Prepping the boat for my trip home

Monday 5th July 2021
I think Sunday’s meal out with Arturo was too much for me, I have stomach ache today and do sod all.

Tuesday:
I’m feeling better so decide to get this oil change done. I understand that it’s better to change the oil before the engine is left standing, rather than after, as the combustion creates sulphur, which in turn becomes sulphuric acid, which if left in the engine oil etches away at the surfaces. However, I’m no expert on this at all.
I am however getting good at changing oil on the boat. The engines oil should be changed every 100 hours, according to Volvo, but people often leave it to 200 hours, but I tend to do it after a decent bit of cruising, and when I’m back at a ‘base’ port. So after my recent trip, now seemed like a good time. The actual hours since the last change is 150, so that’s not too bad.
I think about videoing the operation, as it should be slick and impressive, but I forget.
My aim is to change the oil without spilling any on me, my clothes, or the boat. I’m getting better each time, and I’m so confident I wear a near fresh white t-shirt. The job requires me to suck the oil out of the engine with a special pump, it looks like a bicycle pump, but made of brass with an in and out pipe attached to it.

I run the engine to get the oil hot and runny first, then remove the scrunched up paper plug from one end of the pump, ready to attach to the engine oil sump pipe, but oil starts dripping out, so I position the pump over the dirty oil collection container to let the oil drip, it occurs to me I might speed this up by pumping the pump but it seems stiff. I pull hard on the handle and there’s a big pop and I see a compressed wad of kitchen roll, fly across the cabin, followed by a big squirt of oil. This was the bung in the other end of the pump I forgot about. Basically I have just sprayed the inside of the cabin with dirty engine oil! Scrub my previous boasting. Not sure if this would have looked cool on video after all.

I clean up and push on, only to find I have run out of oil filters, so another trip to the ‘Lubricantes’ shop is in order, they have them for pennies, so I buy three, and having found they fit fine, I’m going to buy another 5 as they will get used. After 3 hours, it’s all done. The engine has a capacity for 6 litres according to Volvo, but I never seem to extract more than 5 litres, so either they are lying, or there is a litre hiding somewhere.

Wednesday/Thursday
Not feeling great again, so relax and push on with Obama’s second book, covering his time in the White House. I loved his first book, but this is a little harder to read as it’s mostly, “I did this, this happened, I did this, this happened, …..” It’s interesting to see what was going on behind the scenes in the White House as the crash of 2007/8 rolled out.

Friday
The drugs are working and I’m up and about again. News on covid here is bleak, the hospitals are full, ventilators all in use. I’m glad I had my two doses. Apparently, there’s lots of social media showing gringos acting like covid is long over in Los Cabos, fueling resentment with many Mexicans who are suffering badly, yet the government are boasting that they are getting the tourism revenue up. It’s very difficult, Los Cabos in particular, and to a large extent La Paz rely on tourist money, people will suffer badly if the tourists vanish, at the moment many government staff, hospital workers, teachers, police etc are not getting paid. so the state government have a real struggle to strike a balance.
I head out to get some boat supplies for various projects including a length of hose for the worst job …

Those of you who recognise the hose should have sympathy for me, those who don’t, well you’re better off not knowing.

I have started bringing things inside the boat, like the Man Overboard gear (MOB). It doesn’t need anymore sunlight and probably isn’t fond of hurricanes.

