So today i got going on the fridge insulation first thing. this was not too hard a job just had to cut the insulation panels for under the sink and secure them. i did this while we ran the engine. the good news is aimee is adapting well to doing yoga with the engine running at 1700 rpm.
we had promised sietes and jen we would get cuba libre out for them first thing but no one was moving so i got started on the solar panel as well. the panel install was not to hard if you remember i actually have it mounted over the lines. all i had to do was mount some brackets and connect some wires. i got the brackets attached to the panel and drilled 3 holes in deck to hold the panel in place. i was a bit worried about 5200ing the whole thing without moving the sails fully. probably a bad call but time will tell.
sietse arrived as i was measuring voltages on the array to figure where to attach the panel. i have a high voltage solar charge controller so all the panels are in series. this meant i had to cut the connection and insert the panel in the right direction. this is not as simple as it sounds as the array is already at 100 volts and i did not want to zap myself. i got the panel added in correctly and the array voltage is now close to 120 volts. i did a bit of a temp job with the wiring as i would like to get the proper connectors for the panel as they will be out in the salt spray. of course everyone is closed today an tomorrow is a holiday as well and the day after that aimee got us scheduled to haul the boat!
after aimee made us both breakfast siets and i finally got down to emptying the lasseret and extracting the dingy. we took the opportunity to also get out the backup sup bag. it seemed to take forever to get the dingy out, the stuff in and finally the dingy inflated. sietese seemed in no hurry to get back to his boat and start working and regardless of what aimee and i said about leaving he continued to happily sit and chat.
finally i fired up the engine and aimee started pulling up the anchor. this got him moving as he loaded the dingy up and rowed the 50 ft back to waka irea. our 4 mile trip turned to be a bit more sporty than we imagined. the tropical cyclone had stirred up a decent swell and we had 20kts on the nose. we where up at 2000 rpm making 4 kts charing at 150ams and i was worried about the alternator so we pulled the floor boards to give it more ventilation but talk about a major racket!
fortunately it was short lived and we navigated into this nice little protected lagoon and dropped the hook. we ventured ashore for a “quick” bear at rogers as we where planning to go back for dinner. the drinks where such a good deal 5ec and roger quite nice that we stayed a bit longer. we finally had extracted ourselves and where launching the dingy when jason and amanda from pegasus walked up. this lead to many more hours as we caught up. they have their boat on a mooring and have an apartment here. their kids are in school and jason is working on the interior of the boat with plans to perhaps sell it. not clear if this is real or what. they are also planning to sail across the atantic back to europe next year and continue up the river to st Petersburg russia for white nights in may. a fun event but a lot of cold sailing!
aimee wisely swam home but i stayed on until pegasus and their kids left around sunset. aimee was fast asleep when i got home but she was nice enough to get up and make me dinner. we will have to try for the bbq tomorrow when waka irie is no supposed to arrive.
Cheers – Roger
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Roger, you are in your element figuring out new ways to do things! And I bet your dad is enjoying it too.