Wednesday, November 30, 2011
If It's Not Scottish It's Crap
Sandra (Owner of Los Milagros) and Liam
Los Milagros
Monday, November 28, 2011
Cabo Submarine
It's really just a glass bottom boat, but it was pretty cool, it was quite a windy day and the Capt' was having a hard time keeping close to the reef without actually hitting it. It was getting quite rolly too and before long all the kids and some of their parents were getting seasick, so they took them topsides where they were all promptly drenched with spray, some crying ensued.
But we both enjoyed it, this fine craft was a sistership to the one I ran into on Catalina, I had met the owner when he had it hauled out in the boatyard.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Friday, November 25, 2011
All the parts are here
Arrived as advertised much to my surprise and only about twenty minutes late, so these are parts from Japan that were shipped from Seattle to Chula Vista, CA, carried across the border to Tijuana, flown to La Paz and then couriered from La Paz to Cabo San Lucas, actually the courier drove a very old and beat up pick up truck. The whole process took a week, which is actually pretty good by local standards.
We may get back in the water on Wednesday!
M
We may get back in the water on Wednesday!
M
More non traditional dancing
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Pack mule across the Andes
A little slowly to say the least but the parts should be here on Thursday, time to start putting things back together.
Meanwhile we are enjoying the Hotel Los Milagros, it's going to be hard to get back on the boat.
M
Meanwhile we are enjoying the Hotel Los Milagros, it's going to be hard to get back on the boat.
M
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Parts is coming!
But slowly I gather,they left Seattle yesterday and are probably in Chula Vista by now just north of the border, however Monday is Revolution Day in Mexico and a public holiday so nothing will happen until Tuseday, I had to go through an agent who will then figure out the best way to get these things to the boatyard.
Michael. Nice and warm here though.
Michael. Nice and warm here though.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
El problemo
This atrocious piece of fabrication is the source of the problem, the small tube injects raw water into the mixing elbow to cool the exhaust, as you can see the tube blocks about 50% of the exhaust flow before all the rust , corrosion and carbon completely blocked the rest of it. Thankyou very much brilliant genius engine installer, there are other issues, unreinforced engine mounts, the aft one was broken due to a lack of gusset.
The end result was that the soot and unburnt fuel was forced back down into the piston rings causing them to stick and thus we lost compression, no compression , no ignition.
The good news is that all the important parts show practically no wear, so we shouls only have to replace the rings and get the block honed. We may replace the crankshaft and piston bearings as we have everything apart anyway so it would be a good oportunity.
Michael
Engine out
In the slings in Cabo
Turned out that it was cheaper to haul out and then remove the engine than leave her in a slip and and pull it out that way.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Younger Woman on the beach
Anchored a little close in, but he did get off ok, this is in Turtle Bay.
Finally
Got on line, so pic's to follow.
Got the engine ready to lift out, in the process I discovered one broken engine mount and a partially plugged mixing elbow, I wonder if the increased backpressure in the exhaust would cause ring failure..
Strange, the engine hours are correct, engine installed in 98, survey in 2003 showed 58hrs, we bought it in 07 it then had about 100hrs, as of today there are 356 hrs. Talking to a couple of other boats that have had compression issues and they both have older engines with low hours, one was a twenty year old Volvo with only 600 hrs, methinks now that our Izuzu has never been broken in .
Any it will be interesting to see what the engine looks like inside.
Michael
Got the engine ready to lift out, in the process I discovered one broken engine mount and a partially plugged mixing elbow, I wonder if the increased backpressure in the exhaust would cause ring failure..
Strange, the engine hours are correct, engine installed in 98, survey in 2003 showed 58hrs, we bought it in 07 it then had about 100hrs, as of today there are 356 hrs. Talking to a couple of other boats that have had compression issues and they both have older engines with low hours, one was a twenty year old Volvo with only 600 hrs, methinks now that our Izuzu has never been broken in .
Any it will be interesting to see what the engine looks like inside.
Michael
Friday, November 11, 2011
In the boatyard
So Grace is hauled out once more, this time in Cabo Marine, it went just fine, this is a busy yard and they seem pretty competent, actually it is virtually identical to any yard in the US only 30-40% cheaper.
I just finished removing the cockpit floor so we should have the engine out on Monday.
Lot´s of megayachts in the marina, including Tamsen, a big Perini Navi and Ethereal a 59m ketch, very impressive close up.
M
I just finished removing the cockpit floor so we should have the engine out on Monday.
Lot´s of megayachts in the marina, including Tamsen, a big Perini Navi and Ethereal a 59m ketch, very impressive close up.
M
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Cabo WABO
Bad news, the overhauled cylinder head has not fixed the problem, there is still no compression in the numbers 1& 2 cylinders. Strange amount of wear too, far more than can be accounted for from 360hrs of running time that shows on the clock. You don´t suppose somebody switched the hourmeter do you?
