Lightning, leaks and Sayulita

This was the week of leaks. During one of the week's many thunderstorms, I found a small dribble of rain water entering the cabin below one of the chainplates. So I removed the interior chainplate cover to try to determine where it was coming from. Turned out it wasn't the chainplate, but rather it was coming in from behind the plywood inner liner. That meant it was probably coming from around one of the portholes. I checked and found that when I had the cabin painted, some of the sealant had been torn away when they sanded around the portholes. So I removed any loose old caulk, sanded, cleaned it up with acetone, masked and re-sealed the two port side portholes using Sika 1a. Hasn't been tested yet, but I could see there were gaps through to the liner before, so I'm pretty confident it will be fixed. Leak number two was the transmission. I had noticed for some time I had been slowly losing transmission fluid, but couldn't find a leak. When I was going through the process of changing the engine and transmission oil this week, I found that the transmission fluid was leaking from around the fill cap, even though it was tight. I discovered that the o-ring was missing. Must have fallen off unnoticed at some time. Fortunately, I had a supply of nitrile o-rings on hand, so that was an easy fix. Leak number three was the mystery of why there was water on the floor in the engine room. That one turned out to be caused by my distilled water jug rupturing from repeated pressure changes due to temperature extremes. So, I got a couple of new jugs to replace it, but I modified them by drilling a small vent hole in the top handle to allow for pressure changes. Hopefully that will work.

Although I'm still not totally back to normal yet, I felt good enough to make a recon trip into Sayulita prior to Carol's visit. I figured out the buses, so we shouldn't have a problem when I take her there. It's a nice tourist beach town full of ex-pats and young surfer dudes.

The rest of this week I will be getting ready to go to Guadelajara for three weeks. The first two will be primarily for language study, then Carol will join me for a week. I'll be staying in a Mexican home during my study period, so that should be interesting!

A close strike.

A boat about a quarter of a mile from me was hit and lost its electrics. 

Don't know how extensive the damage was.

Here you can see how close the above strike was to me.

I'm glad I made and set up a lightning rod and ground!

On the bus to Sayulita

Once past Bucerias, the bus goes over the mountain through the jungle.

The bus terminal in Sayulita

On the Avenida de la Revolucion heading for the center of town.

La plaza principal, or town square

The main tourist street between the town square and the beach

The street is lined with restaurants and the usual souvenir vendors

But because Sayulita is a surfer's mecca, it also has surf shops

Even this bench is shaped like a surf board

At the end of the street is the beach

Quite a lot of people for Mexico in the off season

An interesting restaurant away from the center of town

Away from the tourist area

The Amazing Hostel Sayulita is the Most Extreme.

It appeals to the young surfer dudes with just a backpack and little money.

A lumber mill outside of town

The saying at the bottom of this sign for real estate sales could be translated as

"Being happy depends on you."

Pumping out the old oil into a water jug. 

Very hot work because the engine must be hot to get the oil out.

Removing the oil filter can be very messy.  Covering it with doubled

zip lock bags before unscrewing it helps.

The marina takes care of proper disposal of old oil and filters. 

Leave it next to the dock box and it's gone two hours later

Sucking out the transmission fluid with the extractor that Greg gave me.

Transmission filler cap without an o-ring

New nitrile o-ring fitted

Glad I had the foresight to buy an assortment of O-rings before I left!

More good planning:  making easily-removable covers for the chainplates

Portholes prepped and one masked

Masked and sealant applied

Tape removed.  Nice and clean.