svElysium…

Dec

Merry Isthmus from the Republic of Panama

by Dave Kall

Years ago (don’t remind me how many) I was in a religious studies class in college. Dr. Weeks; whom I admired, told us of a man who had prayed so much to God to ease his burdens. God finally rewrote his rule so he could help the poor man out. He brought him to heaven where upon the individual saw that he was carrying a sack. His sack of burdens. God escorted him to an enormous room and there were piles upon piles of sacks just like the one he was carrying, the burdens of each of the individuals on the earth. There God asked him to pick one bag of burdens out and leave his in it’s place. The individual sat down and thought for some time and eventually walked away with his own sack.

We’re all born with different burdens, some of our burdens are simply of birth, poor parents, sick parents, only one parent, parents of a country that doesn’t enjoy the safety and security of ours. Some of our burdens are inherited, extra teeth, skin diseases, missing limbs, chemical imbalances, etc. Some burdens we gather as we wander through life, relationships gone bust, abuse by those we’ve loved, accidents caused by those we’ve never known. All are burdens and yet we all have to bear them, we share them, we write about them, and we cry over them.

So Santa, what I wish to ask of you this season is not to bring us anything more but to take from us something that weighs upon each of us. Take a burden from each of us; no, don’t help us to carry it, simply take it from us - lighten our spirit, add joy to everyones season because our load is less.

Happy Holidays

Tags: Burdens, Christmas, Kuna Yala, Republic of Panam, San Blas
Categories: Places

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Dec

Finally

by Dave Kall

We’ve moved, not far but we’ve moved across the reef. There is a reef dividing Isla Linton and the Isthmus and a small passage with deep enough water through it for us to get to the other side without having to go out and around the island. We moved and within that is the good and bad.

We’re planning on the following am to leave for the San Blas Islands, Kuna Yala and it will be nice to have navigated passed the reef in good light. What we didn’t expect that our cell phone connection there would be so poor we can’t get the internet to get the local radar and wx info. We easily get the off shore information with the Pactor Modem and the Icom 802 SSB radio but the local stuff is what we really need. I did look at it before we moved and all looked good but that is 24 hours out and here in the rainy season local wx is good for about 6 hours.

The next am looks good. That is there is no rain, same wind, and the Sun is out. We leave before any of the am SSB and Ham nets and are passed Isla Grande before 8 am. Not soon after the nets we get a call from Reggie on Runner and he tells us that there was a good squall in Kuna Yala with winds to 45 kits and move E. We’re committed and we’re prepared. So far we’ve had 4-6′ swells and a light wind chop. We fully expected that to change. Less then an hour later we’re motoring into head winds of 20-30 and we’ve slowed down to 3.5 -4.5 kits with the engine ticking along at I’m guessing 1500. Remember we’re out a tac as the last attempt to fix went bust! We watch our course, watch the wind hoping to be able to pull out the headsail but all is like spitting into the wind. No luck on missing the mess. We’re all of a couple of km offshore and we’re still heading E. The wind is slowly abating but not as fast as either of us would like and by 12 we’re putting along at 5-6 kits. By 2 we’re inside the Esconoba Shoals and they’re breaking up the swell quite a bit. The wind chop is back to the 2 foot range and we’re making good time. We expect to be in the West Lemmons before dark. Traveling around in Kuna Yala after dark is much so much like Roulette. Yeah, sometimes you might win, many times you might survive but there is always the possibility of going belly up. We planned on making it in before dark and we will.

Now anchored in the West Lemmons we settle in for a calm evening and a trip to the Hollandaisse Cays in the am. There we’ll see Passsport (IB and Becca) again who we’ve not seen for 6 months, We’ll be near new friends (Hans and Susan on NautiBear) we met in ShelterBay and we’ll eventually run into Mike and Gloria on Respite who we tried to catch leaving ShelterBay a day behind them only to have the Battery and solve our WaterMaker issue.

Safely anchored in about 20 m of water with 60 meters of chain out we’re feeling rather secure for the evening. Another boat is coming in the same pass we did and from my vantage point they’re a little close to the S reef. I see the boat jerk like it was struck in the face and then see it jerk again. It begins a rapid turn; the WRONG way, into the reef. There I see it come to a complete stop like it hit a wall and it did; but the wall wasn’t at the bow of the boat but at the bottom. As the slight swell heading out of the N feels the bottom and creates a surf the boat is being pushed up farther into the shallow water. We don’t have any dinghy in the water so I make a call to the boats in the anchorage telling them there is a boat on the reef in the W. Lemmons on the W side and they could use some serious help now. It doesn’t seem like anyone of the 50 boats in here is responding so put out the call again and see a couple of the larger dinghy’s with larger engines begin to move towards the now fully grounded boat. They arrive and discuss the issue and nothing seems to be happening fast. Fast is what’s needed as the swell is putting her farther and farther up on the reef.

