Category Archives: Maintenance

Where we did maintenance to keep the boat running well.

Second Trip to Santa Rosalia, Day 3

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When we woke up on Sunday, October 2, it was very windy. The wind was pleasantly cool and refreshing! Christi needed a jacket when she went out to watch the sunrise. Once the sun was up, the wind died and it warmed up fast.

Does anyone know what kind of bird this is?

Eric started changing the engine oil and filter first thing in the morning, as planned. Unfortunately, he’d failed to notice that a valve was set wrong, and accidentally drained out the transmission oil simultaneously with the engine oil. And then, unbeknownst to him, while filling the engine with oil, he was also simultaneously filling the transmission with engine oil. It didn’t take Eric long to figure out that the engine wasn’t filling up with oil proportional to the amount that he was putting in. That’s when he noticed the valve.

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Second Trip to Santa Rosalia, Day 2

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Saturday, October 1

In 2009, when we were in Dominica, our smoke stack fell over. The stack had bent a little bit at an outdoor connection of the smoke stack causing a small exhaust leak. Unfortunately, none of the repairs that Eric has made have held long-term; all of them have failed sooner or later. The trouble is the sealant eventually goes bad. We forgot to mention this, but a few days ago, when we were in Don Juan, he’d noticed that the leak was back. He was frustrated; he’d been sure that the last repair he’d done would last longer.

This morning, Eric repaired exhaust leak first thing. He tried a new sealant, and hopefully this fix will last a good amount of time. After that, he got everything out that he’d need to do an engine oil change so that he could do the change first thing tomorrow the morning, before it got hot. It actually takes longer to get everything out and ready than it does to actually change the oil. 

In the afternoon, we decided to get lunch at Los Compadres. From the roundabout, we took the other road inland, passing many more piles of mud.

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Ensenada el Pescador to La Village de Bahia de Los Angeles

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On Saturday (September 17), when we awoke, we were relieved to see that most of the bugs were gone. Instead of a sunrise picture, here is a video of a bird catching a fish.

The rest had vacated by the time we left for the cruiser’s breakfast, which we held onshore in the recently damaged casita.

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The Aftermath of Hurricane Kay

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On Friday morning (September 9), we were surprised to wake up to no wind and no rain. The storm had cleared much earlier than expected. What a relief! It did start to drizzle not long after we woke up, but the drizzle didn’t last long.

The rivers had dried up. We couldn’t believe how clear the water in the bay was! Between all the mud that had come down and the churned up water, we’d expected the water to be too dirty to run the generator or watermaker. Another happy surprise!

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Islas Coronados to Puerto Escondido — And Alternator

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On Friday morning (August 5), the water was again calm and clear when we awoke. We got Kosmos ready for sea first thing in the morning. This included bringing up and securing the dinghy, bringing in and securing the flopper stopper plates/paravane poles, bringing in the snubber line (which is basically a shock absorber for the anchor chain), securing all loose items on board, etc. We weren’t leaving early; we just wanted to have everything done before the tourist pangas started roaring past us, creating wakes. Then we went for a swim around the boat and saw a lot of fish, including a pair of puffers sitting on our chain at the bow of the boat.

We set off for Puerto Escondido a little before noon and arrived around 1500. It is less stressful for us to go someplace we’ve been before. This time we were assigned to a different dock. We spent a couple of hours at the pool and had dinner at the marina restaurant. In the evening, we got to know our new neighbors. 

Here is a picture of the sunset, looking at the north end of the bay. The topography of this picture is important for the next part of the story. While there are taller mountains to the west and south, the east and north parts of the bay are protected by low hills with gaps. 

On Saturday (August 6), in the wee hours of the morning, Eric was awoken again. He saw that wind picked up to 23 knots. There was lightning, thunder and later a heavy rain. Eric was shocked to see that the waves were big enough that they were splashing over the end dock where the big boats tie up.

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