Here are the latest blog posts. For older posts click here for the previous blog site. Eventually we will bring all the old posts over once we automate the process.
Full on fridge redesign – 4 Aug
Today started with an hour of running the motor at 1700 rpm to get 100amps out of the alternator. I can get more but i discovered the temp sensor had fallen off (or melted off) the balmar 150amp alternator. this is supposed to drop the alternator to 50% output when it gets too hot. without it running at max output with very low batteries i am worried i may fry it and then be really sol. i do have a backup 100amp alternator but really dont want to add that the my list. so after aimee did yoga and i made coffee with the inverter aimee headed...
read moreStep 1 more solar panels – 3 Aug
This morning we headed around to prickly bay to check in and check out the budget marine. checkin was painless but cost 90EC for 30 days, not horrible but not great either. after checking in I cam back to palapa to give aimee a ride to the spa and to go to budget and start spending money! As I was crunching numbers I kept coming back to solar as an option. the budget catalog listed 90watt panels for $480 each, less than a wind generator. two 90 watt panels would theoretically give you 180 watts or 15 amps. if you had 8 hours of sun you...
read moreOther peoples boats in Hardy Bay Grenada! – 2 Aug
so this morning jen and i headed in to shore bright and early to check out the local island water-world (the Caribbean west marine). there was a pretty good selection and decent prices but duty was 37%! and to avoid it you had to have checkin papers and ships papers. we had yet to do this so we had to return the purchases. i did look at wind generators and they had the best one i have seen in stock for a mere . its the air-breeze, its specked at 30kw per month in 10kts of wind. this would work out to 1kw per day or 83 amp-hours or 3.5 amps...
read moreRun away! – 1 Aug
Well the plan had always been to sail south to avoid any hurricanes so this morning at breakfast when discussing the latest weather we decided to do just that. the 8am email came in with a 60% chance of a tropical cyclone forming in the next 48 hours and a prediction it would hit the south part of the leeward islands the same time. we decided to head south to St George Grenada, about 35 nm south of us. Waka Iere had a brief debate about “hunkering down in the mangroves” vs heading south but decided to do the same thing as us. i...
read moreAnother Oyster BBQ! – 31 July
eventually i tore my self away from thoughts of the genset to focus on the day at hand. we had originally invited waka irie over for a beach bonfire/bbq but after getting nailed by little no see-ums/sand-flea things last night we where having second thoughts. the one piece of good news was jen was able to find our bag of about 50 oysters that had been hung off the back of palapa but somehow got snagged and broke free the night of our party. we had searched unsuccessfully yesterday before giving up and heading over to our new island. the...
read moreGenset Disaster – 31 July
Well today has to be one of the most expensive frustrating sucky days i have every had. It started out normally enough I was up early running the genset (panda 6KW), checking weather (there is a tropical 72 hours out). Then I heard the genset slow a bit, concerned, i unloaded it, moments later it died and when i tried to restart it it would not turn over. i immediately expected and feared the worst, that the engine had run out of oil and seized. this should not be possible as there are two separate oil pressure systems. one is a light on...
read moreTime to get out of dodge to White Island – 30 July
in spite of our late night party, past midnight according to our camera we decided we needed to get underway for a prettier spot for some swimming and relaxing. with a bit of pain we finally got the anchor up and underway. as you can see from the photo’s it was well worth the effort! took about an hour to motor around to white island. this is one of our favorite “baby” islands. it comes complete with its own little mountain. aimee is talking about climbing it, we will see it looks a bit steep to me! i got to enjoy some...
read moreYet another party on palapa – 29 July
so we managed to get beer in the refer and bread for some tapanad appetizers jen and aimee where planning with no problem. however for a while it it looked like it would be only the 4 of us again as at 5pm the other boat we had invited was still not on their mooring. finally around 6pm we say the other boat return and i dingied over to tell them they where late. finally around 7pm the 5 of them arrived; two young french guys, heidi (a friend of sietse from the arc), her girl friend and a local single hander. heidi and her friend had been...
read moreDown day in Tyrell Bay 2 – 28 July
today i took Aimee and jen into shore for a bus to town for provisioning. jen really likes to get started early and they actually ended up at the market before 8 and before it opened. i used the time to do some work work on palapa. this work is not to be confused with the “boat” work that keeps me occupied the rest of the time. the girls returned from hillsdale, the main town, and reported it was a bit of a bust, nothing better than what they had right in our little cove. i spent most of the day on board but ventured over to...
read moreOysters on the Barbi in Tyllor Bay – 27 July
earlier in the day one of the locals had come by offering wine and oysters. we had plenty of wine from st marteen but we did get a dozen or so oysters for 17EC. The plan had been to BBQ them for lunch but that rolled into a dinner appetizer with aimee and jen making pizzas. the oysters turned out to be such a hit that when another local entrepreneur came by we decided to get some more. this time aimee handled the negotiation and we got about 30 or 40 for 15EC and a hunk of sausage! i got busy on the grill piling them on one end until they...
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