The dinghy’s tried to pull her off from the stern, no good. One runs back into the anchorage and gets more line and then they try to haul her down by attaching the tow line to the mast and pulling her over and dragging her off. But it’s getting late and they get her hauled over and try to pull astern. By this time the engine on the sailboat isn’t working and they’re trying to pull a 10 ton boat with a couple of small dinghies. Some Kuna’s show up in a Panga with a 40 hp engine and they try too. Dark now and they give up. The owners of the boat depart; staying I don’t know where, close up and leave it for the night. I’m not sure what they hope to attempt by doing that, maybe just saving their lives. The boat is left on the reef stern to the seas and there appears to be no anchor out.

The following am I ask Yogi (his name) who is a permeant resident here if the boat has water inside and he says yes. Doesn’t look like it’a coming off the reef anytime soon. I don’t really know if water ingress came from the seas breaking over the stern working their way in the companion way or if the boat is now holed. But it’s not going anywhere soon. We feel like we’ve just watched the slow death of a person. It was torturuous watching the boat grind on the reef and the feeble attempts by those willing to help try to save her. She’s not gone down but she has gone out.

It’s tough wondering how that could happen, a small misjudgment, exhaustion on the part of the owner or bad luck. The reef slowly shoals there where as most of the reef in this area comes up from 4-15 meters of water all the way to the surface and they’re easily visible. Dark blue water good, breaking water, light brown water bad. Stay away from breaking water and light brown water and you’re basically good. Stay away from moving at night and your good. We hope to stay good.

Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long

Tags: Isla Linton, Kuna Yala, On a Reef, Panama, San Blas, Wreck
Categories: Places

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Dec

I’m sick I ate at a McDonalds

by Dave Kall

First: I didn’t get sick eating at McDonalds. And yes they have a Mickey D’s in Panama City, Republic of Panama. I’ll start a day or so earlier. We needed to go to PC one more time; our Watermaker Clutch had arrived at Airbox Express. So far we’ve provisioned for Kuna Yala about 6 times now, the freezer is full, the stores are full, I have most of the supplies for repairs that I can remember. Then about 2 days before one of us left for PC the Mac computer died. It wouldn’t start up. Didn’t even get a chime from a restart. The drive started but that was it. Couldn’t connect up to it from another computer and am about a month shy of a new backup. Since there was a Mac store (not listed on Apples International Website) in PC I would take it in and see what the cost of a repair there is. And too, we had met Drew at the Thanksgiving dinner in Linton; Drew’s an ex pat living in Panama, and he plays tennis. So I was elected to make the trip, play some tennis, grocery shop, and pick up our needed boat parts. I had arranged with Drew to play in the afternoon and then would get to the hotel later that evening.

We arranged stay at the Las Vegas hotel again primarily because it’s Mothers Day in Panama and the hotels are full. Mothers Day is a national holiday in Panama and this did cause another issue.

W/ took me in in the am to catch the 9 am bus. I arrived about 30 minutes early as in our opinion most of the latin cultures use time as a guide and there is nothing finite about a schedule. Thus, I’m early to ensure that if the bus swings by 10 minutes before 9 I don’t need to wait an extra hour. After waiting about 20 minutes a fellow cruiser wanders by and tells me it’s a holiday and the buses only run on the even hours. So all I ended up with coming in 20 minutes earlier was an extra hour wait.

Finally I’m on the Red Devil (an all painted up School Bus); as the locals call them, and take that into the bus terminal in Colon. There I switch buses and get on an express bus to PC. Red Devil to the Bus Terminal $3.00. Express Bus to PC $3.35. I arrive in PC about 2 hours later then planned but luckily Drew is still interested in some tennis. I run about the Allbrook Mall to the Mac store only to discover that they won’t take the computer for repair, I have to go to the Multi Plaza Pacifica. With that option nixed I run to get a bite to eat before I met Drew for tennis. I found a great Ice Cream place and had a Brownie Sunday - hopefully enough to get me by.

Drew takes me to a 3 court tennis club that is nice and quiet. Restrooms, Showers, water, and 3 hard courts. We hit for a couple of hours and share some tennis stories. I’m feeling good, albeit a little tired after the bus and lack of real food. Drew takes me for a short tour of PC before he drops me at the hotel and I promise to call again if we get to the city to play some more tennis.

I check in, drop my light luggage in the room and take my dead computer to the Mac Store at Multi Plaza. There is also a Reba Smith (a rather largish grocery store) at the Plaza where W/ had given me a IMHO rather extensive shopping list.

