A Slight Delay: Welcome to the cruiser life!

Contrary to our last post on leaving the dock within a few days of the last shake down cruise we are still at the Marina de Salinas! No worries though...we just had to adjust plans, as we will have to do plenty of times in the future living the full time cruiser life. Nothing is ever chiseled in stone when traveling on the high seas! Most importantly everything is weather dependent...everything! In our case it is check dependent though...we are waiting for a check in the mail...no kidding! I guess there are worse reasons to be delayed, so I will spare you the ranting and raving. The delay should take around 2-4 weeks (!), but we are making the best of it :)

Things happen for reasons...when we heard that we were stuck here for another few weeks tropical storm Sandy was forming in the Caribbean, making this a time of staying in the area anyways! So we went to the supermarket and did more provisioning, de-cluttered the salon and aft cabin, re-arranged the whole hanging closet in the aft cabin and turned it into a non-hanging closet where we can now store all sorts of equipment from wet/dry vac to electric sander and polisher to ice boxes to parts for our Walker Bay dinghy that turn it into a little sailing dinghy to spare outdoor solar lights used when at anchor...and so on! In order to keep track of things I labeled the shelves with blue tape and permanent marker, not pretty but effective and since the sliding door will stay closed 99% of the time...who cares? Ahhhh...at last we are getting organized :) Of course I should have posted pictures of the whole "schmier" right here...but...ehem...I think pictures of Sweetie One and Sweetie Two are more appropriate...after all it is us who did all the work (!)

All this work and no play? Not really, because when we were finished we sailed to Boca de Infierno again, where we had a great time! Whilst anchored there our new found cruiser friends Bob and Judy and their little dog Leo aboard SV Adastra, their Morgan 41 Classic sailboat came to visit for two days. We had such fun together exploring Cajo Caribe (where there is a hiking trail), snorkeling, and inviting each other for dinner on our boats!

When they sailed on to Coffin Island sweetie one and sweetie two had Boca de Infierno for themselves again...we love you Bob and Judy :)

It rained quite a bit, which gave us a good reason to test our rain catching system in action...it passed the test with flying colors!

Since the last post we made some improvements...purchased the proper length wooden dowel and inserted it to the outer edge...added corresponding snaps to the bimini top seam to accommodate the placement of the system on top of the sun shade, so that we don't have to take down the sun shade when it rains.

The latter is important: Keeping the sun shade in place when it rains keeps the rain out of the cockpit and it also helps holding the rain gutter nice and straight...we just feed the drain hose from the outside of the sun shade into the water tank hole! Not to mention that we don't have to snap and unsnap said sun shade all the time...

It really worked very well...so now we have proof that we can catch the rain and fill out water tanks "out there" :)

On our way back to Salinas the weather was just perfect for sailing...we enjoyed being under full sails and spend almost three hours tacking back and forth on the ocean...just like little kids having fun with a favorite toy...oh the blessings of sailing...we never get tired of it :)

In the meantime there was trouble developing in the Caribbean...tropical storm Sandy had turned into a Category 1 hurricane forecasted to directly hit Jamaica and Cuba and adversely affecting Haiti and the Dominican Republic with torrential rain falls!

I do not know how we got spared here in Puerto Rico...we are counting our blessings!

Hurricane Sandy left death and devastation in Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, and the DR...and then developed into a monster storm off the coast of the Eastern USA when it combined with two storm systems, creating havoc and resulting in unprecedented destruction in many states along the coast line as well as further inland!

rainbow at boca de infierno

Mother Nature is unpredictable and not to be taken for granted...our prayers continue for everybody in the after-mass of this terrible storm just as they were with everybody at its beginning and duration!

Like the rainbow forms after the storm there will be light again at the end of the tunnel...God bless!

 

Simple Solution: Fender Straps

Made some simple fender straps the other day to solve the problem of having the fenders roll off the deck in rough sea conditions...a very important addition to Orion's outfit taking into consideration that we will be leaving the dock for good within the next few weeks!

The fenders are too big to store below deck, and we did not want to spend lots of money on stainless steel fender baskets...sooooooo...here is my solution: I cut strips of Phifertex material that I had on board, attached snaps (remember my snap tool?) and fastened one of the fenders to the stanchion and the other three to the whisker pole...end of story :)

As a cute interlude I'ld like to mention that upon hearing about my project my son Michael's friend Ben send me a link to "fender straps"...only that he is a guitarist and "fender straps" have a little different meaning in the music/guitar world :)

Thank you Ben for making me chuckle :)

Ben's fender straps :)

 

Final shake down...this is it!

