April 2018

Wind Generator and other power issues

I connected the wind generator back to the batt bank today and at the time noticed that one of the solar controllers was dead. This controller managed two big panels on the top of the cockpit. This would explain the lack of power for the past several months.
Now I have to find a replacement that is not "MorningStar" since that is the brand that died in less than 1 year of installation… We will see…. But for now the other tow solar panels using Genesun controller and the D400 Wind have use in the positive area for now.
I'll have to get a new solar controller for the center panels


Stuffing Box

The stuffing box took a 3/4 turn on the bolts… All is good now, no more drippy drippy… the bolts are rusting on the ends, but not where it cinches down. I spray the bolts with anti-corrosion grease every year, but when the engine is in gear the drips of water spray around and off the shaft as they exit the surfing box. This provides a bit of salt spray onto the ends of the long bolts. I image that when I change the packing on the box I'll have to buy new bolts and nuts and expect the same to occur again and again over the years.
The 3/4 turn has reduced the 1QT of water dripping in the boat at anchor every 2 hours down to 1QT every other day.
I think I prefer a traditional surfing box, like the one I have, than the new fangled things that have more methods to fail. The traditional box is unlikely to fail catastrophically but you do have to adjust it every 500 hour or so on the engine.

Back in the water again

Yesterday we splashed back into the ocean… YEH!!! Living on the Hard is Hard and dirty. Boat yards are full of dust, dirt, mud, etc… I'll spend the next few days in Clarks Court Bay cleaning up the boat and getting everything back in order. The I still have to some on the water projects, like service the engine, connect the cables to the wind generator, repack the V-berth, bend on the sails…
I put 3.5 coats of Trinidad paint on the bottom and had the sides polished so she is shiny again. The Max Prop was reset for 16 degrees for 18 this should make a difference no how the engine runs at high speed.
Today I wend shopping to resupply the food after a week on the Hard.
Great stars tonight. I can see the Big Dipper and the North Star as well as the Southern Cross and the two Guides Stars. It is nice to be near the equator on a clear night! They are calling for mostly cloudy conditions this weekend and rain… So tonight is special to have such a clear sky and moon that is almost full.

Chain lengths

About the second year after owning Music, I put all the anchor chain out on the dock, measured it and painted the markings. Ever since then I have believed that the marks were 5 leagues (aka 30 feet). I have always anchored assuming that was true and that worked until I went out into the ocean.
For the past two years where I'm anchoring in 20+ feet of water, I noticed that my anchor didn't set as well as it should at 5:1 ratio, so I've been using 8:1 ratio.
Today I dumped all of the chain onto the ground and found that instead of 30ft per mark, I have 20ft per mark. This explains why and 20 ft. of depth I had to use what I thought was 150ft of chain to be secure (7.5:1) when in fact I was only using 100ft of chain (5:1), and that is perfectly normal until you get winds above 40Kts.
Oh well, I'm still not sure why I thought it was 30ft per mark…. It is clearly 20ft per mark.

Haulout in Grenada

We will be on the Hard for a week, maybe a little longer depending on when we can get a new "prop nut" delivered.
Here is a picture of the boat on the trailer. I've never been hauled this way, it was a bit strange. Usually marinas use a travel lift. This place only uses the travel lift for really big boats.
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Day 18 of ticks

And we are still harvesting ticks off the dogs. This was Jupiter's haul today. Mostly in his neck and toes. YUCK I HATE TICKS
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TAFFY's on Tuesday night

Wow. Not much more to say, like Hog Island on Sunday and now TAFFY's on Tuesday.
Only thing better was Hog Island on Christmas Eve Night in the rain.
Now that the music is at TAFFY's you can get great food and TAFFY's is much closer than the Brewery.

Tick update

The collars are working, but I still do tick picks twice a day on the dog and I'm still finding the little blood suckers.
Today Cinco bit me, hard, and he is now on warning that if he does it again I'll have to put him to sleep forever.
I'm anchored at exactly 12deg north and today the wind has shifted a bit to the southeast and now we are floating just a little above 12deg.
The boat gets hauled out on Thursday, so in the next day or two I have to take the sails down and then motor over to Clarks Court Bay so I can bring the boat into the marina at 8AM on the 19th. We should only be up for 1 week.
No pictures as my Nikon camera isn't working right now. Still trying to figure that out.

Lots of walking today

None of the shops on the island have a replacement propeller for my outboard. I called all of them, but one shop did say that they may be able to match it up with a Mercury prop. So this morning, I had a boat neighbor take me to Secret Harbor and then I walked from there all the way around to ANRO Agency on the M. Bishop Highway. They had a prop. So I'm good. I have to save to old prop cause I hear that in St. Martin and in the US they can press in a new bushing. All the same, that is an extra part to carry that I never thought about having on the boat.
Now that I had walked that far and none of the pet stores carry tick spray or collars, I walked down to the SGU Vet and picked up a couple of tick collars for each of the dogs. Then on the way back I stopped a Prickly Bay for Lunch and then continued my trip back. Since the boat is at Hog Island, I decided to walk to one of the docks on Clarks Court Bay as it will be easier to get someone to give me a dink ride back home. I got a car ride for the last 1/2 mile from the owner of the other boat named "MUSIC." Once at Clarks Court Marina, I haled for S/V Grateful and got a lift from Capt Crabby. My feet need a rest.
I sure hope these collars work for the puppies. I'm sick of ticks!

Spun the Prop on the Tohatsu

Yep apparently I "spun" the prop on my 9.8 Tohatsu in just over one year. I've only hit two rock and that was a long time ago and didn't put anything more than 1/16 of an inch nick in one of the blades. Yes, we run onto hog island, but the engine is kicked into neutral as we coast up and I always pull the motor up. I'll be heading to the Chandlery on Monday to get a new prop. I think I will get two of them since they clearly only last for one year.
I'm claiming initial victory over the ticks! Though last night they mounted a counter offensive to my doggy shampoo and hair cuts. Yes last night they sent all available ticks to invade "MY" bed. I killed 24 ticks on my bed before going to sleep and got two more while sleeping.
This morning's tick count was only 8 prior to inspecting the puppy beds. I don't count those, but they were down as well. But today we did fully puppy body exams and in total I removed 64 ticks by 2PM today and sprayed the areas where the ticks were found with pesticide. Since then only 5 or 6 have been found. We will see what Sunday's count will be by 7:30 AM. Poor Jupiter has some many bits and scabs from the bites it makes it hard to find new ticks on him. Cinco is easy with the white hair and short hair cut, but he still won't let me cut the hair on his feet or between his toes (he won't even let me inspect between his toes for ticks).

Still more Ticks

Today was a huge crop as the pups were washed last night and received partial hair cuts. I removed quit a few from them while given hair cuts. I also clean up Cinco's bedding area (i've been doing Jupiter's every morning) and he had his fair share of the little buggers. The count has been going down today. But I expect of find more as I finish up the hair cuts.
I think I'm going to get tick collars for them. The Meds they are on kill ticks after they bite them. I need something to keep the ticks off of them from the start.

Mirlitons (aka Christophines)

Mirlitons aka Christophines! Today if fried them in peanut oil…. Yummy will a little bit of "Slap Yo Mamma" and fresh ground black pepper on them. My mouth is still tingling from the yummy taste. So all of you guy in the US, get some Chayote squash, alligator pears, Mirlitons or Christophines (this squash as oodles of names) skin it, slice it like fries and drop em in hot oil. They don't get crisp like potatoes, but they sure are yummy after they start floating in the hot oil.