December 8, 2018

A busy week!  Worked hard to complete the installation of the new Simrad autopilot only to get stumped trying to configure it so it would actually function.  The technician knew what the problem was immediately.  It turns out that contrary to the manual, you can't let it automatically configure settings that usually work because this model is newer and the computer assumes it is the older model.  Once we manually configured the settings, it seemed to work fine.  Hopefully we will do a sea trial and final tuning on Monday.  But, hey, it's Mexico, so quien sabe!
I did manage to squeeze in some fun with friends and get up early enough to capture the best sunrises.

Sunrise from the aft deck (aka, "back porch)

Same view, different day

The converse:  sunset looking the opposite way

Sunset at the beach

Time lapse of the sunset

The marina

Banderas Bay from the La Cruz beach

Sheep grazing on some government waterfront property 

Street Sounds:  If you've got an old pick-up, you've

got a business!

Booty from the weekly market:  local organic coffee,

mangrove flower honey, substantial bread from a

35 year-old Chilean family recipe.  All excellent!

Tod with the owner of the Fonda Coque Restaurant

(he's the guy on the poster).  Excellent food, family 

operated, good prices and amazingly friendly folks.

Off-menu treat: spaghetti mole from his grandmother's

secret recipe.

Went to a dinner concert with Tod and Donna to hear

Cheko Ruiz and his group cover the Gipsy Kings

at the Octopus's Garden.  

But, there's still boatwork!

Installing the rudder angle transmitter for the autopilot

is always challenging because the arm must always move

exactly in parallel with the rudder arm.  It has to be

mounted at the correct angle and the connecting rod

adjusted as needed.  I also had to improvise an extension

to the arm to allow a reasonable mounting position.

Of course I also had to make the mounting bracket.

Here you can see the relationship between the rudder

angle transmitter arm (left) and the rudder arm (right).

The extension of the transmitter arm:  two polyethylene

stirring sticks bolted to the original arm.  Easy, worked 

great and looked great.  Gotta love the small victories!

The new motor and pump.  Not as powerful as the 

old WH, so not as fast turning.  Should use less 

power though.  The sea trial should give a hint about

whether it's fast enough to handle rough water.

In order to connect the rudder angle transmitter and

pump motor to the computer, I had to run cable

through the aft cabin, creating only a slight mess.

This is the main computer, open to show

power, ground and network connections.

Cover in place and mounted on the bulkhead

in a locker.

Interestingly, the autopilot does not have an on/off 

function, so I had to buy and install a 30 amp breaker

switch.  It was a tight squeeze, but I got it done.

The slight mess created in the forward (main) cabin

when routing the network cable for connecting the

electronic compass.

The Simrad autopilot compass resembles the

saucer section of Startrek's Enterprise.

Lawyers.  You have to first figure out how to scroll down

to read the whole thing before you can accept and

actually use the autopilot.

Working!

December 1, 2018

Got a very unusual (for this time of year) rainstorm this week that brought more than three inches of rain in one day.  That brought clouds, which brought some nice sunrises and sunsets.  And despite coming down with a sore throat and cold, I got the hydraulic steering working again and started the installation of the new Simrad autopilot.  Ahh, the glamour of yachting!

Around La Cruz de Huanacaxtle

Can't let a little rain stop you from setting up your

mobile restaurant in the middle of a street corner.

Some folks like living, or at least parking, on the edge.

Sailboat on the horizon

Low tide on the beach by the marina

Beach sunset

Sunrise from Circadian

Looking southeast, it's actually a sunset!

Sunset at low tide

Damned grackles ain't got no couth!

Could be worse.  Look closely and you will see 

there are HUNDREDS of white-collared

seed-eaters on these wires.

Boat Work

Starting in on the new autopilot installation.

Always unnerving to cut big holes in the boat.

Measure three times; cut once?

Gulp!  Here goes.....

Nice, clean cut-out for the new Simrad autopilot

display and control.

Perfect fit

Protective cover on

Rebuilt base painted and ready for remounting the

hydraulic steering cylinder.

In order to make absolutely sure I didn't go through the

bottom of the hull, I used screws of different lengths

and carefully marked the drill bits to accommodate 

the amount of clearance.

Base remounted

Notice the rudder stop crossmember has been removed

to make installation easier.

Hydraulic cylinder remounted.

Hoses connected, rudder stop crossmember re-installed.

New Simrad autopilot motor/pump mounted 

and hoses connected.

