Ships Blog
Date:Sat, 27 Jul 2024 12:58:00 GMT
Heat Exchanger Again!
Hopefully Fixed for good
Hi Folks, Yesterday afternoon we heard the bilge pump going off again
pumping out rusty water from the bilge. So we knew right away the temporary
fix on the generator heat exchanger had failed. It lasted nearly a month so
we're not unhappy. And of course we had the new one just waiting. So Once
again we snaked our arm back in there and disconnected it one handed. Sam
did the work this time and just when we thought all was well... Remember, in
order to get the heat exchanger in and out we have to snake it through like
one of the mind bending puzzles. There's a pattern to get it out and it's
not easy. And you have to get it back in the same way. But the new heat
exchanger, though it looks identical, is not. It was actually a little
larger with different protrusions. So Sam couldn't get the new on in.
And now it's a different puzzle with different pieces. Oh my gosh!
Well after much adeu about aparently nothing it went in eaisly from the
bottom instead of over the top this time. So, it's running again.
Of course it happened just as Hannah was thinking about starting dinner and
we of course delayed her getting dinner started by nearly 2 hours making
it well after dark before we could eat.
Here in the DR we have plenty of mosquitoes and tiny black midges.
In the middle of the lagoon the mosquitoes are not too bad except on really
calm nights. But the midges are terrible. There are thousands of them.
They don't really cause much itching but they hurt when they bite so it
feels like prickly heat or something. Last night there was absolutely no
wind so the boat is filled with these stupid little knat/midge things.
The weather in the summer is not bad here. It's staying in the
mid-high 80's with a nearly constant breeze. But without the massive sun
shade/tent we have over the boat it would probably be unbearable.
Everything is getting eaten up by the tropical sun including our dinghy. We
will have to re-coat/paint it when we get back to the US. We arn't getting
much rain. It only rains about once a week and not much so we are having
to pay for water and it's adding up. Water is 100 Pesos for 5 gallons. The
exchange rate is 58/$ so that's about 1.75/5 gal and we go through 15 gal a
day. So that's about 5.25 per day in water. Diesel is $6/gal and we're
running through that about about 10 gallons a week. And use of a washing
machine at the marina is $95/month which is a little high in our estimation
and showers is about the same so we're showering on the boat because water
is cheaper than showers. The mooring balls are abou $100/month.
So, it is nice here but it's not really that much cheaper than summering in
Marathon, but it's a lot less hot/humid! And the food is cheaper and all
natural.
I have to say, the starlink is a game changer. It's much nicer than
sistering/wifi off a marina or other boat. It's really fast and convient.
However it is quite the power drain and our solar panals are not quite
keeping up anymore. So we are running the generator a little more. The
month to month cost is cheaper in the DR than in the US and that's nice so
it's very afordable overall.
Sam has been working hard on videos and has been running a roll playing
game for some of the other gamers in the harbor. Hannah is knitting a new
purse and doing a lot of reading. Mom has been listening to the news more
than she should, and overall everyone is doing fine! The boat has been a
little less sea ready as we have settled in to a liveaboard but we are
desparatly trying to keep it ready to go. (it's not working!) Lilah has
found a nice square rice bag that she likes to sleep on. I don't know what
it is about square things and cats but a box, a newspaper, a bag and she
on it right away.
Date:Mon, 22 Jul 2024 23:54:00 GMT
Luperon Status
Heat Exchanger arrived!
Well it's been a fun last few weeks!
We had dragon fruit for the first time and love it! Hannah tried a new
recipe for chocolate pudding. It's made from blended avacodo with honey,
chocolate and milk! amazing. We had Hungarian Goulash at Astrids resturant and
Cordon Bleu! It was wonderful as well. Very authentic. Of course she is
from Austria. We have been having Pizza at New Amsterdam on Sundays and
Hamburgers at The North!. These are all resturant/clubs run by expat's here
in Luperon.
We received the heat exchanger for the generator a couple days ago and
we're very glad to have it. The old one is still holding with a temporary
repair and I've not a mind to change it till it fails again. Simply too
much trouble to put my arm way back in there and take it apart one handed.
Rum Ration is in their apartment now and the sale of the boat is
complete. We watched the new owners take out the motor the first day and
haul it away to be re-built. Once again thanks to all who helped Raymond
and Sonya. They are trying to start a local food business here in Luperon.
As you know we spent last summer in Marathon, FL. The heat there was
terrible and the humidity unbearable. Now at the end of July here in
Luperon the temprature is still in the mid to high 80's and there's almost
always a breeze. It's much more pleasant! This is a wonderful place to
summer the hurricane season. The sunshade we have over the deck makes it a
little difficult to move around the boat but it really helps keep things
cool.
Handy Andy owns the mooring ball we rent. He does the bottom of our
boat, brings us R/O water, diesel, gas and anything else we need and don't
know where to find it. He's very helpful and a joy to deal with. If you
come down here look him up. When you're out of water he is there quick as
you can say I need... he's absolutely wonderful!
Yesterday was board game day at Astrids and we played "Ticket to Ride"
it was great fun. After that svSoMuchMore taught us to play Euchre!
We're having a wonderful lazy fun summer!!! and the moonlit nights with the
reflections off the water are spectacular!
Date:Thu, 04 Jul 2024 13:49:00 GMT
Happy 4th!!!
Heat Exchanger died. Rum Ration continuing status
Happy 4th of July foks! As our country is divided so terribly I'd
like to remind everyone that we are all Americans and this is the birth
of our nation. So unless you actually think that we should desolve our union
or become a vassel state of communist China I would like to wish ya'll a
happy 4th! Read the Bill of Rights! Have a barbecue! Play some softball!
