S/V Northern Lights
| Vessel Name: | Northern Lights |
| Vessel Make/Model: | J/42 - #61 |
| Hailing Port: | Seattle |
| Crew: | Rod and Mary Deyo |
27 June 2015
Yanmar engine repairs - Replacing the oil cooler
Before heading to Chula Vista where we left the boat for the summer, we spent a couple of days anchored in Glorietta Bay as a nice break after working on the boat. While inspecting the engine before leaving Shelter Cove Marian, I had noticed a slight seepage around the oil cooler raw water intake at [...]
23 June 2015
San Diego - Shelter Island, Glorietta Bay, Chula Vista
After finishing the Baja Bash, we stayed at Shelter Island to work on the boat and haul-out at Driscoll's. We made a coouple of trips to Glorietta Bay in Coronado for a total of five nights. Before we headed back to the NW, we took the boat to Chula Vista where it will be moored for the summer.
29 May 2015
Mazatlan to San Diego – Southern Crossing and Baja Bash 7 May – 26 May 2015
Mazatlan to San Diego - Southern Crossing and Baja Bash 7 May - 26 May 2015.
25 April 2015 | Mazatlan, Sinola, Mexico
Fixing a leaky hull seam in Mazatlan
Hull seam repairs on Northern Lights being done in Mazatlan, where the seam area forward of the keel was the source of the small, persistent mast step leak from flaws in the filler. The original seam filler is being ground out, the area dried, then it will be epoxied and covered with two layers of glass [...]
La Cruz to Mazatlan
We left Paradise Village Marina in Nuevo Vallarta for La Cruz de Huanacaxtle last Monday April 12 to get diesel fuel before heading north. We filled the 25 Gal auxiliary tank and the empty 20 liter Jerry can. Next morning w e left La Cruz to take a route east of the Islas Tres Marias. The original plan was to head directly to Los Muertos on the Baja Penisula, but with a conservative 5 kn SOG, we weren't sure we could get there before a possible norther developed, so we opted to head for Mazatlan instead. The northern never did fill in as far south as Los Muertos, but we're conservative and don't generally like racing gales into harbors (we did it a couple of times coming down the coast).
The overnight trip from La Cruz took about 30 hours at 6 kts, banging into moderate head seas and swells. Winds were generally light in the 8-14 knt range and right on the nose, so we powered the whole way. The conditions were roughest E of Isla Maria Madre and lightened up in the morning. Swells were 3 ft from the NW with a mixed southerly swell, especially as we got nearer Mazatlan.
We arrived at Isla Vanados and anchored east of it about 1150 to wait for the tide to change at 1330 so we could enter the marina channel on the rising tide. Not wanting to repeat the problem we had last time entering the Mazatlan Marinas channel we called both Marina El Cid and Marina Mazatlan asking about the dredge. El Cid said it wasn't working and Marina Mazatlan said it was, so I called the fleet on Ch 22A to verify it was not in operation that day.
We tied up by 1530 and relaxed.
Soon after conditions became rougher, a water appeared coming from the mast step limber holes. We kept a careful watch that the relatively small volume didn't significantly increase (it didn't) and since arriving in Mazatlan have contacted JBoats about the mast step construction. There was a concern there might be wood getting saturated and collapsing under the load. The J/42 mast set is aluminum and they hull under the step is solid glass. But we're hauling out on Monday at the Fonatur yard here and will do a careful inspection. The most likely cause is from draining the mast sump as well as water accumulated from the anchor locker drain leak that was fixed in La Cruz in January.
