Don’t ya hate it when you forget something?

You are on your way to the lake for a long weekend of waterskiing. You just left town and realized that you forgot the tow rope. Seriously?! The lake is beautiful and remote and lacks any shops. Which is why you like it. Which is also why you have to go back home and get the tow rope before you can really be on your way. Except that will mean you have to drive through rush hour traffic. Or just drive up the next morning, cutting in to your weekend and your time on the water.

Ok. So now you get what happened to us.

We LOVED Isla San Marcos (Click here to see last post). And this was to be our jumping off point before we headed north. We would wait a couple of days of north winds and when it clocked to the south we would set sail for Bay of Los Angeles (PassageWeather fooled us- we actually had south winds the whole time we were there). While at the island, we realized that we needed some hardware to make a dinghy bridle, and needed another wrench to tighten the packing gland on the prop.

Soooooo, after two nights at anchor we headed back to Santa Rosalia expecting to just spend a night there. On the way we hit a squall.

26 knots of wind. Reefed jib only. Rain. Lightning. Thunder. Almost 7 knots of boat speed. Flyin’!

We haven’t had this much fun sailing in the rain since the first month after we learned how to sail many moons ago- we were trying to see how far we could get the toe rails of our charter boat in the water when we saw lightning in the SF Bay and decided maybe it was time to reef and head back in.

The rain was so cold that we actually had to put shirts on.

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The squall was intense. It came from the NW but the winds had been from the south all day so we had no idea that it would actually hit us, and the island that we just left. We were glad that we left when we did as Moondance was not moored in an anchorage favorable to NW winds. Mother Nature hasn’t been paying attention to our schedule as of late. I’ll have to have a word with her about that. At least she offered us a full double ended rainbow after we passed through the squall.

This time we skipped Fonatur Marina and headed for the Santa Rosalia Marina. The daily rate is half the cost here. We chose an end tie and the dock tipped 45 degrees sideways as we tied up to her. We were afraid this finger would literally separate from the dock. We moved to another slip and were generously warned to spray our cleats with cockroach spray. “They are all over the docks at night.” Oh. Great. That night we slept like the dead.

As it is no longer a bazillion degrees outside, we quickly finished our projects and are just waiting for the wind to shift- we are crossing our fingers that we can leave on Thursday night. In the meantime we went to a cruiser BBQ, have gotten lots of helpful advice from other sailors, and are starting to feel pretty comfortable in this homey little marina.

No Mexican tool set is complete without a cerveza.

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We bought eye bolts, washers and nuts in town to attach the bridle to the dinghy transom. They are not stainless so we will paint them to delay corrosion.

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Up, up, up!

We plan to lift the dinghy on deck every night until the end of chubasco season. Our old setup left us praying that we wouldn’t break a stanchion every time the dinghy came off or on the boat. Although still a 2 person operation, this setup is soo much easier and much safer.

Next: tighten the nuts around the packing gland on the prop shaft. We needed a 2nd big mama wrench to do this.

HEAVY DUTY

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Hard at work

This was a quick but challenging job. Conor had to manuever both wrenches in opposing directions at the same time and at just the right tension while squirming in to a little space and holding a flashlight in his mouth.

But he did it! So now we don’t have to hear that darn bilge pump go off so frequently when we motor! Another plus- we don’t have to feel like the boat is sinking.

Projects in Paradise

I didn’t really believe it when I read that cruising was about fixing the boat in exotic locations. Now I get it!

As you may remember, we were at Isla Isabella when the winds picked up to 25 knots. Normally this would not have been a problem, but Isla Isabella is a fair weather anchorage. Our anchor started to drag over the ocean floor and our bridle had almost chafed through. We were lifting our dinghy to prepare for departure and as we were doing so- WHOOSH!! -a gust of wind took our dinghy and flew it in the air like a kite!  The dinghy hit the solar panel by the cockpit, creating a hole in the bottom! (Read original story here). Well, we tried everything from bicycle tire patches to super glue in San Blas, a small fishing village, but we had no luck. We finally found the 2 part glue and hypalon patch material at Zaragozas in Puerto Vallarta.

Woo-hoo- we have freedom again!!!

Cleaning and preparing the patch area. Lots of glue residue from false attempts to remove.

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We had one shot at this (expensive) glue. After the two ingredients are mixed we had 4 hours to use the glue but in our conditions the remaining glue in the container started to turn gummy after about 2 hours. The directions stated to use away from water, direct sunlight, and humidity. We were on a dock, with no shade, and 75%-85% humidity.

