More Progress

To continue the good news...our fridge/freezer has worked for the second day in a row on solar and wind alone!! Go figure...but we are not complaining :) The batteries were full full when the compressor started, and of course that made all the difference! We don't want to celebrate too much as yet, but it seems that the problems experienced earlier (overload alarm on inverter with subsequent shut down) will be taken care of by installation of much heavier cables from inverter to batteries...as the captain had suggested. The cables will be ready next week for him to install.

So please keep your fingers crossed for us and once our refrigeration will work for sure on solar and wind alone we can relax and remember that ...

(as seen at our favorite waterfront bar "Sal Pa Dentro" in Salinas)

 

Refinishing Orion's Cockpit Table

As if we don't have enough projects going on lately I decided to have our cockpit table refurbished! "Why on earth?", I hear everybody say...well...it needed to be done and now is the time to do it, because now we are still at the dock. I mean, who wants to schlepp a cockpit table the size of ours via dinghy to the nearest shore to get it fixed? Common sense told me to grab the opportunity and get it done...now! When served lemons may as well make lemon juice. I promised my captain that this was MY project, which in turn brought life back to his ashen cheeks :)

Orion's cockpit table is quite unique...hand crafted by the previous owners with cut outs for the helm (steering wheel) and the binnacle (compass housing)...it fits snuggly over said helm and binnacle and was originally fastened with a hook on the bottom side of the table to one of the spokes on the helm. It is made of marine plywood and the whole table was varnished. Over the years the varnish deteriorated and some nicks needed to be mended. It was too much work to sand and fill and re-varnish times ten...way too much work and to have somebody else do it was not cost effective. What to do? My idea of laminating the whole thing and forget about everything else met...to my utter surprise...with total approval by both my captain and a local day laborer ready to do the work :) Problem solved! Since I did not take a picture of the "before" (my utmost apologies) the pictures "after" are all I can display!

We had the finished table back the next day! Here it is with the laminate applied, but the plastic protective film still attached. We decided that the French whipped wheel cover, which I painstakingly made a few years ago, had seen better times and needed to go.

It took me only a little while to cut the material off the steering wheel...contrary to the process of applying it, which took hours!

So here is the finished shiny table with the plastic protective film removed and the helm in its stainless steel glory without the cover. I made the white straps with snaps (remember my new snap tool?) to hold the table in place...works like a charm and much better than the hook that was used previously. Now we can dine in style again in the cockpit :)

Of course we take the table down before we sail...it stores neatly in front of the fridge/freezer in the main cabin.

I made a little "hoodie" for the compass out of some material I had left over :)

Woohoo...another project finished...best of all...my captain is as happy as I am...life is good :)

 

Boat cards

Yeah :) Our boat cards have arrived! This is another step in becoming a "sea dweller"...boaters (cruisers actually) exchange boat cards just like business people exchange business cards...it's a fun way to introduce yourself to your fellow cruisers :) Boat cards usually state the name of the vessel, the name of the owner(s), the home port, and contact information, e.g. email address, website or blog, cell phone. Since cruisers usually travel a lot outside of their home country telephone and cell phone numbers may change...for this reason they are often not included on the boat card.

So here is our new boat card (SV stands for Sailing Vessel just in case you were wondering). I designed it on Vistaprint on the internet and they printed and sent them to us for a very reasonable price. I could have printed them myself, but we have an ink jet printer like most people have at home...only when you are in a boating environment things can be a little moist at times and ink jet has a tendency to run when in contact with water...just wet your fingertip and rub it against an ink jet printed paper...you'll see what I mean! Professional printing companies like Vistaprint print their stuff on laser printers...no running ink whatsoever from a wet fingertip or even a whole glass of water poured on top...or (for more practical matters of the sea) a big wave of salt water drenching your short pockets, one of which contains your boat card! So my sweetie and I opted to go the professional printing way and Vistaprint delivered fast and with outstandingly good quality...I have used them before, but this time I uploaded our own picture...I can not say enough good things about this company! They even have cards for free...from a selection...you just pay for shipping!