Now the messy part:  filling the system with 

hydraulic fluid and then bleeding the air

out of it.  This is the set-up I devised 

last time I had to bleed the system.  It 

worked well, with minimum mess.

Some oil spillage is inevitable when bleeding

the system, so I prepared for it with oil-

absorbent pads.  After MANY repeated

turns of the wheel and some help from Tod,

we got it done.  It was good to at least have

manual steering back.

Thanksgiving in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle

A very busy and mixed week.  I explored more of La Cruz, partly in an effort to source everything from pumpkin pie to large stainless steel lag bolts.  In the midst of all that I went to the first public market of the season and went to a couple of tai chi classes.  I joined some friends in celebrating Thanksgiving on Delta Swizzler, a big power yacht out in the anchorage.  It was a very pleasant evening and we all had a good time.  I also continued to wrestle with the autopilot problems.  I have decided to replace the WH with a new Simrad or Raymarine so I can get parts and service more easily in Mexico.  I'm definitely making progress, albeit slowly.  As you'll see in the photos and videos, life here does have its compensations....

Thanksgiving

This is the pie shop in nearby Bucerias where I bought

a great pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.  You can see

why I had trouble spotting it even though I had an

address and basic directions.  It definitely doesn't look

like a bakery!

 Our Thanksgiving fiesta

Approaching Delta Swizzler

Cindy helps Liz and Brian secure their dinghy to

Delta Swizzler.

First order of business:  an icy cold martini!

Tod, Cindy, Mark, Liz and Brian on the flybridge for cocktails

and appetizers while watching the sunset.

The sunset

While the sun set, the full moon rose

Next:  turkey time!  Mark does the honors.

(Yes, that is the galley on the boat!)

Liz, Cindy and Mark loading up their plates.

Everyone sated and seated:  Mark, Cindy, Brian, Liz,

Tod, Donna and yours truly.

Party crasher

Moonlight on the water

Around La Cruz

You never know what you might come across just

wandering around.

I happened upon a lovely spot that was well off the

beaten path for cruisers:  Playa La Manzanilla.

At the end of a dirt road.  No gringos.

I decided to try one of the beachfront restaurants,

La Serandia.

The name comes from the wood-fired 

barbecue style of cooking.  It was

every bit as good as it looked.

November 20th was Mexican Revolution Day, and the

local school children dressed up in costumes and

paraded through the town.

Not all of them seemed happy about it.

I finally found a machine shop to do some work needed

to deal with the autopilot problem.

Luckily it was next to a fastener shop where I was 

able to get the specialized screws I needed.  It

was the third place I had tried.

At the first weekly market of the season in La Cruz

The La Cruz market has always been one of the best,

and this year it has almost doubled in size.

The food section is always popular.

A wide variety of food and drink is available.

 Music and dancers at the market

Flowers, Sunrises and Sunsets

Boat Work

While testing the old autopilot after installing the new

motor controller, several new problems arose, including

not stopping once the rudder hit the stops.  That resulted

in blowing out the end cap of the hydraulic cylinder,

dumping a bunch of hydraulic fluid into the bottom of

the lazarette.

The good news:  the end cap was held in place by a "C"

clip and was easily re-secured.  The O-ring appeared fine.

Decapitating a screw was the first step needed to

remove the hydraulic cylinder.

I needed to turn down some wine corks to plug the

hydraulic lines because I couldn't find any suitable 

plugs anywhere after looking for three days.

I used a washer to mark the center.

Did some rough preliminary trimming with a knife.

Then turned the screw into the center of the

cork, chucked it in the drill and turned

the end of the corks into a cone.

While not ideal, it did the job well enough so I could

pull the cylinder.

Next problem:  the base mounting screws were

completely rusted into the base plate.

I had to rip them out of the wood and fiberglass

mounting structure to get the cylinder out.

What's left of the mounting base after the plate

was ripped off.

Here you can see the separate small block (after it was

cleaned up) that broke off.

Old fiberglass matte and oily wood ground away

Getting ready to glue the block back in place with

thickened epoxy.

Block glued back in, epoxy filets added, two layers

of light roving and one of very heavy roving

with epoxy resin.

Rough spots ground fair and a final coat of epoxy resin

Old screws removed by machine shop and new 

stainless screws for remounting the base

Getting a perfectly mated surface by pressing base plate

into thickened epoxy, with a sheet of wax paper between.

Metal base plate removed, ready for paint.