 |
| Coffee on board at sunrise |
 |
| Sushi and a mango smoothie for lunch |
 |
| Happy hour at the yacht club |
 |
| Resident parrots at Paradise Village |
 |
| Pretty, but noisy |
 |
| Iguana does de Niro: "Are YOU talkin' to ME?!" |
 |
| Sunset on the beach |
Work Projects
 |
A lot of time, effort and thought went into
the continuing struggle to remove the
windlass motor from the shaft.
|
 |
Starting with the maker's suggestions, I tried a variety
of treatments to try to free it up.
|
 |
Luckily I had the perfect lab squirt bottle to get the liquids
into the right place in some very tight quarters.
|
 |
The recommended technique was to use a strap
wrench like this to twist the motor on the shaft.
|
 |
The normal use for these wrenches is to twist off filters.
Even using a half inch socket wrench handle, I couldn't
put enough torque on the motor to budge it.
|
 |
I came up with a clever way to apply much greater torque
using some Dyneema line and a big pry bar/screw driver.
(Photo taken after the motor was finally removed.)
|
 |
Even the added torque wasn't enough to move the motor.
The last resort suggested by the maker (and used by
The Commuter Cruiser, an experienced and published
cruising author with the identical problem) is to separate
the top cap from the rest of the motor and then saw it
apart to get it off the shaft.
|
 |
I wanted to avoid having to cut, so I gave it some thought
for a couple of days . I finally came up with the idea of
trying to use nuts and bolts as miniature jacks to push
the motor down and off the shaft. The deck was
very thick and strong at the windlass, so I knew it
could take the pressure.
|
 |
Using small needle-nose vice grips to hold the bolt head
on the bottom, I rotated the lower of the two nuts on top,
pushing up on the top nut and forcing the motor down,
since the deck was essentially immovable.
|
 |
It was awkward working in the cramped space, but little by
little after repeatedly turning the nuts, moving the set-ups
and swapping out the bolts for slightly longer ones as
needed, the motor began to move down.
|
 |
Here you get a better view of the set-up. Large nuts fit
loosely over the bolts and can move further than
smaller nuts before needing a longer bolt. At this point
the motor has been forced down more than 1/4 inch
(the shiny section of the shaft).
|
 |
After more than a day of going through the process
repeatedly, the motor finally dropped off the shaft.
|
 |
Hurray! Off in one piece and in the hands
of a local motor repair guru.
|
 |
Out with the old. After a few years of service in the
marine environment, my microwave gave up the ghost.
I suspect it might have been pushed to an early death by
current irregularities in Barra de Navidad, which is where
it started showing signs of imminent failure.
|
 |
In with the new. At the local Walmart, I found a Whirlpool
microwave that was the right size and looked okay.
Interestingly, the control labels are all in Spanish.
|
 |
Some more wood in the aft cabin sanded and masked
in preparation for spraying. (It had a few blemishes
from getting splashed when the nearby port had been
left open.)
|
 |
| Sprayed. |
 |
Like new again.
|
Weather
 |
Hurricane Aletta offshore while another tropical
depression forms further south.
|
 |
One computer model showed that the second storm,
now named Bud, could be coming quite close.
|
 |
At one point there was close to a 40% chance that what
had become hurricane Bud would bring storm force
(39 mph) winds to the area.
|
 |
Bud grew to a category 4 hurricane, and advisories were
issued.
|
 |
Fortunately, Bud remained far enough off shore that
everything remained calm, albeit a bit wet, where I am.
|
 |
Bud has now moved north and weakened to a
tropical storm headed for Cabo San Lucas.
But there is yet another tropical depression to the
south that seems likely to develop into another
storm or hurricane.
|
 |
My preparations for possibly strong winds included
removing the awnings and other canvas, adding dock lines,
clearing the decks, and securing the sails.
|
 |
| Mainsail secured with heavy line. |
 |
With a very high tide and perhaps some surge
from the storms, the dock was only about
a foot below the sea wall. The pilings that
anchor the docks had about 4 feet left above water.
|
A Little Surprise
 |
| Still lots of flowers around! |