I hit the Mac Store in the holiday season and there were hordes of people. Fortunately there weren’t any waiting for repairs and I gave my computer to them with $37 bucks for diagnosis (although) I had told them what was wrong! Then I went straight to grocery shopping. Shopping for groceries is high on my list of things I prefer NOT to do. Grocery shopping is real close to visiting the Dentist and have a tooth repaired without anesthesia. There I nearly ran through the store buying as many dry goods on the list as I could find. Time was rapidly approaching 9 pm so I checked out and I spent about 20 minutes awaiting a Taxi to take me to my hotel. Communication caused a longer wait as when the driver (in hind sight) asked what the address was I couldn’t tell him.

Finally back at the hotel I dropped my groceries and walked down to Monolo’s Italian restaurant. I had my favorite dish there; Carne Lasgana, and skipped the Cervaza as I was exhausted. I ate quickly and then walked back to the hotel. I entered the cold room; I had turned the AC up as I left to go eat, and almost ran to the wall unit shivering. I turned the temp back to a human survival range and from there I crawled into bed fully clothed with chills. I balled up into a fetal position and waited. I was slightly lucky in that I had brought some Saline mist to counteract any nasal buildup and I used it freely. All night I chilled and sweat waiting for morning to come, wishing I was on the boat instead of alone in PC.

In the am I felt a little better but knew I wasn’t 100%. Roger, our cruiser friendly SSCA cruising station guide was going to pick me up at 9 am. There we were to travel the city to acquire the rest of the supplies on W/s and my list, then stop at Airbox for the clutch and he would deliver me back to Linton. Hopefully alive! First thing I said to Roger was I need a pharmacy for some medicine. We hit the pharmacy about 1 pm. :) We made a list and attacked the stores we needed, some more refrigeration stuff, a Pizo alarm, a clamp on Amp meter, Price Smart, and Reba Smith again, then Airbox and then home. As the day dragged on I was running out of energy fast. I was making it though the am quite well but still needed my Aspirin and some decongestant. Finally; at Reba Smith I hit a pharmacy and picked the necessary supplies up. From there it was McDonalds. I wanted to grab a bite at RS but the lines were so long and I was barely hanging on as it was. Right now this holiday season my wish was to be back on the boat ASAP, and from PC to Linton was at least a 2 hour ride. We swung through Mickey D’s and I got a Big Mac, Fries and Soft Drink. I only ate 1/2 the Big Mac. I wasn’t doing all that great. We hit Airbox Express where we picked up the all important Water Maker Clutch and Roger ran into Rey’s (another Supermarket just across the parking lot). I was so exhausted that by this time I just sat in the car. I knew there were large bags of MnM Peanuts there but didn’t have the energy to go and pick some up!

On the ride back to Linton I tried to sleep and every so often Roger and I would talk about Panama. Can’t say as I remember much while I’m simply just trying to hang on to life. I may sound like I’m really hanging on to life, I felt like I was at Death’s door but I know I was simply a body out of energy.

We made it to Linton still with daylight to spare and we were just ahead of the rain showers. I had called some friends on Hobo and they called W/ on the VHF to let her know I was getting close. She’d come in in our Dyer Dinghy with the massive 2hp on it and there we would ferry all the goodies out to the boat. I estimated 4 trips. I was wrong…..again.

We unloaded the car and W/ paid Roger for his time in the city and the trip back to Linton. He took off as he had another cruiser to pick up at the airport that evening. W/ and I loaded the Dinghy and I rode with the supplies to the boat while W/ guarded what was left on the dock. I hefted all the supplies from that trip on board Elysium and then headed back to pick up W/ and the rest of the goodies hoping to stay conscious and hoping to beat the rain squall moving in the anchorage. As I neared the dock W/ waved me off! Reggie and Debbie on Runner had dropped off a friend and were heading back to the anchorage so they offered to take W/ and the rest of the supplies. They have an inflatable with a 20 hp on it and move close to light speed across the water. Thankful now for them I turned around and sped at max with our 2 hp of about 4 kits! W/ was on the boat and moving supplies out of the rain. I shut the engine down, handed her the painter to the dinghy and went below declaring that “I AM FINISHED TODAY!”

I rested for 4 days before I felt like doing much beyond getting up, looking out at paradise and then falling back into bed. And on the 4th day, I was back with the living world.

Tags: Airbox Express, McDonalds, Panama City
Categories: Places

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Nov

Free Advice

by Dave Kall

My general belief is that advice is worth what you pay for it. Sometimes we pay with time, sometimes we pay by the hour, sometimes by relationships. I haunted several cruising bulletin boards before we left on this chapter of our lives. One of the questions I asked a year or so before we actually cast off was, “What spares should I carry”? And the advice I received is what I’m paying for now.

