Sunday 28th January
Boqueron,
Puerto Rico.
18 01.406 N
67 10.638 W
After a good night sleep we woke to a nice sunny day. Gerry cooked us a late breakfast before emptying the last of our jerry can fuel into the tank. He then loaded all 4 of the jerry cans into the dink and took off to the nearby marina to see if he could get them filled whilst I cleaned up the mess that was left from allowing him to cook in the galley. A short while later Gerry returned to the boat, yelling for me to come and help him get the jerry cans back on board. We got the first 2 on board with no problem but as we went to transfer the 3rd one Gerry knocked the last jerry can over in the dink, managing to knock the filled cap off and of course diesel gushed out into the dink. Quickly righting the fallen can, the foul language and shouted instructions commenced. I had immediately ducked down below to grab kitchen roll, mopping up pads, detergent and a trash bag, knowing that we were going to need all of them plus turning on the cockpit water breaker. Back out in the dink Gerry was still shouting instructions for me do various things – most of which I’d already done, whilst trying to plug the can that now had no cap and gather up the “stuff” that we keep in the dink out of the way of the spilt diesel. Handing over the clean up gear I dragged the last of the jerry cans on board and wiped it down, meanwhile Gerry began mopping up the spilt diesel, it was probably less than half a gallon that spilt but it sure looks like a lot when it’s sitting in the bottom of the dink. Gerry managed to mop up all of it and then cleaned the bottom of the dink with detergent, mopping that up and depositing all the pads and kitchen roll into the trash bag. Then he climbed back on board the boat and began cursing again as the fuel filler cap had come apart and appeared to be impossible to put back together, we fiddled with it for a while and eventually with the aid of a wrench managed to pop the two pieces back together – it wasn’t easy! Finally I had to wash out the cover for the jerry can then we were able to clean ourselves up, the smell of diesel took a lot to get rid of but at least we didn’t get a drop of fuel in the harbour – a minor miracle! Once we were under control again I spent some time typing up the blog and transferring some photos to the computer whilst Gerry read his book, then it was time to go ashore to find an internet café and have some late lunch – very late as it was now 15.00hrs. We dinked into the dock and walked the short distance into the internet café only to find that you needed to bring your own computer to use – they had no computers for customers, we had bought our memory stick with everything on it with us, thinking there would be computers to use. Gerry decided to go back out to the dink and fetch our laptop to use, I wandered up the street looking at the various street stalls whilst waiting for him to return. There was nothing that I had to buy, it was all beads and food and I didn’t need either. Once Gerry reappeared we went back to the internet café and tried to log into the WIFI there, after trying for half an hour we gave up, for an unknown reason our computer just didn’t want to do it, and we don’t have a clue why it wouldn’t. We ordered some food and had what turned out to be dinner then made our way back to the boat. Our nieghbours, Ann and John, had invited us over to their boat for a drink so we mixed up a batch of frozen daquiries and went across to spend a very pleasant couple of hours having a drink, chatting and watching the sun set. We returned to our boat and had a snack for supper and then at around 20.30 hrs. Gerry decided to run the gen set for an hour so that we could run the fridge to keep it cold. Isn’t it amazing how just when you think everything is finally going to plan an elephant comes along and crushes you beneath its foot? The gen set has earnt its place in history as Gerry’s nemesis, it ran for a while and then it popped the cap off of the expansion tank, at the same time Gerry noticed steam coming out of the expansion tank and a high water temperature on the gauge – what could possibly be wrong with it now? A quick inspection revealed that it had overheated – another first! We stuck the portable fans on and blew cool air at the engine until it began to cool down then it was time to try and discover why it had overheated. Gerry looked, poked and prodded whilst I followed instructions to see if there was water coming out of the exhaust out on deck, handed him plastic containers, torches and tools. He concluded that it must be a problem with the impeller, which is locater at the back of the gen set where he couldn’t see – of course it was, where else would it be?! By now it was 21.30 hrs and I could see it was going to be a very long night if the fix was going to be done now so I suggested that we dismantle as much of the nav station and gen set as we could and then finish the fixing early in the morning when we had better light. To my surprise Gerry agreed and we dismantled what we could before going to bed. Of course the salon took on a state of chaos with bits of equipment and tools everywhere – it’s becoming the normal state I’m afraid, but as I couldn’t see it with my eyes closed I wasn’t going to worry about it. The morning would come around quickly and we could reassemble it all again, I have to say we are becoming quite expert and efficient at dismantling and reassembling the nav station and gen set it due to the amount of practice we seem to be getting.
Puerto Rico.
