Begin forwarded message: > Today was a day of site seeing, relaxation and last minute repairs > in Ensenada. > > Sans Souci is at the Ensenada Marina, along with only one other > Fubar boat; Samurai, a Nordhavn 64. We felt a little isolated from > the group, but when we received a call saying we could move to the > Cruiseport Marina with everyone else, I had to decline. At first, I > wanted to move, but we simply couldnt find the time. During our > cruise here from San Diego, we made a list of projects for our > time in port. The list wasnt exceptionally long, but it was plenty > long enough to keep us busy. > > First up on the list was to figure out the air conditioning on the > boat. Its a long story which I dont want to bore you with, but > weve been fiddling with the air conditioning since August. Perhaps > for many reading this it sounds silly to be focused on air > conditioning, but we have two good excuses. > > 1) My dad is along, and I want him to be comfortable. The guest > staterooms on Sans Souci are low in the water. When under way we > have to close the port holes, and it can get hot and stuffy. > 2) Roberta and I will be cruising, after the rally, south to > Costa Rica. It will be hot and sticky If we do not solve the air > conditioning the trip will be ruined. Well still get there, but > frankly speaking, we boat because it is fun to boat. The destination > isnt as important as the experience of getting there. A few years > back, we spent an extremely hot summer in the south of france, with > no air conditioning, and yes, perhaps this makes us wimps, but it > just wasnt that much fun. > > Dont ask me what our problem has been, because I cant really tell > you. And, Im not pointing the finger at Nordhavn. The fact is that > we had a cruising schedule we wanted to meet, and our schedule > created a hard date when we needed to take delivery of the boat. We > knew the air conditioning was not fully operational, and took > delivery of the boat anyhow. We were headed to the Pacific NW, a > place where air conditioning is an optional feature. My focus was > on the mission critical systems, and for NW cruising, air > conditioning isnt on the list. I remember buying our first home in > Seattle and asking the realtor if the home had air conditioning. > Why? she said. > > Our most recent problem has had to do with the electrical system on > the boat. When the air conditioning starts up, there is a power > surge that kills our generators and wreaks havoc with the electrical > system on the boat. More than one technician has tried to solve our > problems, each with some degree of success. Weve been marching > slowly toward the finish line, and my goal for today was only to > figure out why the power requirements are so steep. Whenever we run > the air conditioning, even in severely limited usage, it clobbers > our electrical system. > > After hours of experimenting we solved this particular problem. The > air conditioning system has a feature we really didnt understand. > Its a chilled water system. For those not familiar with chilled > water systems, such as myself, its a really simple concept: Water > is constantly circulated throughout the boat. As the water passes > through the various staterooms, air is blown across a pipe holding > the water, into the rooms. The system is simple, and consists of > only a few basic parts. There is a chiller, actually four chillers, > which can either chill the water in the water loop which runs > around the boat, or heat it. There is a pump to move water through > the loop. There are fans in the rooms (called air handlers) to blow > air past the water loop into the room, and finally, there is a pump > to take sea water in and use it to cool the chiller as it does its > job. > > Our project for the day involved turning on and off chillers, while > measuring the electrical current each chiller took, and measuring > the current from each of the air handlers, and trying to find the > culprit that was swallowing all of the electricity. And, to my great > surprise, we were rewarded for our efforts. Heres the quick story > as I understand it: Our air handlers have a feature which allows > them to blow hot air, whether or not cold water is circulating > through the loop. I dont know the official name, but I call them > heat strips. Weve had a lot of guests on the boat. Those of you who > have boats may be able to relate to this  but, guests dont always > think about the consequences when they push buttons. As the boat has > been configured, a guest randomly pushing buttons on the remotes > could easily trigger the heat strips. An air handler by itself > doesnt use much electricity, but an air handler with an active heat > strip, can be a major current draw. Multiply this by a few > staterooms and you can easily choke a generator. > > This set me to thinking about how to idiot proof the system. I was > convinced that there must be some way to fix the system such that > guests couldnt accidentally kill my electrical system. This meant > spending the afternoon reading electrical manuals, and finally > reprogramming all of the remotes around the boat. > > This is the part of the cruising lifestyle that has surprised me > most. Prior to owning a boat, I was strictly a computer guy. > Mechanical things scared the heck out of me. Today, I found myself > measuring current to circulating pumps, and making up spreadsheets > showing current draws on different parts of the system. Dealing > with electrical systems, plumbing systems, diesel engines, and other > mechanical devices, has become a part of my life. > > Im saying this poorly, so allow me to start over. In the old days, > I thought all one had to do to be a great captain was to be able to > park a boat. As time marches on, Im discovering that if you really > want to cruise long distances in your boat, you need to develop a > lot more skills than just being able to back a boat into a tight > parking place. Yesterday when the shore power was doing funny > things, I had my multi-meter out. Today I was talking amps and volts > all day. We also had some mechanical projects today. We removed a > door to fix some rubber stripping that was falling out. We (actually > Jeff) replaced a water pump on a generator that had failed. Im not > claiming Im any good at