Chip & Debbie Willis on s\v Elegant'sea: 2024

Binical repair for rubbing linkage. 2024

We were getting ready to back out of our slip on April 21, 2024 (Sunday morning), warming up our Beta 38hp engine and I was turning the wheel. Debbie and I were hearing a clunking sound as we turned the wheel to port. That, we decided,,was not good and needed further investigation. So scrap plans for going cruising in the Sea of Cortez for a couple months or so and instead take apart the binnical for investigating the issue.

Come to find out it is part of the cable linkage on the shifter cable not clearing the chain that the wheel turns to steer the boat. The chain was clipping the cast arm that holds the cable.

In the dock cart.

Our Spectra watermaker Ventura 200T was giving us grief when Debbie unpicked it. We tried the tricks we knew but to no avail. It would cut out at 125 psi. Something was stuck. We took it to The Watermaker Store and had them repair it.

Today after finishing up a couple projects Debbie and I went to the Hotel Indigo @ Puerta Cortés Pool in La Paz (at our marina, Marina Costa Baja) and had Club sandwich, fries and Diet Cokes for lunch with some swims in the nice pool and card games. There also is a Starbuck's at the pool and we had vanilla cream frapachino. Not our first time at the pool it is always nice.

Our Seaward F600 hot water heater blew out and was leaking water badly. We installed it in 2012 so about 11 years old. It may have been leaking for some time as our freshwater pump seemed to be losing pressure at times and we never could figure out what the cause was.

Our new replacement Oceanair Surface Skyscreen SFSS-1080, 18-1/2''x18-1/2'" has arrived at our house sit in San Diego.

NoCry Professional Gel Knee Pads for Work with Soft Foam and Gel Cushion — Heavy Duty Cap, Adjustable Straps & Military Grade Rivets — Perfect Construction Knee Pads for Men or Knee Pads for Women

While in the US I purchased these knee pads to replace the ones i have as they do not slip and are nicer. Thess should work great up on deck and all around the boat.

Purchased from Amazon.

Purchased new SmartPlug for our shore power connection - 2024

Purchased a SmartPlug for our shore power needs. This setup will automatically shut the shore power off if the temperature gets to 200 f which is about where the wire insulation melts. That will prevent a fire.
We did have a problem with our shore power connection, and it almost caught fire. Luckly I was onboard and was able to unplug it but not before it sustained burn damage This was during a storm and the connection worked loose.
We will install this in the next couple months while we are at anchor and not using our shore power cable.

Also the plug at the end of the chord that goes into the dock box is a bit corroded so we will replace it with the new plug and watertight jacket.

Purchased this all from San Diego Marine Exchange.

Tested the Jabsco Hydro Air bilge pump sensor today - 2024

We have gotten our new Jabsco Hydro Air bilge pump sensor installed. This sensor will turn on our Whale Gulper bilge pump. It works on air pressure. When one inch of water gets in the bilge the Whale Gulper will go off. It is our everyday bilge pump. We ran a test today by putting the garden hose into the bilge and adding water. It seems it was more than an inch of water but not by much and it did start the Whale Gulper and shut it off when the water got low. So a good test! We also test the other bilge pumps and alarm and all are working fine!

Debbie putting together the bracket that holds the cable away from the alternator belt. In hindsight I should have just loosened the bracket and slid the cable in and then put the linkage on. The nut on the bracket was hard to get back on.

We painted out the engine space with Bilgekote Enamel paint. It looks good and makes it easy to spot leaks and other item hopefully before they get to emergencies.

We have gotten our new Jabsco Hydro Air bilge pump sensor installed. This sensor was recommended by Curt and Jill on s/v Namahana. It works on air pressure. When one inch of water gets in the bilge the Whale Gulper will go off. It is our everyday bilge pump.

Today we commissioned Chava to do some varnishing for us. That's right - I am passing on the varnishing brush. Mow that we are in La Paz as a home port it is time to let most of the varnishing go.

Debbie removing poo filter.

The adjustment to the Marina life has been let's say, somewhat different. Normally we would be at anchor now somewhere on the Mexican Riviera.

We were just saying we can't remember when the Whale Gusher MKIII Cabinet-Mount Galley Foot Pump freshwater foot pump started to leak, rendering it unusable as we replaced it today with a new one, we brought down from the States. Since we were working on getting the PSS Shaft Seal vent hose out of the way of the shifter cable, we thought it was a good time to get the pump switched out.

We are replacing old shifter cable with this new Dometic Extreme

CCX66320 ASM 3300 blk 88499 shifter cable.

This is at the transmission. The cable going from our Yacht Specialties binnacle to our Techodrive TMC 60M transmission which is attached to our Beta 38 hp diesel motor needs replacing. It is really rusty where it is connected to the tranny and also has some slices in it by the shaft which are rusty.

Ok we were in the process of adding a new bilge pump sensor when we discovered our PSS shaft seal had spun where the vent hose is. It broke the hose barb on the PSS shaft seal also and the hose clamp.

It is that time again. It is actually past that time because of my health reasons set us back from some of these things. A bit of varnish started peeling and I had to remove it. Some places some water got under a bit of it. I did sand it out and got a coat of Epifanes Clear on and it looks ok.

It was past time to put a coat of Teak Wonder on out teak cockpit grate. We also do our fold down stern steps and three steps into the boat but those we do separately. Looks good and keeps the teak in nice shape.

We purchased a Moeller marine fuel tank for our Honda 9.9 outboard. It is 3 gallons or 11 liters. We purchased it from Lopez Marine chandlery here in La Paz. Our old tank we repaired once a few years back by melting it together and adding some plastic.

