EQUIPMENT LIST 2011

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PROJECTS • 2006

• CLEANED AND RE-MARKED OUR GROUND TACKLE.
Our primary anchor is a 35 pound CQR on 75 feet of 5/16" high test chain, backed by 200 feet of 5/8" nylon rode. Our secondary anchor is a 15 pound, high-strength aluminum Fortress on 20 feet of 3/8" high test chain with 250 feet of ½" nylon rode. We mark the ground tackle every 50 feet so we can set proper scope.

OUR SCOPE CHART
Feet of rode off the bow
Freeboard: 4 feet			Depth Sounder offset: -2 feet
Depth Sounder Indicated Depth	calm	—	Scope		—	fresh
	5:1	6:1	7:1	8:1	9:1	10:1
10 feet	80	96	112	128	144	160
12 feet	90	108	126	144	162	180
15 feet	105	126	147	168	189	210
18 feet	120	144	168	192	216	240
20 feet	130	156	182	208	234	260
25 feet	155	186	217	248
30 feet	180	216	252

We can comfortably anchor in 10 to 30 feet of water if its calm, in brisk weather we have only enough rode to anchor, at 8:1 or greater scope, in 10 to 25 feet. In very windy conditions we have to get inside 20 foot depths to have sufficient scope. We believe that we can ride to our anchor, in 20 feet of water, at wind speeds up to 20 knots. Any more than that and its another anchor, then the spare, and as a last resort, the engine.
  Our spare anchor (not pictured) is a 35 pound Bruce on 75 feet of 5/16" high test chain,
  backed by 150 feet of 5/8" nylon rode.

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• REPLACED OTTO, THE AUTOHELM WHEEL DRIVE.
 
Our autopilot wheel drive went wonky on the crossing from San Juanico last spring, we'd noticed him getting hot and noisy a few days before then, but on the crossing we had to shut him down 2 or 3 times and hand steer while he cooled off for an hour.
RayMarine bought Autohelm a year or so ago, abandoned the 4000 series - probably the most common sailing vessel autopilot there is - and so we had to purchase a new 6000 series.

New Otto is grey, sleek and handsome,
old Otto was black and functional. 
MOUSE ME TO SEE   ⇒

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• REPLACED THE BATTERIES
Old battery 1, top, and old battery 2, bottom, connected in parallel, via the ⊂–shaped parallel jumper, to provide 260 Amp-Hours of electrical capacity.

Battery 1 short-circuited itself inside, got hot and wouldn't go no more, battery 2, being the same age, had to be replaced at the same time.

Note the relatively straightforward wiring connections,
from the top:
battery 1 positive terminal,
battery 1 negative terminal,
battery 2 positive terminal,
and battery 2 negative terminal.
notice that the parallel jumper goes betwen the two negative terminals.

The little, yellow flag-like thingy is the Xantrax battery temperature sensor.

Research and advice convinced us that 6 volt golf cart batteries would be cheaper, more powerful, and last longer, so we purchased four, top-of-the-line Trojan T-105 'Golf Car' batteries; we had to remodel the battery boxes but here they are installed, providing 450 Amp-Hours of capacity. Simple, eh?

We had to connect pairs of the 6 volt batteries in series to get twelve volts out of each pair, and then connect the pairs in parallel to provide two batteries worth of electrical service. We made two new, heavy gauge jumpers and, because of the lengths of the existing cables and the positions of the new batteries' terminals, connected things up creatively to get the equivalent service.

Not sure how that works? Mouseover here to see    ⇒

We've still got the battery 1 positive and negative connections of course, and the same battery 2 positive and negative connections, and a big, parallel jumper too. The other bits are the series jumpers that turn a pair of 6-volters into one 12-volter. The really tricky part is that the new batteries' terminal positions make it necessary to wire the batteries up in a rotated orientation.

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• REPLACED THE MSD

The what? The Marine Sanitation Device, the euphemism, you know, the excusado, the head. Things had been getting a bit stinky and the pumping was getting difficult; a new pump would have cost almost as much as a whole new head, so we replaced the entire thing - it was easier than replacing the pump. We even dug up the sewer and cleaned it out, flushed the holding tank and otherwise sparkled things up.

We also discovered the benefits of fresh water flushing - no smell and no salt buildup in the sewer. As long as we're at the dock its a good thing; at sea its a bit water-crazy but it is another reason to get a watermaker.

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Replaced the old, shaker-type Newmat HDM30A battery charger with a Xantrax TC20.

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NEW COCKPIT RAILINGS

We replaced the cockpit lifelines with stainless steel railings. We'd had the usual wire lifelines around the cockpit; they were a bit wobbly, and were not a good place to mount stuff.

 
La Paz Stainless Steel Welding & Fabrication made and installed new 1" SS rails where the wire lifelines used to be.


Sergio Galindo wields a fine TIG welder.