I take this opportunity to thank our cruiser friend Lynn for taking the picture of us two sweeties on Orion...We met Lynn and her husband Paul here in Salinas two years ago and became friends :) Lynn has a special photo collection of her cruiser friends...the unique part is that she takes pictures of them on their own boats with the boat name visible on the picture...she says it helps her to remember people better, because you usually remember the boat name...how cool is that? Well...now you know how I got the picture for our boat cards...it is just perfect, don't you agree?

To round up the printing excitement I also had a boat stamp made by Vistaprint. The stamp is self inking and lists the name of the vessel, the name of the owner(s), the home port, and the USCG registration number. Our fellow cruisers have advised us to have a stamp, because it makes checking in and out of countries more official...just as a reminder, the Caribbean consists of many independent island nations.

So now you know...if you meet us "out there" we have a boat card just for you :)

 

Cloudy with a chance of sunshine!

As you must know by now...things are never easy on a boat...why is that? But just like the dark clouds in the picture will disappear soon and make way for sunshine again...things will work out okay in the end :) The journey is such fun...but occasionally there is need to grumble! Having enthusiastically proclaimed our total energy independence in my last post (see "the perfect couple") I must confess that I spoke too early...all systems are okay except for start up of the refrigeration unit! It worked at the time of my last post, but I must have jinxed it! When the compressor for the fridge/freezer is supposed to start, the inverter goes into overload mode and screams at us with an intermittent beep-beep...beep-beep and shuts the unit down :(. To make things worse we can not get ahold of our friend "Macho", who is a great mechanic and knows the systems on Orion like his own blood vessels (!) My captain has tirelessly worked to find a solution for the overload and eventually sought input from our good friend Richard and his friend Jorge, who is an electrician. Together they are brainstorming and eliminating possible causes. I take this opportunity to thank Richard and Jorge and my captain for helping to get the show on the road...err the sea :)...I know they will be successful. In the meantime...after Jorge determined that the start and run capacitors are not the problem...my captain has ordered some heavy gauge wire to replace the ones that are presently connected to the inverter...so we are in waiting mode...let's see how the story continues! Of course we are still at our slip at Marina de Salinas and will stay here until we are ready to leave in 10 years' time...JUST KIDDING!! Really and truly we should be out of here within the next few weeks...so keep your fingers crossed for us please and we'll keep you in the loop :)

My friend Verena Kellner (pacific sailors.com) was in Germany recently and posted this wonderful recipe...

Just what the doctor ordered for a case of "anxiety to still be on the dock" syndrome, hahahaha...CHEERS :)

(The little bags on the plate are rock sugar.)

 

The perfect couple!

Solar and Wind generation at its best :)

YESSSS...as of today we are officially off the grid producing our own power! Freedom here we come. My captain has worked relentlessly to get us to this point and I can not thank him enough! All systems are a go and even the refrigerator/freezer turned itself on, ran for about two hours, and will shut itself off within the next few minutes...woohoo! An initial inverter overload turned out to be a loose wire and was fixed in no time at all :) We have a coldplate system for refrigeration, which means in simple terms that there are stainless steel plates which hold the cold for hours after being charged. This is very different to a household system that runs 24/7. Refrigeration is a must have for us here in the tropics...we know a few cruisers who live without, but for these Two Sweeties on Orion that is not an option :) Now that things are running off the grid we shall monitor everything and start getting ready for a few days away from the dock...another test run so to say. We should be able to cut the ducklings (I mean dock lines, but the spell check suggested ducklings when I typed docklines...hahaha...too cute not to leave it there right? Right!) for good within the next few weeks...HOW EXCITING IS THAT???? Stay tuned please...

 

Catching the wind...