We’re waiting in Linton, Republic of Panama for some water maker parts from Aquamarine. While we’re waiting for the parts we’ve been meeting people both shore side and other cruisers. We’ve had

At the Kids Table :)

Thanksgiving dinner at an ex - pats home; her house overlooking the harbor, W/ actually put the inflatable Kayak in the water and paddled

W/ Lovin da Kayak

around once (hopefully more then once will totally transpire), W/’s played Mexican Train Domino’s and gone to Yoga 2 to 3 times per week, we’ve read between us a half dozen books, played 100’s of Suduko games, I’ve play chess on FICS (real time with people all over the world), we’ve caught and filtered about 120 gallons of rain water making sure we’ve got our back up water catchment system working properly. We’ve taking a couple of long dinghy rides around and basically we’ve been

The Mangrove Creek

hanging here enjoying ourselves.

I didn’t carry a spare electromagnetic clutch for the water maker pump in any of our supplies. We do carry a multitude of spares but they tend to be stop gap, where we can Jury Rig (a Willie Wonka Chocolate factory fix) the repair and get to someplace where we can completely rehabilitate the part. I know one cruiser who carried 3 spare starters and when he went to install them none worked. I know of another cruiser who when he bought his boat actually had a spare transmission aboard. When he finally needed it and took it to the shop to have it prepared for installation he told me that it cost more to repair the spare (all the rust on the bearings etc) than it would have to repair the messed up transmission! Getting the right spares on board is more an art than anything else. These three plus years have been helping me identify the correct ones to carry, ones that if there is a problem we need to fix it ASAP, not wait. But waiting isn’t all bad.

This anchorage for about 85% of the time is quite nice but at other times there is a bit o’ roll that sneaks through the reefs. Our spares have finally hit Miami where Airbox Express our mail forwarder will then ship it to Panama City and I’ll go and pick the parts up.

Oh, and the advice I received online from another cruiser whom I never met; “What’s the worst thing that can happen if you need a spare and don’t have it….. You get to spend some extra day’s or weeks waiting for it …. in Paradise”.

Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long

Tags: Linton, Panama, Panamarina, Spares
Categories: Places, Provisioning

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Nov

Turkey Day

by Dave Kall

I’m thankful I was born an American, a partial member of the lucky sperm or egg club. I’m sorry that not all people of the world have the freedoms I have.

I’m thankful that I worked in an organization that has a defined benefit plan that allows us to now tour the world. I’m sorry that some companies and executives have seen to take that from employees condemning most of them to a life of continued servitude.

I’m thankful that W/ and I have health insurance, and sorry that the US isn’t the tops in the world for health care.

I’m thankful for my years teaching, I thoroughly enjoyed the connections I made with student and faculty and I’m sorry for those students I was never, ever able to connect with no matter how hard I tried.

I’m thankful for the friends I’ve made along the way. I’m sorry I’ve not been able to make and have more friends but IMHO friendship takes work and my time here is finite.

I’m thankful that every day I wake and see a world of adventure, new sights, new sounds, new people, new places. I’m sorry that someday it will end.

I’m thankful for my family who supports us in what we do, I’m sorry I can’t always be there on days of celebration and sometimes sorrow.

I’m thankful for the people we meet along the way that open their homes and lives up to us, I’m sorry for the people in the world that live in fear

Wendy and I

I’m thankful for W/. I’m sorry her parents are no longer with us to see how much she and I are enjoying this cruising lifestyle.

Should I go on? Or should I be as a small child is at evening dinner prayers and begin to be thankful for everything, the ants, the bees, the birds, planes and trains.

Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long

Categories: Places

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Nov

Inconvenience or Adventure

by Dave Kall

Years ago when I was moving from the classroom to the tech field my boss asked me why I wanted to make the change. One of the reasons I gave was, I like puzzles. In computer networks there are a lot of puzzles, why a computer won’t talk to a server, what a user did to “loose ALL their data”, how come a working computer plugged in doesn’t turn on? The data loss ended up being simple, they moved their documents folder into the root folder and the computer couldn’t find it! The plugged in one had a plug running behind a cabinet another identical plug running from the outlet to behind the cabinet. Neither plug connected. Didn’t find that till we began to move furniture. And so it went, my last few years at work, solving puzzles.