Yes, we had a water leak and about a third of the glass was slightly lifting out of the Bomar - Pompanettellc Hatch frame. That's how we found the leaks. We were cleaning the inside of the stateroom hatch and noticed the glass lifting.

Since it was a warm afternoon, we decided to go to the beach at Playa El Coromuel. We were joined by Nicole and Marc from s/v Carefree and their friend Andy who is visiting from British Columbia. It sure was a beautiful day! And the Sea called for everyone to go in the water to cool off. Debbie and I had a little lunch followed by an interesting game of Mexican Train Dominoes 🚂. It was Andy's first time playing! What made it interesting was that each hand was very long, with the boneyard running out just about each time.

We got a response from Teofilo who was out in the La Paz anchorage. We meet him at Marina La Paz and picked up the stanchion fair lead for some coconuts less, than new price for a used one. Now we have the racks job all done!

Kiting at La Ventana Mexico - 2024

We have some Marina neighbors - Nicole and Marc on s/v Carefree - who are kiters, and they took us with them on Thursday to La Ventana as the conditions were supposed to be very good. And they were!

Us.

We had a lot of fun at the Club Cruceros Beach Party this past Sunday, held at the La Costa Restaurant. I had lasagna for lunch and Debbie had a veggie omelette. We had joined this club a while back to keep up with what's happing around La Paz/

We put on our second set of Magma sup/kayak racks. But...the stanchion fair lead block for the jib furler line would not work with one rack. After trying some different workarounds, we needed to take the block off the stanchion.

Pumping up our new Taylor Made Tuff End ball fenders using our DeWalt 6-gal pancake air compressor. I use the compressor for cleaning the bottom with a regulator, that's why we have one It was not as easy as you might think.

New Wave Swim Bubble for Open Water Swimmers and Triathletes - Be Bright, Be Seen & Be Safer with New Wave While Swimming Outdoors with This Safety Swim...
We purchased these for our snorkeling. You can hold onto them for resting and they show your location for jet ski, boats etc. I got Orange and Debbie got pink.

Water Flow Meter for Garden Hose and RV | Measure Gallons or Liters to Monitor Water Usage | Water Meter Fits Standard 3/4-inch Outdoor Garden Hose for Watering Lawn or Filling RV Tank. Purchased from Amazon.

OutdoorMaster 20PSI High Pressure SUP Air Pump The Shark - Intelligent Dual Stage Inflation & Auto-Off Feature, Deflation Function, 12V DC Car Connector, for Inflatable Stand Up Paddle Boards, Boats.

Magma Products, R10-626 Storage Rack Kayak/SUP Boat Mounted, Polished Stainless Steel
Purchased from Amazon.

Z&J SPORT Paddle Bag for SUP Paddle Blade, Outrigger Canoe Paddle Blade Cover.

The blade cover we have now I found, and it is falling apart. When not using the paddleboard (at the dock we cannot use it) I break down the paddle and store it in its bag. While at anchor though I leave it on the side of the Bimini and like to keep the blade covered. It is rather thin, so it can chip etc and the sun can eat it up after time. It is a nice carbon fiber paddle.

Amarine Made FireHose Bulk Jacket,Chafe Guards Provides Effective Chafe Protection Fit Lines up to 1" (10 feet)
This we need for our new fender lines and other dock line etc.
Purchased from Amazon.
January 2024 - ⛵ Chip & Debbie 💑 Currently in Marina Costa Baja in La Paz, Mexico
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Purchased a couple padlocks - 2024

Master Lock Set Your Own Combination Padlock, 1 Pack, Color May Vary 1523D

Ours are white and green. They are for the dock box and the extra dock box we are using as the owner of is not using it. They are not waterproof but will work fine and are udder the overhang of the dox box lid.

Taylor Made 15" Tuff End Inflatable Vinyl Buoy - White

We just ordered 3 Taylor ball fenders of 15" and one 12" from Hodges Marine. We will pick them up in the US as we will be there for a week. Also we ordered 3 Aire 10x26 neoprene fender covers for the three inflatable fenders that we have without covers. We have one with a cover and we like it so we got three more.

These are not pictures of our boat. One is from our boat.

Another Islander Freeport 36 came into Marina Costa Baja here in La Paz, Mexico and so of course I had to check it out - s/v Fair Lady (as pictured).

It was a couple of day project. Day 1 had Debbie going into the lazarette to inspect the NMEA 2000 network and to discover the reason for the replacement Vesper XB 8000 AIS unit not working. Lo and behold, she discovered that the unit cable was not reattached to the network.

We enjoyed our first time in the waters of the Sea of Cortez! We went to Playa El Coromuel with Marc and Nicole on s/v Carefree for an afternoon of lunch and Mexican Train Dominoes play. We had a table with umbrella right on the sand near the water. After we finished eating and playing, we walked into the Sea. Were we surprised how cold the water was!! Air temp was really nice, in the low 80's.

Today we did another two-and-a-half-mile walk. Seems 2.5-3 miles is our average now with longer walks scattered in. We usually do a beach walk on one of the beaches by our Marina then up the golf course on one of several different routes. It has nice views, and is peaceful (no noise on the links after all). Then we stopped at the DoceCuarenta coffee shop at our Marina.

We went to the Allende Bookstore in La Paz and picked up a PRO Paramedicos 🚑 short sleeve T-shirt. The proceeds go to the volunteer ambulance service here in Baja California Sur (BCS). They have long sleeve t-shirts and sweatshirts also and other short sleeve ones with couple different designs. Now we also know were to drop off donated medical supplies! ⛑💊💉🚑
December 2023 - Chip & Debbie 💑 Currently in Marina Costa Baja in La Paz, Mexico
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