Okay...this is it...our new wind generator for Orion...my captain has assembled it painstakingly, drilled holes in the aluminum pole as well as in the damper attachment, and finally put it all together :). The unit is a KISS, which stands for "Keep It Simple Stupid"...honestly...no joke. Before we finally bought it we researched wind generators on the web and haunted many of our cruiser friends with our questions on what they have and why and are they happy with what they have and if not why not...you get the drift :) Affordability was of course a main factor as well in the decision making process! Well...the KISS wind generator made number one in our books. The KISS has been around for quite a few years and many cruisers swear to it...please note: swear TO it not AT it...(although sometimes they might swear at it as well, hahahaha). A clever guy invented the KISS and used to manufacture it in Trinidad. His name is Douglas Billings, but we could not get in touch with him...emails and telephone calls remain unanswered! Luckily we found the (only) distributor for the KISS in the USA...a very knowledgable entity called SV Hotwire. They sell the unit at a little higher price, but boy let me tell you...their customer service is outstanding...and I mean outstanding! John and Libbie of Hotwire Enterprises are alternative energy experts and it was a pleasure dealing with them. We chose the KISS for the following reasons: operates quietly...needs minimal wind to start...is of such simple design that (if something breaks, which is not often) spare parts are readily available in automotive stores (!)...is comparatively light weight...fits in our budget...oh...and the customer service from SV Hotwire (Hotwire Enterprises) is outstanding...I think I mentioned that twice before ;)

We bought the unit with all the bells and whistles so to say...a damper attachment, which prevents shaking and rattling noises inside the boat (so that you don't feel like being on an airstrip when the plane takes off) and an MPPT controller, which is too technical for me to describe...suffice it to say that the MPPT controller diverts excess energy without manual input, so that the unit does not need to be monitored 24/7...this comes in handy when leaving the boat to go shopping or for extended periods away and gives peace of mind to us troubled cruisers!

Here is the KISS lying on the dock ready to be installed...the three blades that belong to the unit and make it look like a proper wind mill are not attached yet. My wonderful husband spent many hours getting the KISS ready...for which he got a kiss from me :)

Then came the day of installation and nothing went according to plan...but of course this is normal for us now, because IT IS A BOAT!!!! We are shouting this out with humor, because for every cruiser it is the same and it is our way of life now :) So "do tell" you might say, and here goes the story: With the help of our friend Jonso (thank you Jonso) Rick erected the KISS on the aft deck and attached the two supporting poles to hold it in place...all week we had zero zilch wind at the marina, but as soon as the KISS was up on its pole a wind gust of about 25 knots or higher swooshed over Orion and started the blades on the KISS running like crazy...of course nothing was properly secured yet and the support poles rattled loose (!)...trying to stop the blades from spinning, Rick realized that it was almost impossible to reach them...the pole was too high (!) It also became apparent that the top of the unit was not swiveling the way it is supposed to swivel. To make a long story short...with the help of another friend Alejandro (thank you Ale) they were able to stop the blades and tie one to the pole...uff! The next morning Rick took down the whole unit, dismantled everything, and went to work again shortening the pole...a phone call to John from Hotwire resulted in the elimination of a spring situated inside the unit, which was the probable cause of the non swiveling top...

All's well that ends well...our new KISS wind generator is finally installed...now off to running the wires and connecting everything...a big thank you to Jonso and Alejandro for helping...and of course much love to my captain who never gives up and forges on in our pursuit of happiness...we shall be "out there" real soon...woohoo :)

 

Catching the rain...

Some of our friends are interested in our rain water catcher on Orion...so here are a few pictures...we inherited the system from the previous boat owners...it attaches via snaps onto the bimini top and the outside edge is reinforced with a stick pushed through a channel which was sewn there specially for that purpose...I didn't have a long enough stick and used two smaller ones on the picture...we will get wooden dowels of the appropriate length before we leave the dock for good...we have two of these systems one for port and one for starboard...so bring on the rain :)

Thanks for your interest...maybe this will help you design your own :)