What I’ve since discovered is that I still like solving puzzles but I much prefer to help solve other peoples puzzles. We left Colon hoping to get back to Kuna Yala. This time we didn’t stop in Portobello but came all the way to Linton. There is a community of ex - pats here, there’s 2 restaurants; one above average, there’s transportation to Colon and beyond for parts and food, and there is an ok anchorage. While in the Marina we had checked most everything out, I went up the mast and checked the rigging and fittings; ran the generator and had new- used batteries installed, fueled up and watered up. The only thing we really couldn’t check out was the water maker. A couple of things kill watermakers, one any kind of fuel in the water and the other - Chlorine from a fresh water tank. So we couldn’t use marina water for flushing and preserving the membrane and we couldn’t run the watermaker cause there always seems to be some fuel in the water.

At Linton we started up the watermaker and all was looking good. Seventeen minutes into filling up our empty tank the watermaker circuit popped off. I had talked to Dan at AquaMarine about it and he had suggested that the Low Pressure Switch (LP) was most likely blocked. I had cleaned that switch in Colon at the marina. But here the circuit breaker popped off again. We shut down the watermaker and back flushed the membrane. I went into my pondering mode, where it seems I spend a great deal of my “spare” time as of late. After a few hours lost in the spider web of my brain pondering, I called Dan at AquaMarine. Damn good thing for cell phones! He helps me through the diagnosis. First check to make sure there is enough water flow out the brine discharge. If there isn’t enough water flow then the LP switch is doing it’s job. If there is enough flow then remove the LP circuit by pulling the black wire off and try to run it again. Be careful you don’t run out of water or you’ll burn up the HP pump! The following am W/ and I follow the instructions, holding a bucket at the brine discharge to make sure there is enough water. As we’re measuring the brine discharge the circuit breaker pops again. Since we didn’t have any pressure in the membrane we only have to wait a couple of minutes to restart the High Pressure (HP) pump. We go through this same scenerio a couple of times before the HP pump runs a full minute; long enough to get a measurement, the the breaker pops again. We now know we have enough water so we pull the LP switch out of the circuit. Still the same thing, the HP pump runs for a minute or so and before I can pressurize the membrane the circuit breaker pops. I begin the process of shutting down everything, back flush the membrane (giving up 5 gallons of good pure clean water that it looks like we might need) and begin to clear the cob webs from my brain so I might ponder again.

That evening; Aquamarine is in the Pacific Time Zone, I call Dan and give him the good and bad news. Next he suggests to test only the clutch on the watermaker. Disconnect wires to make sure the clutch is the only thing on the circiut and then flip it on. No need to run the generator. Leave it for 5 - 10 minutes and see if it stays on. We promptly set out to run that test. About 7 minutes into the trial the clutch clicks on and off. 8 minutes the same and about 9 minutes the same. Dan suggested we put on our clamp on amp meter on the wire and see what’s happening. Damn, my clamp on just bit the dust (discovered at the marina) and I tried to find another in Colon to no avail. I would run the test in the morning maybe using a Voltmeter and see if it shorts out.

The following am W/ and I run the clutch test again and we don’t even need to get the voltmeter out. In less then 1 minute the circuit breaker clicks off. We try it a couple more times and then figure we’ve found the culprit.

When I had a runaway starter 6 months ago in Kuna Yala the unit had first shut down. I’m not sure exactly where in the chain of events the clutch was. But it was all in the same 5 minutes. Now I have to find or order a new clutch.

We called Dan at AquaMarine and ordered a new clutch (he suggested it would be the correct fit and save many hours and much frustration over trying to find and replace the clutch in Panama), a new LP switch and a new Key Switch(I haven’t liked the key switch for a bit as I think it may be part of the problem).

So with those three things ordered and shipped to Airbox in Miami, we hope to have our parts by the end of November and be back in Kuna Yala early December.

While the Girl Scouts would ask “Is the Cookie Jar half empty or half full”, I find situations like this both an

Linton, Panama Anchorage

inconvenience and a mild adventure. As W/ oft reminds me We’re not sinking and we have a good place to hang, Thanksgiving is just around the corner and we’ll spend it as invitee’s to an ex cruiser, ex - pats, lovely home. We’ll get another trip most likely to Panama City and we’ll meet more cruisers and maybe, just maybe another Panamanian or two.

Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long

Categories: Places

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Nov

Time Warp

by Dave Kall

If anyone choose to look at our “dot” they would find that we had stayed in Linton. We’ll in spirit we did but in reality we had moved back to Shelter Bay. But that doesn’t count. IB (svPassport)reported a bit ago that while he was gone a year and half a friend of his had only thought he and Becca were gone a couple of months. Our cruising compadre’s on Como No had said of their circumav when we had commented on how young they looked that when you circumnavigate you subtract 10 years from your living. Basically, you travel for free around the world. Dirk and Silvie on Lison Life will be able to bank 7 years as they’ll soon be finishing their 4 year circumnavigation.

