More work

Aug 9 2013

Greetings,

Well the more we make plans, the more they seem to change. Going to Ecuador has been put off until I return from the trip I will be making to the States in Sept. 

Work continues on Kokomo Kat. After my last entry, Johne and Sharon work for a week but had to wait for one more part to arrive so they came back here last Tuesday (July 30) and we went back to the Perlas for more relaxing, fishing and bottom scrubbing. It was a lovely few days. We anchored in a new spot and had no current to fight when we did the bottom work. The trips out and back were full of dolphin and whale sightings including some whales very close. The last pair we saw were coming toward us and, maybe 50-100 yards away, they surfaced, blew, then gave us great fluke before going down. It was awesome! They say we’re not supposed to get too close to them, but it seems to me that it’s up to them how close they get. I’m not chasing them but even if I was, they can swim faster than Second Star goes and they can dive deep. I can only get as close as they chose to come.

When we got back Sharon returned to Kokomo Kat. Capt. Johne stayed here for a few days, working on Second Star, until the part they were waiting for got here. It’s good he was here because, aside from missing him, we had a couple of leaks spring up. No, not the water maker. That’s still working great since we installed the new parts (knock wood). This time the fuel line on the generator had a small crack right by the hose clamp. It was an easy fix for him once he had found the problem but it squirted diesel fuel all over the engine room so it was a big clean up job. Also, the night before he was leaving to go back to Colon, at about 0200 hrs, the water pump started running. Johne got up to find that the pressure cylinder was spraying water into the bilge. This meant shutting down the water system, cutting the PVC pipe to the cylinder, adding a ball valve, draining the pressure from  the cylinder, sanding down the little hole, applying JB Weld ( two part epoxy) to the hole and going back to bed so it could set. The next morning He re-pressurized the cylinder and attached the PVC pipe coming out of it to the new ball valve. Over all not that bad a job if it hadn’t had to be done at 2AM. I’m a great “scrub nurse” for these jobs and, if I had to, I’ve learned enough I could take care of them. But I’m just as glad Johne was here for those events and I didn‘t have to deal with them without him.

Yesterday Johne returned to Shelter Bay to finish up on Kokomo Kat. I expect him back on Sunday or Monday, hopefully with Sharon, for another few days in the Perlas. After that, when one more part for our inverters arrives, Johne next project will be swapping out the inverters. No rest for the wicked…

Aug 10 2013

Foot note:

The news from Kokomo Kat is that the part that was sent was not the right one so another part will need to be shipped…more waiting and another trip to the Perlas will occur in the meantime.