesn't help that it seems to be impossible to keep the hose in the dip stick hole actually immersed in the oil.  Susanne is not happy with the drips and smears of oil I am leaving everywhere.  Still, after only about 4 hours of pumping, I had as much oil as I was apparently going to get - less than 4 liters of the 6 liter capacity - not great but better than nothing.

One of the nice things about spending so much time in the engine compartment is that you have a chance to look around.  That's odd - why is there a hole in that engine mount?  OMG, there is supposed to be bolt in that hole!  I swear I check these mounts every day when I check the oil, ever since our near disaster with broken engine mounts back in BC a couple of years ago.  How is it possible for the bolt to have come completely undone without me noticing?  And where is it?

Before

After

After no more than another hour of groping around under the engine with various sticks and such, I managed to find the bolt, lock washer, regular washer and the nut.  All appear to be completely normal and look like new - it just came undone.  A fairly simple matter to put the bolt back in and tighten it.  Checked the other bolts while I was at it.  2 of the other 3 bolts were loose on the front mounts.  The rear mounts were fine.  No harm done as far as I can tell.

And just like that, the draining of the engine is done!

Stop 2 - Replace oil filter:

Actually pretty simple.  This engine has a basic spin-on filter and, once you find it, it is pretty easy to take off and replace.  Of course, you have to do it by feel as you can't actually see it from above.  Note: Wrap everything in an oil absorbent rag to prevent an ecological disaster.

Oops, almost forgot about the engine zinc.  Try again with the vice grips - they work this time (thank you WD40).  Replaced with new zinc from the chandler.

Step 3 - Refill engine oil:

Again, pretty straight forward.  Things are going smoothly now.

Tested everything by running the engine for a while and checking the oil level.  Looks good!

Checked the dinghy.  The bottom does not appear to be holding air - so much for that repair!  Welcome to the wonderful world of boating.

{GMST}27|56.8825|N|111|03.3573|W|San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico|San Carlos,Sonora, Mexico{GEND}

Splashdown

San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

The day was perfect for launching a boat - light winds and a noon high tide.  Of course, there was a weird fog rolling in - nothing to worry about though; I don't need much visibility to move from one dock to another.  With that in mind, I hiked down to Marina Seca to apply some pressure to the workers who were supposed to have the hull nicely cleaned and polished by 11:00 AM.

When I got to the boat in the workyard, they told me they would have it finished by 1 PM and I would have to wait until Monday afternoon to put it in the water.  "Not satisfactory" I said - "What alternatives can you suggest?"  They said they could put it in as-is and finish the job tomorrow while the boat is in the water.  Sounded good to me and thus all of the stars in the heavens aligned and the boat showed up at the San Carlos Marina boat launch at about 11:45 AM, right on time.  And the fog had completely disappeared as well.  Good omen.

Splash!

A short motor over to our new home, only slightly embarrassing myself as I cleverly turned the boat around in it's own length (I was actually trying to back up in a straight line but you have to go with the hand you are dealt).   And just like that we are boaters again.

I spent the rest of the day trying to piece our dinghy back together.  I had dismantled it in an attempt to patch the leaky floor just before we left.  The assembly went pretty well except that my trusty hand pump broke before I got everything re-inflated.  It doesn't look repairable to me so I guess we will now be on the lookout for a new pump.  I am just happy it happened now, not last summer when I was having to pump up the floor every other day while we were in the northern Sea of Cortez.  Timing is everything.

{GMST}27|56.8825|N|111|03.3573|W|San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico|San Carlos,Sonora, Mexico{GEND}

So close but...

San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

The boat looks good.

Well, pretty good anyway.  The bottom is probably not as smooth as the original finish but looks alright to my uneducated eye.  The rest of the boat seems to have weathered the last 4 months amazingly well except that the entire deck is covered in dust.  The batteries, relying upon solar power alone, were right up to full charge and the inside of the boat is only a little dusty.  The problem is that now that nice clean, blister-free, bottom makes the ugly, dirty, above-water hull look pretty sad.

After putting on some zincs and popping in the speed/depth/temperature transducer, we decided it would be a good idea to get the hull cleaned and polished before plunging it back into the sea.  So I contracted the workyard to do just that, the work to be completed by yesterday.

Looks nice and calm doesn't it?

Today, we visited the boat to find that nothing had been done and were given promises that the work would begin later today, to possibly be finished tomorrow.  I am not sure I am holding out a lot of hope.  This is sort of critical timing right now.  Several factors come into play.  First, because of the shallow nature of the boat-launch, we need a high-tide to launch the boat.  Second, this time of year the winds usually come up a lot in the afternoon (up to 30 knots this week), making it difficult to maneuver the boat into a slip except in the mornings.  Third, the marina has a limited number of slips large enough to handle Sine Timore and we have managed to reserve an ideal spot if we can get into it quickly.  Based on all of this information, the ideal timing for having the boat ready and an appropriate tide in the morning would be this Sunday.  But the workyard, and thus the boat launch, does not work on Sunday.  This leaves us with a possible window of opportunity tomorrow (Saturday) around noon, if the work is completed by then (I give it a 25% chance), otherwise it is going to be Monday afternoon around 5:30PM and we will just have to hope for a break in the wind.