any of these things. My only point is that > people underestimate the complexity of running one of these boats, > and the number of different systems and skill sets required. Boating > can be trickier than it looks > > OK. Enough of the boring stuff, now back to the Fubar discussion > > My only Fubar-ish activity today was to participate in a meeting of > all the Fubar captains. We discussed the major passage which begins > early tomorrow morning. We will be running 290 miles non-stop making > this the longest run of the entire rally. This is a serious run, > and one which will require 35 to 45 hours for most of the boats. > Some of the crews have never run around the clock. > > Rallys, as one might expect, have different personalities. My only > previous rally experience was the Nordhavn cross Atlantic rally in > 2004. Just as with this rally, prior to each leg, there is a > captains meeting, at which the coming run is discussed. I remember > the Captains meetings as intense and somewhat intimidating. > Everything was planned down to the last detail. For this rally, > things are much looser. The focus seems to be on what happens when > you arrive, rather than the journey itself. On the Nordhavn rally, > we planned out when we would leave, who was in our group, how we > would communicate, and when we would communicate. It felt like a > military operation. By comparison at the Fubar captains meeting > tonight, things were much looser. When Bruce (our rally chair) was > asked When do we depart his answer was: Back up from when you > want to arrive, decide what speed you want to run at, and you will > have your departure time. This is an absolutely correct answer to > the question, but it left me feeling differently than I did on the > Nordhavn rally. The boats arent being broken into groupings with > team leaders. There was a question tonight about radio roll calls, > and Im not sure Bruce really understood the question. He responded > that he really didnt believe they were necessary. On the Nordhavn > rally it was a big deal to know where every boat was, at least once > per day. > > In a way it isnt fair to compare the two rallys. On the Atlantic > crossing we were planning for 10 day passages across the Atlantic > Ocean. Here we are discussing a 40 hour passage fairly close to > land. My concern was primarily for those in the room for whom this > was their first overnight passage. I happened to be speaking with > one captain who mentioned that his longest cruise was across a lake. > I expect he was understating his experience, but I also could tell > this was a big event in his life. I dont know how many of the boats > are making their first overnight ocean passage, and I cant tell you > what the optimal format is for a rally. But, I can tell you that I > personally miss the rigid discipline of the Nordhavn rally. > Different strokes for different folks, as they say > > Some of this feeling is perhaps the differences in cruising in a > rally with 18 boats, and a rally with 53 boats. On the Nordhavn > rally we split the group into two sub-groupings of nine boats. This > rally hasnt split us to smaller groups. There is a Nordhavn group, > and ostensibly I am its leader, but weve never met as a group, and > arent traveling together. > > Actually, the worst news of the day came when I asked Jeff, one of > our crew here on Sans Souci, about Turtle Bay. Some of you may have > gotten my blog from a few days ago where I sent out amazing pictures > of blue skies and crystal blue water, taken by a friend who > traversed this same route just last week. That vision of paradise > has yet to emerge. Ensenada seems a nice city, but it has been cool > since we have been here, and overcast. I want the Jimmy Buffet > experience, and thought that wed find it in Turtle Bay. Jeff burst > my bubble by saying that the pretty beaches, great fishing, blue > water, etc didnt really start until south of Turtle Bay. Im hoping > he is wrong. I want to find a beach to anchor off of, with warm > water, where I can drop the tenders, get out the scuba gear, and > relax in the sun. > > Before I close, I need to correct a couple of things from my report > yesterday. > > 1) Several people have written me to report that the Coral > Marina, just north of Ensenada, has a normal fuel dock. I had sent > out a picture of a boat being fueled via 55 gallon drums. I checked > on this today, and there is indeed a fuel dock at Coral. My friend > who went through here recently must not have discovered it. I asked > Bruce why we werent fueling at it, and he said that we are using it > to fuel part of the fleet, but that they had one fuel pump not > working, and couldnt fuel the boats fast enough. > > 2) I sent out a picture of the 28 non-Fubar boat next to mine, > which had been headed to Guatemala and turned back. I spoke to the > guy again today, and he was actually headed for Nicaragua! I had > thought him eccentric when I spoke with him last night, but today > I discovered that he was an interesting guy. He has a business in > Nicaragua, and was serious about getting there. I asked what he > would do now, and about fell off my chair at his response. He said > he was going to ship his boat via Dockwise to Costa Rica and then > work his way north to Nicaragua. In my mind I was thinking This is > a 28 foot craft of dubious seaworthiness, why would you pay a > fortune to put it on a freighter to Costa Rica? I struggled to find > a politically correct way to ask this, and gave up and just asked > the question. What else is there to do with the money? he > responded. I then tried to sell him on getting a full displacement > trawler and twisted his arm to check out the various rally boats. We > wound up talking for a while about Nicaragua, and my fears of > cruising there. Well be there in February, and my current plan is > to give it a wide berth. More on this when I have more time. > > This blog update is already overly long, and I have to get to sleep > for our 6am departure tomorrow. Assuming I can get an internet > connection, I will be reporting in from at sea. > > Thank you! > > Ken Williams > Sans Souci, Nordhavn68.com > > PS If you are new to the blog, and want to catch up on prior blog > entries, visit http://www.nordhavn68.com, and click on BLOG on the > menu. > ~-~-~-~-