It’s our second winter as boat owners and we can feel some light bulbs coming on. Our first storm season, we were oblivious to the dangers around us and lived in perfect happiness in a blinding world! Indeed it pretty much summarizes what we went through and survived without any major lessons/mistakes learnt. Albeit a fairly small gelcoat repair on one of our cleat we feel we did okay for that first year! Thankfully side way docking is over as it was inducing a lot less stress on the boat!
Since then we moved to another slip where the predominant wind direction is different. All summer we backed up into our slip and had found it a lot easier than bow first.
And now we were getting ready for winter. So, we read the book about local weather (official one from the weather office), we thought we had looked around the marina and analyzed the situation… So we thought!
A few weeks ago I was at the boat alone and the wind was coming from the SE at 30-40 knots. Our stern was straight into it, needless to say this puts a lot of stress on Letitgo due to the windage of the solar panel. “Those Southern winds are a hard kicker!” was my observation, but that’s ok we are waiting for the northerly and those are the crazy ones or so we thought! Today again we were at the boat and and this time it was 45 knots, same position same situation and the winds were still from the south, the solar panels were vibrating. Let’s emphasize again : we don’t like any undue stress on any piece of equipment.
By then our experienced neighbor and friend was around his boat, so we asked him :
” When are the northerly coming?”
”Rarely!” was his response “That’s why I turn my boat around for the winter.” And he even added ” I was wondering why you turned yours?”.
Do I ever love the Anglo-Saxon education, in France somebody would have come along and said something like ” Hey why don’t you put your boat into the wind” Then again that would be arrogant LOL….
These last few days of last week have been the extent of our winter here in the west coast. Evidently we will not complain because it is certainly not a three/six months deal like it is for our friends on the east coast! Nonetheless we got three days of -10 C and a few inches of snow which fortunately should be the extent of it! Right about now Mexico looks very far but encouraging, so keep the posts going blog friends out there.
For this reason, we wanted to share with you a few photos ( for us : pictures to never forget what it feels like!) because snow is indeed a beautiful thing! And for our friends who already left, we are just giving you something to point and laugh at unless you are in disbelief that winter still exist!
If it’s 45 degree out where you are right now, here is what you can do :
With all the SOPA and PIPA talk today, we feel that a little internet techno talk is appropriate. A few months back, Jeff from Active Captain efforts and newsletter brought to our attention the privacy issues and risks post by accessing the internet via unsecure connection. By now, you know that we are well equipped with a long range WIFI antenna, and although we don’t plan on hooking up on the broadband of others, it is always nice to know we have this resource available.
This past summer, we had an issue with our computer and some of our e-mail accounts during our coastal cruising season. This re-enforces the message and brings this matter back on the agenda. With that said a couple of weeks ago we received the first year’s report from Jeff about VPN, immediately we acted on it. Anyway, do you think there is anything better to do when it is freezing and snowing outside! Indeed, I will not climb up the mast anytime soon….
The service we chose is Witopia, they had a “special” with Active Captain and made it an easy investment, with a fairly simple and painless setup. In fact we now can access to IP addresses from 33 different countries. Which also makes it easier to :
download some files from the internet,
read the various Yamaha webpages unavailable to some countries
And last but not least we can now read the news from France!
The added bonus is that we are now also a little safer out there, and will not share with a smart teenager our personal infos on the net. Undoubtedly his big brother the Hacker king will find a way to get them anyway!!
Unfortunately once we signed up, the system went down and all attempts to connect were fruitless. Damned it! I pay for a service over the internet and minutes after it’s all set up, it vanishes… Well it only turned out to be a scheduled weekly maintenance, and this one was a big one! They had advised their entire customer database for weeks… but us as we had just signed up a few hours before! The next day all was back to normal, and as I am typing this blog post is from Vienna…
This was a long project to complete, the learning curve was steep and in the back of my head the mantra of Mr Calder was always present. “Keep the system balanced, if you want success”
Understanding the needs, balancing all the element of the system and finally finding the most practical and economical solution. It took a good 9 months, but all along John Stevens the owner of Electromaax took my phone callsssssssssss, answered my e-mailsssssssssss in a timely manner and with an amazing demeanour. The British “flegme”, as we call it in French at its best.