Any way the end result is that the engine will have to come out, I will probably haul the boat tommorow and we will move ashore until it is fixed, not sure how long this will take as parts need to be shipped, but it can be done , there are good machine shops here, but this is going to take a bout a year out of our cruising budget.
Still haven´t figured out how to access local wifi, but we will have a phone soon.
Michael
Any way the end result is that the engine will have to come out, I will probably haul the boat tommorow and we will move ashore until it is fixed, not sure how long this will take as parts need to be shipped, but it can be done , there are good machine shops here, but this is going to take a bout a year out of our cruising budget.
Still haven´t figured out how to access local wifi, but we will have a phone soon.
Michael
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Mexican Connections
I love Mexico but simple things like getting wifi to work can be a real challenge, I gave up in the end and am now using a cafe keyboard which is Spanish and considerably different from what I am used to. But what the heck, I`,m in Mexico , Cabo San Lucas andf it´s 75f in the early evening.
When I get things figurured out I will post pictures, John, Heathers Dad took a lot of them.
So, how did it go? Overall great, we had some great sailing, the start from San Diego was basically windless until 2 hours into it, then the we sailed into light SW for a couple more hours, then that died and on came the engine fro the next 8 hours, chug chug at 5 knots, next morning the wind was up a little so up went the hot pink assymetrical and up it stayed for the next 36hours with the windvane steering. We now had about 15knots of NW and were flying, I reasoned that the wind would hold steady and was proved wrong when it built quite considerably around midnight so I had to wrestle it down with John on the halyard, but it all went ok, it`s been a while since I``ve done a midnight takedown. Next day started light and sloppy but we could see Isla Cedros and gybed towards it, finally we made the San Benitos and gybed again, this time just the jib so it was easy. The wind built as we approached Turtle Bay, eventualy blowing 30 plus and we were down to staysail and the 2nd reef screaming through the night, we made it into the anchorage at around 0500, tired.
During the night a fire extinguisher had got loose and discharged into the main cabin, white powder everywhere, it was very surreal illuminated with our red night lights and swirling around. it got literally everywhere, fortunately not into the forepeak where Heather and Liam were sleeping. I crawled into bed with Heather and said you are not going to be happy, I was correct in this regard.
It was really windy in TB, a panga bumped alongside, we took on fuel about 10 gallons everyone went ashore and I started clean up. Heather got back and started clean up again, the wind dropped and we had a pleasant couple of days at anchor, beatifull sunsets and sunrises, a beach party and Liam absolutely skipping for joy, naked on the beach wearing a hat and sunscreen.
The next leg was Turtle bay to Bahia Santa Maria, a shorter leg by about I00 miles, it was another light wind start but we sailed off the anchor and sailed back onto it once we reached BSM. We caught a huge tuna, it was a scary big one, I really had know idea what I was doing but I did land it kill it and filet it, it was probably 25 to 30 lbs.
Grace had been sailing wonderfully well, we were keeping up with much larger boats and overtaking some of the cruising catamarans, which seem to be remarkably slow despite how they are advertised.
When the wind got sloppy we were about 50 miles directly upwing of the finish line and decided that enough was enough and went to start the motor, it started but wouldn`t run up to speed and smoked really badly, I changed the secondary filter, no problem, but the same thing happened, I changed the primary and switched the fuel system , but same result, we ended up sailing the rest of the way and were able to brag about it.
Bahia Santa Maria is a beautifull bay and about as isolated a place as you can find in the Northern hemisphere, which makes it pretty cool when the crew of about 150 boats show up and have a party on shore, and rock and roll band appears out of nowhere, and the nlocal fishing families cook up great seafood and the pangeros play water taxi, they had cleaned and painted there boats just for this one day of the year when the HaHa fleet arrives.
I took the fuel system apart and seemed to have got things running, but we ended up sailing off the anchor once again, so we left for Cabo San Lucas with an uncertain engine, which I will admit made me a little apprehensive.
It was a short leg, around 220 miles and we enjoyed some fine warm weather sailing the first day and night with the pink assymetrical kite and the vane steering, the next day it got sloppy and really light, the apparent wind was to light for the vane and we hand steered most of the day, watch on, watch off, let me say now for the record that I could not have asked for a better watchmate than John Doherty, my father in law, Liams grandfather and Heathers dad, he was calm and effective and didn`t seem to mind when I said things like^^ how do you intend to avoid running into that anchored megayacht^^. I don`t remember saying that.
As we approached the Cape the wind died completely, we were still about 35 miles from the anchorage, so , tried the engine and it ran okay, not great , but enough to get us in to Bahia Cabo San Lucas.