But for us; we ended up with some extra time at the dock replacing power on the boat. Maybe our Karma is back. The following day or the same day; when problems occur time takes on a new dimension. We started up the generator and cooled the freezer and icebox down, then before we shut the generator down we started up the main engine.

Once the main engine started the boat didn’t need any more electricity. It’s a diesel and even with dead batteries and it’s own non electric fuel lift pump it would run. And we still had electric, just not a good full house bank.

We pulled anchor and headed back to Shelter Bay Marina. There we could plug in and had access to shore transportation as well as other; in our mind, necessities.

By 7 am we had cleared the outer reefs and W/ headed on a course to Shelter Bay. By 10 am I had contacted them on the phone and let them know we were coming back, John the manager was glad and sad but said there was a slip for us; simply call Frank on the VHF when we were close.

Now in and secured we began trying to figure out how to get back up and running. Brian on Darramy was selling his Gel Batteries before we had left. We tried to purchase them then but he didn’t have the replacements and was worried that if he didn’t get the replacements by the time he had to go through the canal he would really be up a ditch without power. So we had wished him well and taken off.

Fortunately he hadn’t received the batteries yet and fortunately he hadn’t someone else wanting his 3 year old Gels. So we made a tentative deal; tentative on when he pulls them out they can sit and hold a charge for 24 hours.

Yes; our Karma may well be back. The day we returned was Halloween in the US and indeed we looked to be skipping the trick and maybe able to enjoy the treat. Chris at the Dock restaurant was hosting a Halloween party and although I wear my disguise 24/7 I was still allowed to attend. As we were loaded for our cruise to the hinterlands we had lots of treats aboard (remember I’m a junk food junkie) and we brought some up to the restaurant for the kids. What outfits they had on! So kool to see them dressed as Pirates, Witches, Angels, etc.

That evening survived we were back to our battery issue. Had we been required to order some new Gels they would have taken at best 25 days or at worst 35 days. That’s if we were lucky. We could have purchased wet celled batteries in Panama but I don’t have a dedicated Battery Box for wet celled batteries and we’re not like a Catamaran where we sail flat. I priced out locally purchased Optima Blue Top AGM’s and they were $400 each (roughly $150 each in the states) and when I got a quote on locally purchased high quality Gels they were more expensive still. Since we heel up to about 15 degrees (that’s our sweet spot) and we can often roll up to say 25 degrees I didn’t want to go with wet; that leaves Gels or AGM’s. Wet celled batteries are meant to be used horizontally.

No More Lifleline 8D

Our next task was to unload the 8D Lifelines; heavy suckers, and to get the space ready for the 4 Group 27 Gels. This would involve redoing some wiring and changing around some of the cleating that holds the batteries in place. We don’t relish them moving when the boat is in any kind of heavy weather. I just don’t think it would be fun trying to coral a 75 lb battery that is sliding around the cabin.

I was glad to get the Gels. Ample Power (the true Geeks of the battery world) actually says that AGM’s aren’t really ready to be used in Deep Cycle Boat applications. After our experience I concur. When our batteries died they

Re-Wiring for the Gels

didn’t slowly wander off into the sunset, they went south fast leaving little or no warning. Further; after reading Morgan’s Cloud website where they’ve been working with a Lifeline engineer, they’ve discovered that to keep the Lifeline AGM’s really healthy and to get the most amp hours / dollar out of them, you really need to condition them once / month (in wet celled batteries that’s called Equalize). In addition a posting on the Cruisers Bulletin Board one individual noted that an Optima engineer said that may be best to for their line but it’s not yet the company line. To condition them you need to run the Lifeline batteries up to 15 + volts for 8 hours or 16 volts 6 hours. Then you need to make sure you have copious amounts of ventilation as the by product of this process is Hydrogen (an explosive gas) as the batteries come back to full life. Further, if you run them too flat they won’t come back 100%; contrary to what was said a few years ago about AGM’s. If we wanted our boat to be a dock queen then AGM’s would be a good option. We don’t want to live at the dock. Now I know there might be a few that have noticed how much time we’ve spent at the dock in the last year - much too long - but that is not what we want to do. I’m sure they’re quite good for RVer’s that plug into the power grid on a regular basis but for a boat on the hook they’re not making as much sense to me now. Thus no more Lifeline AGM’s till the charging process is simpler and the recovery better.

Friday came and no batteries. Oh well, we weren’t going anywhere without them. We’re patient. We can wait. I hope.

Late Friday evening they were delivered and Brain was planning on the switch out Saturday. By Sunday we would know if they kept a charge and I would begin the task of putting them in our boat.