What can I say? This is it everybody...our final shake down mini cruise before we sail off for good! After learning so much from our first shake down cruise we adjusted our power management and will run the engine for an hour on cloudy and windless days in order to properly top up the batteries. Luckily here in the Caribbean there are not too many cloudy and windless days, so things should be fine as far as making our own power on Orion is concerned :) Our main need for power is the refrigeration system...apart from that these two sweeties on Orion do not need much to be happy. Sometimes we watch a movie and listen to some music, but most of the time we like to listen to mother nature :)

The miraculously uneventful (for us) passing of tropical storm Rafael is causing large swells and clustered thunderstorms in its wake, so we decided to sail to Boca de Infierno instead of Coffin Island this time around. It is a much easier and shorter sail and will serve the purpose just fine. So here we are anchored of Boca de Infierno and things are a-o-kay :) The KISS has hummed its song all afternoon...whispering about how cool it feels to be energy independent and the solar panel chimed in as the soundless partner...we do not get tired of the pair :) The inverter reads a battery voltage of 13.3 (I hate to be technical)...we have SUPER POWER back...yeah and yeah and yeah :)

Yap...it is time to relax :) By the way...our new electric windlass worked like a charm and we anchored securely just in time for a heavy squall...phew!

We will take the next few days to get accustomed to living without shore power and managing our systems on Orion. Then we will sail back to the marina, rent a car and get the last provisioning done...and then we shall be cutting the dock lines for good and be true full time cruisers! The dream is coming true...and we are still pinching ourselves!

In case you are wondering what my captain is eating...cold pizza and apple slices made a delicious brunch and kept the kitchen cold, hahahaha...tomorrow we'll cook again :)

Stay tuned...it can only get better :)

 

A KISS FOR THE KISS! And a lesson learned!

Our KISS is working like a champ and there was nothing wrong with it to start off with :)

Troubleshooting revealed that it was "operator error" and not "equipment failure" for which we are very thankful, because it means we have to repair us rather than the KISS, hahahaha...it's better that way not to mention much cheaper :)

I let my captain explain everything in his own words in a separate post...suffice it to say that we let the batteries run down too much (but never below 50%, which would have been really bad) when at anchor and with little wind around they did not get topped up enough...apparently it takes a while to get them back to full again even with a lot of wind, but with no wind it takes quite a little while longer!!

All is well now and we have learned a lot from this experience! Our friends let us know that this is exactly what a shake down cruise is for: To find out the things that are different "out there" compared to being plugged in at the dock! We take this opportunity to thank all of our supportive friends...you know who you are :)

We also take this opportunity to thank the good people from Hotwire for their diligence, knowledge, and support of our problem...they truly are the best! As a matter of fact we are so impressed that we have and will keep recommending them to anybody in search of alternative energy solutions! Just recently at the marina we met a cruiser couple, who asked us about our wind generator and why we chose the KISS...we happily explained everything and recommended to contact Hotwire...they did and they also bought a KISS wind generator from them...so we are spreading the good word :)

The first shake down cruise on Orion is behind us...we are very happy that there were no big problems :)

AS OF NOW ALL SYSTEMS ARE A GO and we shall do just that real soon!

We will embark on a second shake down cruise next week...weather permitting, as we are watching tropical storm Rafael to the east of us...return to the marina for a few days to do the final provisioning (more food purchase and storage) and then we shall be cutting the dock lines for good...woohoo! Until soon again...thanks for following us on our adventures :)

Shake down results!

Oki doki...we are back at the dock at Marina de Salinas. The sail from Coffin Island was a little rough because of a squall front, but sailing back from Coffin Island is usually accompanied by some big seas and the wind right on our nose...we just got so used to it that we enjoy the ride and it feels sooooo good to turn off the motor and let the breeze carry us :)

The good news is that our brand-new main sail performed very well...it just needs some adjustment on the first reefing point, but Fraito from Ponce Sailing Center will take care of it when we get in touch with him.

The not so good news is that our brand-new wind generator stopped "making juice" whilst we were anchored! We thought that the sudden lack of battery power was due to not enough wind, but we were mistaken! We found out when the wind finally picked up and there was still not much power getting into the batteries (!)...So the solar panel had done most of the work and of course we ran the engine for an hour the night before to top up the batteries and run the fridge/freezer as I mentioned in my last post. Ah well...this is why a shake down cruise is so important...at least we still have time at the dock to work on whatever is necessary! My captain did some tests today and got in touch with John from Hotwire, who recommended some more troubleshooting...so tomorrow we shall know a bit more than we know today...it will be interesting to see what the outcome will be. I feel quite helpless with all this technical talk, so I stay out of the way and offer moral support to my sweetie...and will make myself scarce useful tomorrow by doing the laundry...isn't that exciting?

