Life Made Easier Through Technology ???

The battery changeover continued to be a puzzle for a couple of weeks. Yes, we were waiting for the Wakespeed terminator, but I wasn’t convinced that was the issue. There was a fellow boater here that was able to help me convert a Victron terminator into a Wakespeed one and we still had the issue. When we networked the Wakespeed units with the Victron ones we lost the communication from the Victron system. A few more days of head scratching and I finally found the issue. The crossover network cable was pinned wrong. This was a cable the professionals made. Using sewing pins clamped to my multimeter and a magnifying glass, I was able to see the pins in position 1 &3 instead of 1&2. This tiny little wire drove me crazy for 2 weeks. We were able to change the position of the wire and finally we have a system working as promised, at least while we are still tied to the dock. Looking forward to getting out there to really test it.

We had another interesting wiring issue one day. We both looked at each other as we smelt that burnt wiring smell. Its coming from under the aft cabin bed where all the new batteries and wiring are, what the hell! I lift the boards and smoke billowed out. We immediately shut off the power and I check all the wires, connections and batteries with an infra red heat gun, touch everything but nothing is hot. I can’t tell where the smoke came from. I mounted a smoke detector in the area and closed it back up. I figured it had to be something I had been working on as that was where the last changes took place. I had another look a couple of days later and out of the corner of my eye spotted the culprit. The Raymarine autopilot cable that has been there for 8 years is melted. Why now I have no idea? But the Raymarine backbone cable plug shorted out and cooked its socket and the one beside it.

We had to rent a car again to go back to the city, to the Raymarine dealer, as I wanted to get this fixed ASAP.

In the “it’s a small world department”, the gentleman we were dealing with for the Raymarine part lived in North Vancouver and went to the same college at the same time as Derick. He then went to UBC for electrical engineering before returning to Panama to work in the family business.

They say boat projects will take you twice and long and cost you twice as much as you expect. I have done my part to prove this correct. Apparently, I was overly optimistic believing I would have our boat projects completed in 4 weeks. It’s been 2 months now, but it looks like we are ready to go.

The Marina is close to full. Many people have gone home for the holidays but there are still a lot of us here. The restaurant put on a nice Christmas Eve dinner that was enjoyed by all who attended.

Since Christmas fell on a Wednesday, the usual potluck night, we had a special dinner. There is a core group of cruisers that have been here a long time, and led by Debi, they did an amazing job to coordinate and oversee a potluck Christmas dinner. $5 per person was enough to cover the cost of 4 large hams, 6 large chickens and the charcoal for the fire. A bunch of us volunteered for food prep or fire tending and every boat then brought a dish of food to share with the group. There were over 75 people, from young children to senior citizens and from all parts of the globe in attendance. It was a very memorable Christmas dinner.

What a difference a few months make. When we came home in May Panama was in the midst of a drought. Severe enough that they were limiting the number of ships and boats through the canal to conserve water. Currently there has been so much rain that the reservoirs are now full to the max and they have opened the spill gates on the Chagres River dam to relieve the pressure. It really knows how to rain here.

It looks like the boat is good to go. I know we are ready to get moving. Every country we visit has it’s own process for checking into and clearing out from. While each one is slightly different they are all guaranteed to include copious amounts of paper work and officials to visit. Today we checked out of Panama. This required a morning trip into Colon to the Capitan de Puerto (Port Captain) to clear the “boat” out of the country and get the resulting Zarpe. Upon arrival we are directed to a third floor office where we begin the paperwork. Ships registry, crew list, passports, entry documents from when we came into Panama and the Zarpe from Costa Rica were presented. Documents were filled in and we moved to the office net door to pay our $105.70 (exact change required) fee. With documents and receipt of payment in hand, we move down the hall to the third office where more paperwork ensues and our Zarpe is issued. Time elapsed 1 hour and ten minutes. Next stop Immigration, so the “people” can be cleared out of the country. Fortunately they have an office at the marina. Present copies of the Zarpe from Costa Rica, the Zarpe from Panama, passports, crew list and ship’s registry. No money requires and a quick 20 minutes later we are good to go.

There is a weather window tomorrow that should be good for our approximately 2-day passage to San Andres with our buddy boat Ramble on Rose. If all goes well, we will be celebrating the New Year in these Colombian Islands.