Our friends son, John, had brought the 8D’s aboard for us when we were in New Port Richey; however, he’s in his mid 20’s and could then pick them up and lug them up the ladder and down the steps without killing himself! Once maybe I could have done that. Now; maybe I can do that only once and then take a month to recover but we have two batteries. So I lift one out of the battery compartment and W/ and I take our time placing it under the forward hatch. There we attach some lifting lines to it and W/ uses our mast winch to crank it up to deck level while I guide it out the hatch. We figure if we remove one battery per day that’s enough work. One goes out the hatch, onto the boat, then up and over the lifelines and into a dock cart. There I begin to wheel it down the dock and before I get two boats away a worker on a friends boat wants it. OK. Done with battery one. The following day we do battery two the same way and I give it to the same worker. I’m sure the price of them as scrap is a few bucks (quite a few by Panamain day wage standards) but I doubt I would get anything for it even if I found the scrap yard. He’s happy, I”m happy. We’re ready for our new set.

The following day the batteries had held a charge and W/ and I move them to our boat for the install. Clean up the batteries, make some patterns and begin the task of arranging them in and then putting them in our boat. I chase down some more wire; Bill on Bamboo has double ought and discover I need a couple more lugs (Tiffany and Ed on Antigone have 4 and that’s just what I need).

By the end of the day the batteries are in place and 99% wired. I’m tired, and have some checking to do so tomorrow I’ll attach the last of the cables and we’ll throw the switch.

Bingo! All works well; too well. As I replaced all the house batteries I reprogram the chargers. Gels have a different charging regime then AGM’s and I also set up the Energy Management Module (EMON) for control. There I add one more thing to watch; the voltage of the starting battery that is when I discover I have a phoopa! The starting battery charges whether I have the battery switch set to on or off! Oh -Oh! That shouldn’t be. In the four years we’ve been aboard the charger has been charging the house and the starter battery the same and more importantly, i’ve been using the starting battery as part of my house bank. Not good. The starting battery is to be in “reserve” for when we need it. Truth be told, I’ve rarely used it as we’ve had more then enough power in the house bank to start either engine but now I know why I’ve sometimes felt there were gremlins in the electrical system. Time enough to look at that wiring when we get back to Kuna Yala, with IB and some Rum I’m sure we’ll get it all straightened out. For the month or so of using the system the same as it was; I don’t believe there will be any problems. The only thing I really need to do is cycle the Gels to 50% of their capacity and then recharge and for that I need to make sure the starting battery is not being drained nor charged at the same time. That discharge help sets the controller up on the EMON to function accurately.

Now we begin to look for a weather window to once again leave the dock and head back to Kuna Yala.

Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long

Tags: 8D, Battery, Condition, Equalize, Gel, Karma, Lifeline, Optima
Categories: Places, Systems

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Oct

Around the Corner

by Dave Kall

We’re hoping. We’ve moved around the corner to Linton. About 8 nm farther along. There we hope to isolate which of the 2 Lifeline D8 house batteries is bad and put a dinghy in the water and get ready for our move back to Kuna Yala.

John on Millenium is here and I’ve an opportunity to play chess with a real person. Most of my chess playing is on line at FICS when we have a good internet connection. After some chatting we chose tomorrow afternoon for a round of strategic moves.

John and I discuss the battery situation and he suggests isolating each one and testing it. Sounds good to me so that evening W/ and I isolate a battery, then run the generator to pull down the refrigeration temp as well as charge. After our 50 minute run time of the generator we shut it down and the only power draw is a couple of 1 amp lights and a 3 amp computer draw. Less than 15 minutes later our battery voltage is 10.5 volts and viola! We found our bad battery. I switch connections and we watch the now good battery stay up on volts. If the battery is really good we have 215 amp hours ideally but practically we have about 100 since IMHO not really a GOOD battery. I’m guessing maybe 50 amp hours to play with. So what. We pick up about 30 amps / day with solar and with the generator running we should be able to limp along.

Things look good that evening and throughout the following day.

The next day we put fuel in the 2 hp Yamaha only to discover it is dripping rapidly out of the carburetor. I take off the engine cover and discover that 4 of the doo dads that the bolts go into to keep the cover

Yamaha Nut all Rusted Out

on are rusting so bad the bolts are now just cosmetic. This Yamaha engine is a little over 2 years old, is a marine engine and these doo dads are made of steel! Shame on Yamaha! I open up the carburator to clean the jet and reset it. If memory serves me correct it’s to be 1 1/2 turns back. I put it back together and there is still drips. Oh-Oh. I reopen it up and close the jet all the way.