Lite fireworks! And, have few cold beers. We still have a chance,
I think of turning off the boob tube and and talking to eachother rather
than listening to someone telling us what to think. Here's my vote:
Let's all be Americans again! Instead of focusing on our differences,
let's focus on what we share! Have a wonderful 4th!
On another note, our generator died yesterday morning! So with Hannah
returning from visiting family, the very day before, the heat exchanger on
our generator failed!!! the bilge started filling with water a couple days
ago and we didn't know why. When it started turning a rust color I knew the
problem. With our boat, since we have an electric stove and very little
solar, we are very dependent on our generator. We can charge batteries
with our engine and it's balmar, and we have 500 watt hours of solar a day to
keep up with lights and refrigeration. However I was very disturbed to
think of Hannah returning to a boat with no stove.
Sam and I worked all morning taking out the heat exchanger. It sits
wedged in front of the generator facing aft with about 4 inches of room
between the fanbelt and the bulkhead, under the nav station. So you have to
disconnedt 4 hoses blind with one hand and your arm wedged full length
between the case of the generator and the main pully. Then you have to get
this thing out like some kind of evil puzzle, by turning it on it's end and
feeding it up... turning it over... and sliding it over the main pully and
trying not to get the hose nibs caught in the water/alternator pully. And
of course when you start disconnecting things antifreze and salt water go
everywhere so as you're doing all this it's a slippery mess of antifreze.
Then to put it back in is the same process in reverse. But I might add,
putting the hoses back on is much easier than taking them off because
they're stuck of course... and you only have one hand to get the hoses off
the nibs. The only tool you can get in there is the bit from a screwdriver
to turn with your fingers and a 1/4 inch drive. So, it takes about 1 for
each hose and about 15 minutes to snake it out of there. I swear I'm going
to find another place to put this heat exchanger.
There is no reason that the heat exchanger can't be mounted in a
different place that is easily accessable, and the hoses extended from the
generator engine to another place in the bilge. It's no wonder why no one
changed the zinc before we purchased the boat because you simply cannot get
to it. Heaven forbid, that I have to replace the belt or alternator. I
would have to dissasemble the entire nav station to get at it.
The heat exchanger was leaking in two places. One was at the edge of a
repair that I did 11 months ago. I knew it was not permanant. We patched
some rotten places in the heat exchanger with part of a copper pipe we cut
in half and brazed into place. But it didn't seal very well on one edge and
I had to fill a hole with brazing rod. That brazing rod rotted about the
same amount as the zinc I put in it. And also there was a second hole in
one of the nibs where it had eroded the first time. Aparantly it was very
thin and I didn't know it so it developed a pin hole. When I pulled the
front of the generator to see where it was leaking of course there was a
stream of weater going everywhere from this little pin hole.
So unable to braze on more copper I put metal tape on the back side of
the hole where the brazing rod corroded out and filled it with epoxy. Then I
used epoxy on the inside of the hose nib with the pin holes. After that I
used high temp epoxy putty to fill the back side of the holes. Of course
you cannot ever patch anything holding water on the outside of a hole. Then
we used a rice bag as fiber and epoxied 1/2 of the heat exchager into a
solid piece of composite. I now have a reinforced epoxy coated copper heat exchanger.
I'm not sure how long it will last but we have a new heat exchanger coming
from the states and hopefully this will last till it get's here. The new
heat exchanger was expensive as they all are, but it's costing us nearly 1/2 the price
just to ship it here. Well, what can you do? We need the part. If this
repair lasts a month I'll be supprised.
But this morning we started her up and she's not leaking! And for as
long as it lasts we will have a stove. We typically run the generator
between 3-4 hours a day but we're going to try to cut that in half or less
till we get the new heat exchanger.
As far as Rum Ration goes they are trying to sell the boat. They have
had 2 our three people look at it and one even flew in. But no takers yet.
It's difficult to sell a boat without and engine during hurricane season.
Sonya is just too sick to continue sailing. Hannah is bringing some meds
back from the states for her that you can't get here but she had been
feeling a little better the last few days. Raymond has been spending a lot
of time trying to market the boat on every web site available and get it
spiffed up for showing. If you are interested in a solid boat with no
engine, (but repairable) for a good price please contact us!
They still need help! We are, with others in the harbor
like sv SoMuchMore trying to make sure they eat. And thanks to everyone who
has donated! It is really helping and keeping them afloat till they get the boat sold and
keeping Sonya in medications for the pain and swelling. To the folks helping, for
privacy I'm not going to mention your names here but THANK YOU! both from
us and from Raymond and Sonya.
Here is a link to a video about their story with
a link to
make a donation via Pay Pal.
Date:Mon, 01 Jul 2024 02:43:00 GMT
Hurricane and Rum Ration
Status update for the start of July
Hi!, well it's been a lazy week but it's about to get busy. There's
a hurricane boiling up in the lesser Antilles and it's headed our way.
Luperon is one of the best hurricane holes in the region so we are as safe
as we can be. It is slated to go south of us. The island has very tall
mountains to protect us so we are not really worried but on Monday and
Tuesday Sam and I will be stripping canvas and getting out the spare
anchor.
As far as Rum Ration goes they have decided to sell the boat and it
appears they might get a good price. Sonya is just too sick to continue
sailing. They did get a new sonogram at the hospital in Puerta Plata this
week and are having it read. But she is still very sick and they are
still trying to get into the Medical system here
to get surgery. They still need help! We are, with others in the harbor
like sv SoMuchMore trying to make sure they eat. And thanks to everyone who
has donated! It is really helping and keeping them afloat till they get the boat sold and
keeping Sonya in medications for the pain and swelling. To the folks helping, for
privacy I'm not going to mention your names here but THANK YOU! both from
us and from Raymond and Sonya.
Here is a link to a video about their story with
a link to
make a donation via Pay Pal.