Moving Along
27 July 2021 | Pension Tiare Nui
William Ennis | Cloudy and rainy
We're making progress other than ONE tiny issue: our new B&G wireless wind sensor.
We've been without a wind measuring device for 5 years, since our Raymarine wind system failed. Since then, we've been sailing like in the days of yore...when the wind is too strong, we reef the sails. Yes, it works, but we miss a lot of choices without data. In addition, our new B&G instruments can provide a lot more sailing information should we ever have a working wind sensor. Sigh.
The device is BlueTooth, so I didn't have to pull cable down the mast to provide a connection between the sensor on the masthead and the "puck" in the cockpit. BlueTooth requires a process called, "pairing" which establishes that communication, and our sensor and puck don't communicate. We have scrupulously followed the brief directions, but no go. I contacted B&G last Thursday and have heard nothing since. That's poor service, we think.
Yesterday, it was extremely hot and once again, I had serious issues with it. Back in Mexico, I had heat stroke (unconsciousness, convulsions), and my reading indicates that I'm more at risk, so I am extremely careful, but that care means that when I start feeling vertigo and such, I get out of the sun and drink water. That's fine for me, but it leaves Conni with the remaining task, and so it was yesterday. I was able to help with installing the main for a few hours, but then had to head below.
Today, we got the jib installed. Conni got a thousand more tasks done and I worked most of the day on the fuel system. I think that I've finally determined the reason for our perpetual fuel leaks, and the solution, while not pretty, does seem sound and I think that we've got that finished. We also peered into the starboard fuel tank and evaluated the condition and volume of the fuel. The diesel looks fine, thankfully, and our rudimentary measuring system coincided with our fuel log for the amount of fuel we should have in the tank. You'll love this system: There is a metal rod screwed into the metal plate that covers a clean-out hole in the top of our fuel tank. Our system is to dip the rod into the fuel, then quickly lay the rod onto a paper towel since it's bloody impossible to determine where the fuel line is on the rod. We measure the length of the wet spot and compare that to a graph that I made years ago. We filled each fuel tank and at 5-gallon increments, I measured the length of wet rod and logged that length with the exact amount of fuel that had been added. I graphed that data, extracted an equation for the curve, and then graphed the equation. With that graph, we can use the fuel measurement to ascertain the amount of fuel in the tank. We're usually within a few gallons. This time, as mentioned, our measurement was quite close to what we had in the tank.
So, onward we go. We've heard from our nephew, Ian, and he's anxious to join us. We're still planning on heading east after a few days in a shakedown. We're headed for Apataki, we think, and excited since we've never visited that island in the Tuamotus.
Wish us luck.