We open up the fuel and no leakage. That’s a good sign - we’ll see if she starts. Put the engine on the dingy and after several pulls (we remembered to attach the dead man switch) she starts up. Unfortunately she needs some choke to run so I need to sometime back out the jet a 1/4 turn at time to see if I can get it ….just right.

Ok, we’re rather pleased with ourselves and all set to move to Kuna Yala. Now we set up to enjoy the day. Mother Nature has other designs on us. From roughly noon till midnight it rains. People living in the temperate zones don’t have a clue what a rainy day really is. In the US when it rains it’s mostly from a front moving through. My mom use to say “Rain before 7 quit by 11″. Four hours of rain and that was a relatively accurate. Here it rains, and rains, and rains. and…. you get the idea.

Somewhere in the middle of the night I rouse myself out of my berth to open the hatches and ports; the rain has stopped, to check the surroundings and make sure all is ok. I look at the battery (not batteries anymore) and discover an issue. Last night we charged it; and the battery settled at 12.58 volts after charging. Now it’s reading 12.03 volts. Effectively a flat battery after drawing out say about 15 amp hours! If we continue on we’ll have no real reserve power in our house bank - no real power at all. It means instead of heading on to Kuna Yala we’ll head back to Shelter Bay. Life could be worse. We could be driving on Hwy 19 or sitting on the Beltway. We could be in a meeting with someone spouting off the new politically correct way education is to work. We could be farther away from a solution. Luckily we’re only a 1/2 days travel to a place we can solve the situation, provided the main engine will start.

Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long

Tags: Battery, D8, Lifeline, Linton, Panama, Yamaha
Categories: Places

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Oct

Strike Two!

by Dave Kall

Well … some won’t believe it. Others thought our goal was to become a Marina Queen (the boat - not us). There are those that call us Crew to our good looking boat. We don’t own the boat; the boat owns us. At times like this she lets us do her bidding. We’ve left the dock. We’re heading to Portobello, Panama.

Not a long trip by any standard, roughly 25 mile from dock to anchor down. And truth be told; she feels good, Elysium is alive, dancing to the wind and waves. We’re not out and out sailing, we’re motorsailing. That is, we have the motor on and a sail up. The sail is flopping, a little but she’s helping to steady the motion of the boat and seems to give us a small push. So far everything looks good.

About 1/2 way to our first nights destination (Portobello, Panama) the tachometer cable breaks….. again. This is the one we had fixed in Panama City. This is the one people told us couldn’t be fixed. This is the one I put in and couldn’t get it aligned perfectly. This is the cable that I hoped would get us 500 hours more and dreaded that it would give us only 5. I was close. About 5 hours of run time and the tachometer cable broke. Strike Two.

No three strikes for me. Over the years I’ve come to understand how important failure is to learning. Failure is the most important first step to learning. As babies we fall down only to get up again. This constant threat of failure works to ensure our continued mobility through life. Now well into my years of living I’m tolerant of failing once, twice tells me I’m not doing my best at learning and I hope I’ve definitely learned enough by the second failure not to have a 3rd. No third failure with the tachometer cable; it’s now, as the say in Panama, Basure. Garbage.

Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long

Categories: Places, Systems

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Oct

Ouch !

by Dave Kall

In cruising you oft take what you get. You can acquire high quality products but sometimes at a price you or I cringe at paying.

For some reason our batteries are suspect. They’ve been on a charger since we’ve been in the marina and we’re running the ship’s energy supply off the Vectron charger. But there are some odd things that happen. Simply put, our charger doesn’t know when it is pumping energy into the batteries and when it’s pumping energy into the boats demands. So I think we’ve been abusing our batteries (too much undercharging); more so here in the marina then when on the hook.

That said I couldn’t keep a charge in our starting battery. On the hook day after day we run our generator two times per day for about 1 1/2 hours. This keeps the batteries up to snuff ( or so I thought), keeps the freezer and refer working and makes any water we might need. Basically, I need to be able to start the generator every day. Once the generator starts I’m good. But with the starting battery not holding a charge we went looking…for a replacement.

What I found were replacements; however, most of them required modifying something or changing something. Also I could order them in through Marine Warehouse and have them brought by ship (or if we were rich I could fly in Optima batteries) but that would require another month or more at the marina. So we would spend 1k to save 1/2 k. In the end I found a similar battery to the Optima starting battery we had; an Optima Red Top. We had an Optima Blue Top and the major difference is the connection post and when fully charged I can’t crank the engine for 2 hours (not that I ever would). Optima say’s the Red top is not a deep cycle but I can’t see any real difference in their specs and I don’t really deep cycle the starting battery anyway. So we bought the Optima Red Top. $300.00 bucks. Ouch!

Paradise may be beautiful; it may be exotic; but rarely, is it CHEAP!

Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long

Categories: Places

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