Chip & Debbie Willis on s\v Elegant'sea

Spectra Ventura Watermaker rebuild first take apart - 2021

Taking the Spectra Ventura Watermaker 200T Deluxe apart to take out of the boat and then fit in suit case.

A cover for our electrical cabinet inside our lazarett - 2021

Another long time coming project done. This is a cover for our electrical cabinet inside our 1978 Islander Freeport lazarett. We have not found it necessary to open this lazarett in a rainstorm but never say never.

Banderas Bay  here in Puerto Vallarta) has never had a direct hit by a hurricane! There has never been any major damage to boats by a hurricane. None ever knocked over on jack stands etc. In the nine years we have been around the Mexican Reverie we have only seen one tidal surge and some rain from one hurricane. No winds. We are glad we are here!

Engine through hull valve handle moved - 2021

New handle placement.

Just a small thing but it makes life easier and because it was a small thing took me like year to get it done! It is nicer now for the four times a year or so we use it.

Standing rigging-forward stays - 2021

The standing rigging on our 36' Islander Freeport we are starting to replace. The first two stays to get replaced will be our forward lower stays

We used the c.s. osborne sewing awl to sew the straps on boat cover - 2021

There are lots of straps on our boat cover and some are real long because it was made for us to customize if we like. Some just leave them however we do not just put on the cover (or have it put on) an fly away.

Our Delta, Touch Control faucet quit working on touch - 2021

Our Delta, Addison Series, Touch Control-Pull down kitchen faucet (Down We chose a Stainless Steel Finish) has not been working properly. We have been using this for 10 years and it has been great. After some time recently the flow has slowed. It did work great when we installed it. We tried taking it part for cleaning rtc but it did not help.

6 years ago Debbie sat inside the lazerett and tested our Garmin under-deck autopilot drive A unit with a multimeter. The rudder sensor went out on us as we were leaving Acapulco this last season. The rudder sensor, as it turns out, is dead. Now for the warranty replacement issues ect.

Debbie put some Sunbrella  backing on the male stainless steel dot fasteners so they would not mark up the mast. I can get the mars off but we did not want the marks to get worse. This modification Debbie did to the front of the sail cover makes using our whisker pole much easier. We use it as a whisker pole to pole out the jib when we have the genoa as a jib and for our flopper stopper at anchor.

The Puerto Vallarta machine shop for buffing and welding - 2021

This is the machine shop we go to in Puerto Vallarta. Not much to look at compared to some of the shops these guys have worked at but they now are working for themselves. Have been for a couple years now.

Sail washing and storage for Summer of - 2021

Sail washing. It is later than usual this year. Normally we have these stored away by now but Eddie was on a boat delivery and then there was a rain delay.

Yes the mall at Paridise Village Marina, back to normal but for wearing masks. Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Subway, Chinese, and lots of other eateries and stores and a huge "Hawaii in Melaque " type store (imported goods at very high prices).

Debbie made one of two dorade covers - 2021

Debbie finished making one of two dorade covers. Because the window AC unit that sits on the hatch blows the used air out over the dorade the dorade last season got really dirty. It was hard to get it clean. This Summer we will have covers for them so they will stay nice. The cover has a bungee in it like which covers so it will not blow off.

This is Enrique and I 6 years ago at the weld shop in Puerto Vallarta. This shop has a bunch of local guys that have known each other for many years. They worked together at a couple different shops and a couple years ago went out on their own.

These look very tempting. The Heil headsets with microphone.

Heil iC electret element products designed to work specifically with ICOM radios.

Current Models: BM-10 iC, BM-17 iC, Pro Micro iC,
Pro7 iC, Pro Set iC, Pro Set Elite iC

Summer sail fixes\stitching and rigging - 2021

Jason and Andre from Argus Marine came by and helped with our sail issues. First we have been having problems with our topping lift catching on our battens (full batten man).

Garman 18 HD radar dome not working - 2021

The Garmin GMR 18 HD Radar. dome is out. It stopped working about two seasons ago. We got errors of 2, 5, and 6. It did work on and off for almost a season. But more off than on. Then last season it just quit working.

New spreader lights for under radar dome - 2021

We are installing new spreader lights, well under the radar dome - lights to illuminate the deck area. One for forward and one for the mast area.

Removing swivel from Mantus Chain hook and bridle system - 2021

The cruising season before this year I added a swivel to the Mantus anchor bridal. The thinking was the two lines on the swivel would not get wrapped around the chain. The thinking was wrong because it still happened. This cruising season I put the Mantus Chain hook and bridle system on a different way. I flipped it around and put it on the chain to the lines were on top of the chain. Hard to explain. Any way no lines rapping around the chain. So I am removing the swivel and will se what happens next season.

New Beta 38 hp fresh water pump installed old one still good - 2021

In 2020 Debbie painted up our new Beta 38 hp fresh water pump. We thought we may need a new one as our original one showed signs that it was or could leak. That did not turn out to be the case though. This year we had Luis our mechanic install that new one. He said the old one was not leaking but replaced it anyway. So now we have a backup.