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Mast & Rig: Life in the yard
Saturday, 4/12. Arrived at La Marina del Palmar.

I see that the jefes get a runabout ride rather than a panga run, and nicer lifejackets too.

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DECOMMISSIONING
It took us three days to take down the jib, unship the boom and gather all the halyards at the bottom of the mast, then we waited for 3 more days before we got the crane, the line handlers, and Jeffrey the rigger together to pull the mast. Kevin from Sunbreak loaned us four old, long lines, Bob from Genesis and the gentleman from South Carolina came to help and Anthony, whose ketch Mandalay is here in the yard also helped. We were fortunate that a stranger named Tony from Sweetie was here too, he was helping another boat called Miha get its mast out right after us.

On Friday, April the 18^th we warped the boat into the hauling slip, tied her up, hooked on the crane sling from Don Nicho's 5 ton Grove, loosed the rigging and wiring and popped the mast out.

We've been in the yard slip for two weeks now, I gave Alejandro a list of the work we want to accomplish but it seems like I have to remind him what we want.

The work goes slowly, but it goes.

Judy and I pulled the masthead apart, ran messengers for all the lines, and removed the spreaders, then the yard guys started sanding and painting. We are figuring out how to repair the spreader mounts, and deciding where the radar mount and the new steps and cleats are going to go.

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* Turns out that the nice new restrainer wouldn't work so we didn't install it.
* We failed to do this, Jeffrey dismissed the need, saying "Good luck getting the bolts loose."

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Jeffrey the rigger is re-rigging the boat with all new shrouds and stays and Hahn Hi-Mod mechanical (swageless) fittings.

Sergio has made new stainless steel rigging pieces, one to raise the furling drum up 11" to clear the anchor, and one to replace the backstay bridle plate.

Here's the paint crew working on our mast, notice Don Nicho's crane in the background, you'll never guess what its doing.

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Life in the yard is a boy's dream, its a bit grubby, there are boats and parts everywhere, and big, heavy equipment moving around with 15, 30, and 45 ton boats dangling from slings. There's lots of sanding and painting going on around the yard, and fiberglass repair too, along with some welding and mechanical work.

Here's a typical job; a large cabin cruiser gets two new, marine Volvo engines. They disassembled the old engines and took them out in pieces a few weeks ago, but to get the new engines aboard the aft bulkhead of the salon had to be cut out. Don Nicho's crane picks up a new engine and then, using the combined movement of the crane and the travel lift, the engine is inserted into the boat and lowered to its bed.

This is a big, heavy engine and that boat is in slings 8 feet above the water...

all in a day's work for the guys at El Marina del Palmar.

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We've been seeing some folks we know here.  Lou on Nina del Mar is down  from Santa Rosalia for his tri-annual bottom job, and Bradford - the gentleman from South Carolina - came by for cocktails one evening. Later on that night he got himself chased by the police but that, as they say, is a different story.
Vicki and Dishes aboard Inspiration at Sea are in the next yard north of us, along with Alex and Sue aboard Mi Tiroa.
There's a nice, palapa style seafood restaurant - La Costa - right next door.

We're only a block from Marina de La Paz and the Club Cruceros, and there's three other restaurants within limping distance, the Dock, Bandido's and Ciao Molino.

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COMMISSIONING
Monday, May 26, 2008
We stepped the mast today, got no photos of the ceremony but it was just like taking it out except backwards. A lot of nice folk showed up to help us so we had plenty of line handlers, dock hands, and advisers. A couple more days here tuning the rig, putting up the sails & canvas and running lines then we'll move back up to Palmira to finish a couple more projects and prepare for the run north.

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RADAR INSTALLATION

We installed the antenna and display head for our new Furuno radar set while were in the slip at Palmira.

The antenna is 25 feet up the mast and the display/control panel is mounted above the nav. station.

We've used the radar on several occasions, for keeping anchor watch, for seeing fishing boats near our track, and for looking at weather more than 20 miles away.

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Outboard engine hoist installation

We finally installed our new Garhauer motor lift; it sticks up above the bimini but it sure makes moving that 4-stroke outboard a lot easier.

The standard, right-angle Garhauer stand-off mounting bracket would have been a bit awkward because of the Catalina's transom angle, so Sergio made us a nice custom bracket and backing plate.
MOUSE ME TO SEE  ⇒  

This was the first time we had ever drilled holes through the hull; we carefully bedded the bracket and backing plate with BoatLife.

Our last La Paz project was cleaning the dinghy bottom - we'd left it in the water a bit too long…

  ⇑  MOUSE ME TO SEE

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BOTTOM JOB

Pegasus spent the summer of 2008 in the yard getting her bottom done; she had some blisters so she had to sit and dry out for a while.
We replaced the cutlass bearing, and put on two coats of bottom paint.
She splashed the last week of October and we moved back aboard on Saturday November first.