We are now in the Marina with the engine in pieces, the cylinder head has just got back from the machine shop, the valves on the numbers 1 & 2 cylinders where choked with soot and sludge so they were not sealing on the compression stroke, consequently when we left the anchorage for the marina we had about 9hp to move a 13 ton cutter, people kept coming up to us to tell us that our engine was smoking.
Safely in a berth once more I enlisted the help of a local mechanic and we should have things back together tommorow.
Then were will we go? La Paz, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta? we will see, I have to admit I quite like hanging out in Cabo San Lucas.
Michael
When I get things figurured out I will post pictures, John, Heathers Dad took a lot of them.
So, how did it go? Overall great, we had some great sailing, the start from San Diego was basically windless until 2 hours into it, then the we sailed into light SW for a couple more hours, then that died and on came the engine fro the next 8 hours, chug chug at 5 knots, next morning the wind was up a little so up went the hot pink assymetrical and up it stayed for the next 36hours with the windvane steering. We now had about 15knots of NW and were flying, I reasoned that the wind would hold steady and was proved wrong when it built quite considerably around midnight so I had to wrestle it down with John on the halyard, but it all went ok, it`s been a while since I``ve done a midnight takedown. Next day started light and sloppy but we could see Isla Cedros and gybed towards it, finally we made the San Benitos and gybed again, this time just the jib so it was easy. The wind built as we approached Turtle Bay, eventualy blowing 30 plus and we were down to staysail and the 2nd reef screaming through the night, we made it into the anchorage at around 0500, tired.
During the night a fire extinguisher had got loose and discharged into the main cabin, white powder everywhere, it was very surreal illuminated with our red night lights and swirling around. it got literally everywhere, fortunately not into the forepeak where Heather and Liam were sleeping. I crawled into bed with Heather and said you are not going to be happy, I was correct in this regard.
It was really windy in TB, a panga bumped alongside, we took on fuel about 10 gallons everyone went ashore and I started clean up. Heather got back and started clean up again, the wind dropped and we had a pleasant couple of days at anchor, beatifull sunsets and sunrises, a beach party and Liam absolutely skipping for joy, naked on the beach wearing a hat and sunscreen.
The next leg was Turtle bay to Bahia Santa Maria, a shorter leg by about I00 miles, it was another light wind start but we sailed off the anchor and sailed back onto it once we reached BSM. We caught a huge tuna, it was a scary big one, I really had know idea what I was doing but I did land it kill it and filet it, it was probably 25 to 30 lbs.
Grace had been sailing wonderfully well, we were keeping up with much larger boats and overtaking some of the cruising catamarans, which seem to be remarkably slow despite how they are advertised.
When the wind got sloppy we were about 50 miles directly upwing of the finish line and decided that enough was enough and went to start the motor, it started but wouldn`t run up to speed and smoked really badly, I changed the secondary filter, no problem, but the same thing happened, I changed the primary and switched the fuel system , but same result, we ended up sailing the rest of the way and were able to brag about it.
Bahia Santa Maria is a beautifull bay and about as isolated a place as you can find in the Northern hemisphere, which makes it pretty cool when the crew of about 150 boats show up and have a party on shore, and rock and roll band appears out of nowhere, and the nlocal fishing families cook up great seafood and the pangeros play water taxi, they had cleaned and painted there boats just for this one day of the year when the HaHa fleet arrives.
I took the fuel system apart and seemed to have got things running, but we ended up sailing off the anchor once again, so we left for Cabo San Lucas with an uncertain engine, which I will admit made me a little apprehensive.
It was a short leg, around 220 miles and we enjoyed some fine warm weather sailing the first day and night with the pink assymetrical kite and the vane steering, the next day it got sloppy and really light, the apparent wind was to light for the vane and we hand steered most of the day, watch on, watch off, let me say now for the record that I could not have asked for a better watchmate than John Doherty, my father in law, Liams grandfather and Heathers dad, he was calm and effective and didn`t seem to mind when I said things like^^ how do you intend to avoid running into that anchored megayacht^^. I don`t remember saying that.
As we approached the Cape the wind died completely, we were still about 35 miles from the anchorage, so , tried the engine and it ran okay, not great , but enough to get us in to Bahia Cabo San Lucas.
We are now in the Marina with the engine in pieces, the cylinder head has just got back from the machine shop, the valves on the numbers 1 & 2 cylinders where choked with soot and sludge so they were not sealing on the compression stroke, consequently when we left the anchorage for the marina we had about 9hp to move a 13 ton cutter, people kept coming up to us to tell us that our engine was smoking.
Safely in a berth once more I enlisted the help of a local mechanic and we should have things back together tommorow.
Then were will we go? La Paz, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta? we will see, I have to admit I quite like hanging out in Cabo San Lucas.
Michael
Friday, November 4, 2011
In Cabo!
Details & pics follow, but no big prob's, Liam mostly naked, big tuna, warm nights.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)