Catch 22 Beach

Meanwhile, to pass the time, we have been doing our usual mammoth walks, including following the highway all the way to the nearby Catch-22 beach a couple of days ago.  Otherwise, we have been forced into a life of meaningless leisure activities.

We will just have to grin and bear it!

 

 

{GMST}27|56.911|N|111|03.205|W|San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico|San Carlos,Sonora, Mexico{GEND}

 

Boatless wandering

San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

Cool temperatures and great anticipation.

We woke up this morning to a frigid 14 degrees outside.  But we were warmed with the thoughts of being reunited with our beloved boat.  This however was not to be.

Somewhere in there is our home

After taking the short hike to Marina Seca, we found the office closed.  Apparently this is some sort of national holiday and we were denied access to the storage yard.  The work yard was open but there was no sign of Sine Timore there.  As for the storage yard, try as we might, we could not even spot the boat from the fence.

So it was, with tears in our eyes, that we spent a surprisingly pleasant day exploring parts of San Carlos that we had not seen before.  As the day progressed, it did warm up a bit and some blue skies appeared.  We have great expectations for tomorrow on both the weather and boat fronts.

 

{GMST}27|56.911|N|111|03.205|W|San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico|San Carlos,Sonora, Mexico{GEND}

 

Planes, buses and automobiles

San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

It's like a time warp.  Here we are, exactly where we left off, 4 months ago.

In the last 2 days it feels as if we have experienced 3 seasons.  We left Edmonton in the tail-end of winter (albeit a very mild one). 

We flew directly from Edmonton, south to Mazatlan in Sinaloa province in Mexico, where it felt like summer.  The weather was warm and humid although a bit overcast (probably a blessing as we were facing a long bus ride back north to our ultimate destination in San Carlos).

Bus terminal in Mazatlan

While in Mazatlan, after a long taxi ride from the airport, we were able to store our copious amount of luggage at the bus terminal and walked and used local buses to revisit our old haunts from last winter, including having a coffee at our favourite coffee shop at the marina.  From what we observed, things seems even slower this year than last, with less people out and about.  This was confirmed by the locals.  Tourism is really down, probably a direct result of the bad press they have been getting over the last few months.  It is so sad that such a nice place and such nice people are getting the worst of a combination of gang violence (yes, there is a definite problem), sensationalistic reporting of the trouble a few tourists make for themselves, and the horrid economic situation in the US of A, forcing a lot of Americans to just stay home.  Sorry to say there is little we can do about it.

Typical tourist antics that end badly!

After our day in Mazatlan (the plane arrived just before 11 AM and our bus was scheduled to leave at 9:45 PM), the bus eventually left 1-1/2 hours late and took more than 12 hours to get to Guaymas, due to the many stops along the way - we lost count of the number of military check-points.  Fortunately we were tired enough to sleep for most of the overnight trip and arrived feeling almost human.

Bus terminal along the way (Obregon)

In Guaymas (as far as the big bus would take us) we took a 20-minute taxi ride to the Marinaterra hotel in San Carlos.  The weather here feels a lot like fall.  With a fully overcast sky and brisk wind, there is definitely a chill in the air - not what we were expecting.  Jacket weather - what a drag!

Tomorrow we will hopefully find out the fate of our boat.

{GMST}27|56.911|N|111|03.205|W|San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico|San Carlos,Sonora, Mexico{GEND}

When Winter Gets Tough, the wimps get going

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Winter!  We finally got a taste of winter!

After over 3 months of unusually warm weather (2nd mildest winter on record) and almost no snow, this week we were hit with a significant snowfall and some cold temperatures.  Susanne can be seen here demonstrating how to handle it all.

Really, we have very little to complain about.  If we had to be stuck in Edmonton for the winter season, this was definitely the year to do it.  As I am writing this, the temperatures have already risen to above freezing again and it probably won't be long until the snow is gone.  With the days getting longer, it is already starting to feel like spring.

Meanwhile down south, one of my fears has come to pass.  After getting no word from the boatyard on the status of the boat for several weeks, they called yesterday to say that it is ready.  No advance warning so we would have had time to find reasonably cheap flights to Mexico.  Here are the pictures of Sine Timore's new, blister-free bottom.  Only time will tell if it is also blister-proof.

We have decided to try a different route back to San Carlos.  If we were to reverse our bus trip from Guaymas to Phoenix and flight to Edmonton, we would have to fly in to the USA and then take a bus into Mexico.  This is the shortest and quickest route but would mean that we would have to check into the U S with their paranoid post-911 security and ridiculously small duty-free allowances, followed by crossing into Mexico at Nogales, where the news reports would have us believe that people are victims of random violence on an hourly basis.

Instead, we will fly from Edmonton to Mazatlan, further south in Mexico.  From there we will take a bus north to Guaymas.  This means a 12 hour bus ride instead of 6 to 8 hours, but overall it should be much less hassle.  Fortunately we were able to find a reasonably priced direct flight from Edmonton to Mazatlan - we will be leaving on March 17th.

Now, if only we can remember how to sail...

{GMST}53|35.3868|N|113|32.3568|W|Edmonton, Alberta, Canada|Edmonton, Alberta, Canada{GEND}