Apart from this our shake down cruise revealed all positive results :) The fridge/freezer turned on like a champ (Rick replaced the wires from battery to inverter with some handsomely thick ones before we left) and temperatures remained cool, very cool...inside the fridge and freezer, of course :) We were able to use our electric coffee maker in the morning (very important to us) and reload the batteries on our electronics (laptop, tablet computer, netbook computer, ipad2, nook, and cell phones).

On the whole my sweetie and I like to keep it simple when it comes to electric equipment on the boat...we only have the coffee maker...no microwave, fancy blender or other stuff for the galley (kitchen), because that's how we prefer it! We actually got rid of the microwave...really and truly...and haven't missed it at all :) Only recently we bought an electric mini chopper for making our own hummus...works like a charm, requires little space and little clean up :)

Thanks for listening...stay tuned...more on the wind generator saga coming soon!

Shake down time!

Yessss...shake down time for us in the sense of a shake down cruise on Orion! We made the decision to go at our favorite hang out in Salinas...Sal Pa Dentro Waterfront Bar. Their slogan is "No Shirt...No Shoes...No Problem!" We like that, but opted to have shirts on, hahahaha. We left the marina on Monday and motored (!) all the way to Coffin Island, because there was not enough wind for us to sail...ah well...like my sweetie said: "If you want no wind install a wind generator"! So far this has proven to be true...here goes the trial out of our new main sail ;)...but no worries, we shall have plenty of wind again soon.

Our shake down cruise is going quite well so far, apart from the wind issue that is. Fridge/freezer are working like a charm on the solar and wind generator...the only problem is that the batteries are not recharging enough, which is due to...you guessed it...the low wind conditions we are experiencing at the moment. So today, Wednesday, the captain will fire up the Diesel for an hour to give all batteries a real good full charge again...of course we will run the fridge/freezer at the same time via the motor also...this should give our batteries time to relax without load :) Let's see what happens!

In the meantime we are enjoying life anchored at Coffin Island...snorkeling, relaxing, and all that good stuff!

When we were at the marina my sweetie cleaned and shined our BBQ grill...as you can see with top results, and this shake down cruise is the perfect opportunity to try it out...no problems at all...the pounded chicken breast seasoned with a mix of chipotle paprika and topped with Muenster was just yummie yummie :) Thanks to the BBQ Chef!

 

This morning I made a fritata, using fresh ingredients as well as left-over chicken...life is good on Orion :)

 

 

To top it all...mother nature is producing some spectacular sunsets :)

We will most probably head back to the marina in a day or two, as we are watching 98L...a bad weather system, which may come our way...hopefully it will turn off to the north!

Let's see if we can do some sailing on the way back...chances are good :)

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 :)

 

Hiding out tropical storm Isaac

'Tis the Season again...the Atlantic Hurricane Season that is and we have been very lucky so far! Tropical depression number nine came off the coast of Africa and soon developed into tropical storm Isaac, which was forecast to become a hurricane sometime during its journey. The track came pretty close to the south coast of Puerto Rico and any slight adjustment to the north would get us into big trouble...so we decided to move Orion to the safe mangrove area near Salinas and wait out the storm there. We have done this in past hurricane seasons and know what to do now.

Here we are all tucked in into one of the mangrove channels :) To wait out a storm in the mangroves we set both a front anchor and a stern (back) anchor and also tie several lines from both sides of the boat to the mangrove roots...it's kind of like a spider web with Orion in the middle of the net :) The mangrove roots act like a big suspension coil, keeping the boat safe during hurricane force winds...well...at least that's what we hope and pray for. Luckily we have not had to experience the real thing and don't mind if it stays that way :)

The graphics are courtesy of NOOA

Tropical storm Isaac thankfully turned slightly to the south when it passed beneath us, sparing us from the brunt of the storm...heavy winds and rain squalls hammered us for a few hours, but it could have been so much worse (!). Best of all...our newly fixed cockpit enclosure worked like a charm, giving us the added comfort of an "additional room"...waterproof and mosquitoproof :) Our stay in the mangroves was as comfortable as could be...we waited for Isaac's outer bands to diminish and emerged after three days to motor back to the marina. Good thing we are not on a schedule :)

 

Orion back at her slip at Marina de Salinas

Back at Marina de Salinas we docked Orion in her slip, cleaned her up, and washed all the lines we used in the mangroves...here she is spic and span...ready for new adventures :) We pray that everybody in Isaac's path will fare as well as we did! God bless!