I’m hoping Arturo will keep an eye on the boat while I’m back in the UK. There’s not a lot for him to do unless there is a hurricane, then it’s probably too late to do much. Location is the main thing when it comes to hurricanes, your location and its location. I understand the last time there was a serious hurricane here, the marina took a lot of damage and lost a few boats, I heard a couple of sailors died out in the anchorage, one of a heart attack. Neil the manager here tells me that the reinforcements they fitted, along with some breakwaters should make it quite safe now, but that is yet to be tested. The wind and wave direction is unpredictable and would determine the outcome for me. Above is an older picture of the Marina before they built the Marina Cortez next door. I have an arrow pointing to my location, which is close to, and protected by the landmass that now has a large apartment block on it.
It’s a worry being away for 2 months, bang in the middle of the hurricane season, but statistically the odds are in my favour. but the nature of the path they take is random, so I’m not sure if hurricane Enrique passing directly past us, but having fizzled out, makes the odds better or worse? I think the thing is with ‘Random’ that you can’t tell. I struggle with random and probability, how come you have a 1 in 6 chance of rolling a six on a dice, surely you have as much chance of never rolling a six if it’s really random.
Arturo has phoned me, we would be going for dinner now but he tells me he can’t because he has been driven to the middle of the desert, and he can’t tell me why because the driver speaks english and might be listening, but he will call when he gets to La Paz. I’m assuming he hasn’t been kidnapped, I don’t think it’s usual for kidnappers to let you phone friends to adjust dinner appointments, but we shall see.

Later I meet up with Arturo for some Tacos, seems he survived his desert trip.

Saturday 10th July
Feeling good today, so I tackle the quarter berth, the job is to bring in all the bits hanging off the back of the boat, like the lifebuoy, the danbuoy, rescue harness, self steering rudder and vane etc and shove them all in the quarter berth (QB) out of the sun and wind.

However I need to turn off the seacock that supplies cooling sea water to the engine, in case of a leak while I’m away. Access to this seacock is through a small hatch at the back of the QB, So first I empty the area, crawl in and turn it off, but like most jobs things get complicated quickly, the seacock handle has a bit of play in it and it’s not clear if I have it exactly in the off position, also I notice quite a bit of salt building up around the sea water filters top seal. It must be leaking.

I did put a new gasket in a few years ago, but it can’t be working. So I dismantle this, allowing me to see if I actually have turned off the seacock, which amazingly I have. Then I make some new seals, I will order a service kit when I get home, but for now I will have another attempt at making my own gaskets and washers. All goes well, amazingly there’s very little matter in the filter, just a couple of broken shells, I had hoped that might be related to the slight overheating on the engine.
Back together and tested, I turn off the seacock, remove power to the engine so it can’t accidently be started with no water supply and shove everything into the QB from the cockpit. By now the sun has set and it’s time for dinner.

Sunday
Another hot day, so I dinghy out to the magote and have a swim. It’s generally around 35-36c most days with a lovely cooling breeze in the evenings. So far I haven’t been bothered to setup the aircon, hardly seems worth it now for the few remaining days here. It’s interesting how global warming is playing out. You would think it would make the tropics unbearable, but it seems to be further north that the real problems are. Canada has seen record temperatures, and along the pacific coast of the USA temperatures are crazily high again, with wildfires starting to kick off.
A sumptuous meal on the Malecon with Arturo winds up the day.

Monday 12th July
Today was meant to be the horrible job day (Replacing the sanitation hoses), but I didn’t sleep well and don’t feel like the challenge. My pet mosquito must be quite fat by now, to fat to fly, which might be why I can’t hear her. However I am covered in annoying bites. So I work on the bicycle, the rear wheel is making a disconcerting noise. It turns out the nuts on the axle that hold the bearings in place are loose, and it’s rough as hell, when I turn it. I’m thinking bin job, the bikes been good for a few years now, and axles/bearings are two mechanical for me. However with the wonder of youtube and google, my first search for “Shimano rear bearing service” pops up a video showing exactly what I have to do. However I do need a special tool, but I bet a search on ebay would find that in seconds. Anyway, it’s the brakes and flat tyre that are the main issues right now, so I fix them as best I can and head off to the cycle shop and buy 4 new brake pads and an inner tube for about £5, I also arrange to bring the wheels in for new tyres and bearings when I return to the UK. There’s life in that bike yet.

Paul Collister
La Paz, BCS, Mexico