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Hallelujia, it worked!!! Due to the humidity, we let it dry for 10 days.

Next we had to fix a sail car on the mast which had broken during a 40 knot ‘wind event’ about 12 hours after leaving the Turtle Bay Anchorage. (Read original story here). We had not found any sail cars down the coast and Mike at PV Sailing in La Cruz gifted us 2 used sail cars that fit perfectly and now we can use both reef points! Yeah!

The loop ripped right off in high winds. We can still sail without it with a full main or one reef but because of the position of the break, we cannot sail with the 2nd reef.

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Ripping the threads out of the fabric was easy. It was getting the glue off that was hard. This must be done so we can attach the sail to the new sail car with this fabric.

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I’m so happy that I raided my mother’s sewing chest when we went back for a US visit. This needle is invaluable on the boat!.

The next project was to rebed the chainplates. After getting the rails in the water during the  Banderas Bay Regatta we found new leaks in the boat and decided it was time. We used 5200.

 

It’s HOT!!! Without a sewing machine or the desire to pay someone to make a fancy custom sunshade for our boat, we made do with a little creativity.

Instead of cutting in to the fabric to fit around the boom (way too much hand sewing involved and the measurements were forever changing!) I decided to sew strings on to the fabric that would tie to the boom. The most important element is that the fabric offers shade and it can be taken down in minutes in the case of sudden high winds in an anchorage.

It looks like we are camping!

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I used sail tape as the backing to reinforce the attachment point.

Shade! My new heaven on earth. It lowers the boat temperature by several degrees. Now we need a boom tent and a shade for the forward deck.

 

Things you think when you are hanging from wires 45 feet above the ground. Or water.

Oh my gosh, I hope I don’t fall.

I don’t know how to fix this $#&% thing.

$&*@, I forgot the screwdriver/wire/sealant/etc. and now I’m going to have to go down and back up again.

Why won’t this $%^&*! thing work?!

$%#* I dropped a screw!

Wow, the view is great up here.

Can I come down yet?

Yes, there is a lot of swearing that goes on when you are up the mast. You never go up the mast just for FUN. It is always because something needs to be fixed. We find that it is best to just silently mutter the expletives as one’s voice carries quite some distance in a marina.

This past week we have been attempting to figure out why the mast lights do not work. There are three lights on the mast. The anchor light is up at the tippy top of the mast. It should be turned on at night when you are in an anchorage so others can see you. About ¾ up the mast you will find the deck light which shines down on the deck and the steaming light which is designed so boats next to you and in front of you can see you. The steaming light should be on when you are motoring at night.

In Monterey we realized that the steaming light did not work. We had been using the deck light which was plenty bright. I went up the mast in Monterey to ‘fix’ the problem. I inadvertently broke the deck light so we just had an anchor light left. So we used our anchor light as a steaming light as well. This week I went up the mast to try to fix the steaming and deck lights once again. I inadvertently made the anchor light go out. You would think that electrical wires would be relatively easy to figure out. Power is on at the base of the mast- check. Positive to positive and negative to negative and PRESTO the light goes on!

After several trips up the mast the PRESTO never came. I’m over it. I’ll volunteer to stand on the deck and hold a light up for 12 dark hours before I go up the mast again. We’re leaving for Mexico this week with at least one working light OR some home-brewed concoction on the mast. Heck, maybe we’ll even wrap the mast with Christmas lights!

How to wash a sail

Moondance Refit- Washing the sail to prep for new UV lining

Our smaller jib sheet was in dire need or new UV Lining. Every time we sailed it looked like we were in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Challenge:

When we went in to North Sails they told us that the sail must be clean before they could replace the UV lining. If they cleaned it the process would take 2 weeks as they would have to send it to Southern California. So in order to get the UV Lining replaced in time for our departure we decided to try cleaning it on our own.

Process:

Lower the jib sheet off of the track, fold the sail, and take it off the boat.

Peel the UV lining off of the sail

Bathe the sail in a mixture of Joy and just 2 capfuls of bleach (some people recommend bleach and some advise against bleach. We decided to chance it). Conor’s dad was nice enough to let us use his large tub. We turned the jets on briefly to agitate the water and then lightly scrubbed the sail. Next we took the sail out of the tub and in to the shower to rinse. We practically flooded the bathroom!