We went from a 160 Amp alternator via the regular circuit, to trying to have a second one mounted to engine (not easily feasible on a 3YM30) directly linked to the house battery and leave the present one alone. To finally after a last consultation and estimating we would need to feel about 100Amp deficit on Passage. We saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
The answer making the most sense, was two 100 Amp alternators with a Sterling Pro Split R PSRT134 to replace the Studer isolator. The smaller “Dynamo” would not overload the engine, and we could run it with the regular set up just updating the belt to Fleet runner from NAPA. The black box will manage the input of two alternators and the three battery banks.
Done deal now we just need to decide where we are going to purchase it. Two water maker companies are still in the race, let’s see who make the final cut? One supplies both, the other we will just need to buy locally the alternators. Having two boats shows coming up locally (well if for you a four hours drive feels like local to you) this should help complete our purchase list, and live us with only the install part, easy.
We have a winner, for the bragging contest of how hot it is in Mexico! Larry…
Larry mentionned casually in his e-mail that life was good and 28 degrees all day is perfect if not a little hot during the afternoon. This will not surprise anybody knowing him. Thanks Larry see you soon in the snow and cold…
Once in a while you stumble across a blog that makes total cruiser sense. It teaches you a thing or two and goes a little deeper than: “it’s sunny, we are having fun but the wind was on the nose”. Today was such a day when I discovered this French website Logos.
No commercial frou-frou, no 1000$$ solution but the true and tested. Ok you have to be able to read French, a minor detail wouldn’t you say? I know Bob at Boat bits will be happy if he doesn’t know it already; cheaper sailing what a concept!
Let’s see first example : The boom brakes and it doesn’t have to cost much if you have the essential on your boat, easy no?
An old way to protect your towel from flying away with the wind.
But thanks to Mr Lavergne, today I learned how to get a map from Google earth automatically and juxtapose it over OpenCpn. Know in the techi jargon a GE to Kap, with calibration and transparency. Here you see the difference of the Cmap May 2011 and the reality of satellite photo. Perfect for the faraway place where we know the charts are not so accurate. Welcome to Mexico!
Thank again, we hope one day we will be able to do the same for a dreamer… Make their dream more realistic!
To begin with I wanted to re-organize the mess I had left last time, and also didn’t want my memory to fade away, in other words avoid a heart attack for next time around! So I did a run to Letitgo today, nice and early. Not to worry, *V* stayed home and “relaxed”. Code word was “you will freak out if you see what I have done to your home, and you will never let me get to the boat on my own again!”.
Most amazingly I knew exactely where I had left all my tools, and I couldn’t resist but make a little video for *V* before I started. Let’s see what she has to say?
_ Simply amazed that you got up so early for the last two days… with the cold weather, arriving in a cold cold boat! Indeed there is a big mess, but you are doing this for all of us, for a comfortable boat, a comfortable life! Thank you *L* I am simply very lucky. _
Thank you, you are not upset after watching the video, really not a bit. WOW, something is going on not possible.
First thing first, we are definitely under the wrong latitude. Frost all over, a chilly -1c but a beautiful blue sky. Now here is a deal! The first one I hear bragging that it’s 20 °C in Mexico today will get a bonus point.
Subsequently within 3 hours of work we were back to somewhat “normal”. I even did a live test of the SSB, with the pactor connected for the first time, I noted that the voice was weak but the transmission and listening was operational. What else can we ask for?
If you ever get zapped while on the toilet in Letitgo, you will now know why: this is where the tuner is hiding! Yes, I know… the coaxial is not properly secured, I am not all done yet, it was way too cold to make a hole in the hull today. I guess it will take one more trip with *V* and we will be done with that project.
To cap off this memorable marathon, I updated the list. And to my surprise was able to combine the urgent along with the back burner one to a reasonable size one. Would we be getting close to the end?.. Well hey! We find motivation wherever we can after all!