18 01.406 N
67 10.638 W
After a good night sleep we woke to a nice sunny day. Gerry cooked us a late breakfast before emptying the last of our jerry can fuel into the tank. He then loaded all 4 of the jerry cans into the dink and took off to the nearby marina to see if he could get them filled whilst I cleaned up the mess that was left from allowing him to cook in the galley. A short while later Gerry returned to the boat, yelling for me to come and help him get the jerry cans back on board. We got the first 2 on board with no problem but as we went to transfer the 3rd one Gerry knocked the last jerry can over in the dink, managing to knock the filled cap off and of course diesel gushed out into the dink. Quickly righting the fallen can, the foul language and shouted instructions commenced. I had immediately ducked down below to grab kitchen roll, mopping up pads, detergent and a trash bag, knowing that we were going to need all of them plus turning on the cockpit water breaker. Back out in the dink Gerry was still shouting instructions for me do various things – most of which I’d already done, whilst trying to plug the can that now had no cap and gather up the “stuff” that we keep in the dink out of the way of the spilt diesel. Handing over the clean up gear I dragged the last of the jerry cans on board and wiped it down, meanwhile Gerry began mopping up the spilt diesel, it was probably less than half a gallon that spilt but it sure looks like a lot when it’s sitting in the bottom of the dink. Gerry managed to mop up all of it and then cleaned the bottom of the dink with detergent, mopping that up and depositing all the pads and kitchen roll into the trash bag. Then he climbed back on board the boat and began cursing again as the fuel filler cap had come apart and appeared to be impossible to put back together, we fiddled with it for a while and eventually with the aid of a wrench managed to pop the two pieces back together – it wasn’t easy! Finally I had to wash out the cover for the jerry can then we were able to clean ourselves up, the smell of diesel took a lot to get rid of but at least we didn’t get a drop of fuel in the harbour – a minor miracle! Once we were under control again I spent some time typing up the blog and transferring some photos to the computer whilst Gerry read his book, then it was time to go ashore to find an internet café and have some late lunch – very late as it was now 15.00hrs. We dinked into the dock and walked the short distance into the internet café only to find that you needed to bring your own computer to use – they had no computers for customers, we had bought our memory stick with everything on it with us, thinking there would be computers to use. Gerry decided to go back out to the dink and fetch our laptop to use, I wandered up the street looking at the various street stalls whilst waiting for him to return. There was nothing that I had to buy, it was all beads and food and I didn’t need either. Once Gerry reappeared we went back to the internet café and tried to log into the WIFI there, after trying for half an hour we gave up, for an unknown reason our computer just didn’t want to do it, and we don’t have a clue why it wouldn’t. We ordered some food and had what turned out to be dinner then made our way back to the boat. Our nieghbours, Ann and John, had invited us over to their boat for a drink so we mixed up a batch of frozen daquiries and went across to spend a very pleasant couple of hours having a drink, chatting and watching the sun set. We returned to our boat and had a snack for supper and then at around 20.30 hrs. Gerry decided to run the gen set for an hour so that we could run the fridge to keep it cold. Isn’t it amazing how just when you think everything is finally going to plan an elephant comes along and crushes you beneath its foot? The gen set has earnt its place in history as Gerry’s nemesis, it ran for a while and then it popped the cap off of the expansion tank, at the same time Gerry noticed steam coming out of the expansion tank and a high water temperature on the gauge – what could possibly be wrong with it now? A quick inspection revealed that it had overheated – another first! We stuck the portable fans on and blew cool air at the engine until it began to cool down then it was time to try and discover why it had overheated. Gerry looked, poked and prodded whilst I followed instructions to see if there was water coming out of the exhaust out on deck, handed him plastic containers, torches and tools. He concluded that it must be a problem with the impeller, which is locater at the back of the gen set where he couldn’t see – of course it was, where else would it be?! By now it was 21.30 hrs and I could see it was going to be a very long night if the fix was going to be done now so I suggested that we dismantle as much of the nav station and gen set as we could and then finish the fixing early in the morning when we had better light. To my surprise Gerry agreed and we dismantled what we could before going to bed. Of course the salon took on a state of chaos with bits of equipment and tools everywhere – it’s becoming the normal state I’m afraid, but as I couldn’t see it with my eyes closed I wasn’t going to worry about it. The morning would come around quickly and we could reassemble it all again, I have to say we are becoming quite expert and efficient at dismantling and reassembling the nav station and gen set it due to the amount of practice we seem to be getting.
Labels: Puerto Rico
posted by SV Orpailleur at 5:08 p.m.
1 Comments:
thanks for the explination on the head sail and for putting my name on the blog it caused quite a buzz around the marina, until i got on the blog site and found out what you really said. I am really enjoying your writing and be following you on the atlas at home.Sincerely, tom white......_/)...._/)......_/)
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