Next we took the sail outside to dry. We didn’t want to get it dirty by putting it on the grass so we laid it on top of a number of deck chairs.

Drying the Jib

The whole process to wash and dry the jib took 2 days. This gave us just enough time to drop off the clean sail to North Sails so that they could attach new UV lining for us.

Choosing a Dinghy

This is the first of many posts that will detail our Moondance Refit for sailors and non-sailors alike to share what and how we made our updates.

Challenge: What dinghy and outboard motor size do you get to cruise Mexico?

Process:

We were planning to get a 8-10 foot PVC dinghy with a short shaft 8hp engine.

PVC is better for warmer climates than Hypalon and the material lasts longer. As our boat bills were rapidly piling up, we started to scour www.craigslist.org for a solution. Luckily the gentleman who sold us Moondance called and asked if we wanted to buy his dinghy and engine that he was now ready to part with. The dinghy is a soft bottom PVC dinghy equipped with a floor, one-way valves, wooden oars, dinghy pump, and seat. It comes with a 15hp Johnson engine. The engine is too large for the dinghy (which has a recommended 10hp for it’s size) but we decided to take the whole lot. The dinghy planes well and we have only had to beach it once on a rock beach on Santa Cruz Island. As of now we are not planning to attach dinghy wheels for the sandy beaches of Mexico.We did buy a handheld vhf to accompany any dinghy for ease of communication and in case of an emergency.

We also learned that the best way to blow up a dinghy so that the air has staying power is to partially blow up each section, add the floorboards, then finish blowing up the dinghy sections. If one side is blown up completely before you start filling the other sides, the dinghy will not be able to hold the air as long, as per Sal’s Inflatables.

Downside? The engine is extremely heavy and we have to attach it to a halyard to raise and lower it off of the boat and dinghy. Cross you fingers for us that we don’t drop it in the ocean!

The engine lives on the stern pulpit when not in use. I am considering spray painting it a loud and obnoxious color so it will be less susceptible to theft.

Conor tries out the oars

We practiced pumping up the dinghy on the foredeck to make sure it would fit.

Test driving the dinghy- woohoo!

Will things ever stop breaking on our boat?

After resting as best as we could assess our systems. After a quick call to Galen at Johnson & Hicks it turns out that the depth sounder does in fact work. It just does not have the power to read high depths so it goes haywire and reads really low numbers or no numbers at all. We also discover that our amp meter does not read the battery charge from the engine. We had fully charged batteries, but the meter read 26% charged. This tool will be best used at anchorage or while sailing only. Now all we have to do is change the transmission and engine oil on our new engine and we are outta here!

Simply unscrew the bolt on the bottom, let 200 mL of ATF (automatic transmission fluid) drain out, put the bolt and washer back in, pour new ATF in the top. Then use the super easy pump on the engine to pump out the oil then use oil funnel to add new oil. No big deal, right? Well, here is what happened instead:

• Drain ATF and refill transmission with engine oil instead of ATF
• Have a mini freak out!
• Call Hirschfeld for advice and find out we don’t need to freak out, just change it a couple more times
• Drain engine oil from transmission and add ATF
• Pump engine oil out of engine, put new oil in and get oil smudges all over the boat
• Run the engine for about an hour and go through all the gears
• Drain ATF from transmission again and refill with new ATF again
• Run the engine for a couple more hours, go through all the gears
• Decide to change ATF one more time the next day since our next stop is not for 215 miles… bad idea
• Drain ATF, put bolt back in (very weird awkward angle) and accidentally strip the threads
• Try to make it work anyway, refill with ATF, try to leave the harbor, ATF is obviously leaking, turn back to Monterey Harbor
• Call Hirschfeld for reinforcements and Shane (we love him!) drives from Sausalito to retap the threads in our transmission, put in a new bolt, change our belt on the engine, and we vow to pump the ATF from the top opening and never touch the bottom bolt again! This vow is second in importance only to our marriage vows.

At this point we are sooo thankful we can safely leave the harbor and make our way to Santa Barbara. However, we also realize that our steaming light on the mast is out (deck light works but steaming light does not work) so I go up the mast and try to fix it.

Going up the Mast- photo courtesy of Dan Haynes

In the process I also manage to loosen/short the wire to the deck light so now neither of the lights work. Seriously?!?! Forget it, we’ll deal with it later and just use our anchor light when motoring at night. So… tired… of… boat… work…