When I arrived on the boat this morning, my brain got on overload. The disorganization I had left behind on my last trip, was overwhelming and I didn’t know where to begin. I took two deep breaths and simply jumped right in, if we want to leave one day I better get on with it. And that’s not even without mentioning the large four boxes of new items I had gone to pickup that morning…. now I had to find a place where to put it…
Before anything it is important to know that from a tender age, I have never been very flexible and my dexterity didn’t make me world famous! Nonetheless today was the day : 6 hours of boat yoga in all sorts of contraption and funny bends to install the SSB. Trying to put out of sight any screws and wires, or, using a tool where there is not much room to use it…
One good thing is and we are really happy about is: we have “space” on the 380, but still you have to find way to get the cable from every piece of equipments.
And for your eyes only here is : A huge big mess.
This is the state of the boat, by the end of the day. I will not expose you the port side bathroom nore the bedroom. A total disaster, or should I say … chaos! I am lucky *V* was not around or I would have some explaining to do.
Finally one good news, I did a test and could hear some station and tune the antenna. I am dead meat… time to go home now and rest.
Wait a minute! we have a meeting tonight with our cruising association. Lucky for me, the presentation will be entertaining and super instructive!
Upon returning to the meeting I cannot help but write one last point : Now I know why when this couple nearly lost their boat in Niue, they were comparing the situation to losing a family member with all the trauma attached. After putting so much effort and sweat into this baby to make it grow to be a responsible adult. I understand…
As a boat owner you can only wish you will never run aground! Unfortunately, it can happen to the best of us… And in this video you will be able to appreciate that it is not just reserved for amateurs only. Even the “professional” can make big mistake.
I feel, the communication must have been bad onboard, actually really bad. The hand signal must not have work out. In fact they might have to start the training process again.
Well enough said, I better go back to work, it’s raining and windy…. It’s a good thing we are busy, that way we don’t think too much about all of you out there in tropical water!
Not too sure if you followed their trip, but for us it was a ritual for the last 45 days. Every morning we would open up their website and check the latest video or message. What an amazing performance to say the least, well done to the team of philanthropic bankers, builder and finally the 13 man who did it on the water and one on land.
Let’s try to put this in perspective. They did 29002 miles at the average speed of 26.51 knots, this is 50 km/h or 31 Mile/hr for our car bound friends. If you took your car, it would mean you had to fuel up 129 times with an average car.
Now bring it back to our sailing world, in an average boat going at 5 knots this would take 241 days. But the lack of space for crew and supplies will make it hard to achieve.
In reality, the norm for sailing boat who aim for a circumnavigation it takes on a quick trip about 3 years to respect the hurricane seasons or 1.1 Knots average. Also : size wise the trimaran Banque Populaire is 130 Feet long that’s 3.5 time Letitgo. For the sail area on a 380 maxi will be 130 m2 on BP 1330 m2 or 10 times, we don’t have to make the math for you the ratio are man boggling.
Needless to add the French still know how to build boats and sail them! Now, it is time to get our passports organized!we can go and redo our passport. Let’s just say we don’t have to pay a bond in French Polynesia and will try and stay as long as we want…
A few months, back we had requested from Alexandre at Lagoon inside, if he could get some videos of the factory posted. To our surprise this morning, two wonderful narratives were online.
It is always fun and instructive to see where the boats are really made, and how it’s done. A fairly streamlined process far away from the romantic wood boat shipyard, but Beneteau hasn’t grown in the last 100 years by staying put.
But why did I go on the site today, I needed to explain to a supplier how specifically lagoon Catamarans are wired. Not something easy over the phone, trying to ascertain the validity of an installation. Having two engines coupled together bring a few extra elements of challenge. We want to update our alternator and definitive answers are not easy to come by. But John at ElectroMaax has been a pleasure to work within the last year, always taking the call and giving the best advice.
We started by just wanting to replace the stock alternator, evaluated to try to put two on one engine with one directly wired to the house bank (not possible on 3YM30). We are now trying to figure out if we need an outside regulator or not and if we could change both or only one. The fun never stops, better asking now than once we are away from the dock and with an expensive burn out paper weight.
