It's a good day in Bora!

July 16, 2015, 1730
On mooring off Bloody Mary's

Aloha Everybody, another interesting day, but I best start with yesterday. As I said yesterday, it was wet and rainy, and it remained so for the whole day, as well as windy. We decided it was a good day for reading and projects. I started the process of removing the windlass, thinking that I could do it in stages should the weather improve. Well, it didn't so we ended up with the windlass on the dinette table. We were hoping we could take it apart and find a busted roll pin, put it back together and be down with it. However, that was not the case, we had to take more and more parts off and finally got into gear box where grease started to pour out. I noticed that the worm gear seemed loose, and could see a spot where a pin probably should go, but still something didn't seem right. We finally realized that the the armature, coming out of the motor, had fractured at the point where a pin would go. Due to all the grease, hard to diagnose beyond that, but I expect that after some 27 years, some crevice corrosion started, and this is the end result. That took care of that problem, not fixable, no more problem. Even if part were available, can't imagine taking it apart again on the boat. Luckily, we have found there to be many more moorings than before, so if we can find moorings or shallow water, things will be easy. By the time we got things put back together and cleaned up, the day had gone by. A little reading, some great salmon pasta, some doubles cribbage(yup, K and I skunked them, good going honey!), some video, it was time for bed. It was blowing about 20 kts, and our anchorage was a bit bouncy due to the fetch. On deck noticed that the dinghy line had chafed thru, but still held due to lock and cable. We replaced that and decided to add one more line to mooring. A bit of a challenge due to the waves. I was in the dinghy trying to place additional line on mooring and the anchor was just above my head. With the way the dinghy was bouncing, it gave me some concern, and I did bang it once, but not the pointy end. We all slept pretty well, despite the bouncing around.
This morning, it was still quite windy, but not rainy. Decided it was time to look at watermaker with my friend. I figured this project couldn't take more than an hour and then we would take dinghy to shore. I cleaned out lazerrette so we could access watermaker and fill up dinghy with fuel. When I went to turn it on, nothing happened. Previously, the motor would work, but not produce. AND THEN IT DAWNED ON ME, I have had a lot of small frustrating problems with things not working, and they were all on the same row on my breaker panel. MAYBE that is why watermaker, sailing instruments, GPS, wash down pump, SSB, were only working intermittently , or not at all. Sure enough, we found that the feed wire to that row was loose. It seems that everything is working now, including watermaker. Randy, that incessant alarm on the GPS won't come on anymore! What a relief! So to sum up our problems, batteries seem to be doing fine. I have a meter that says otherwise, but solar and wind generator are not wired thru that, so I don't get a true reading. When we are anchored some place exposed to the wind, the wind generator keeps the battery voltage up just fine. Our Port water tank may, or may not have a leak, but the new tank level gauge on that side is not reliable. We have been using the port tank for past 7 days, with four people. Seems to be not a problem, especially now that watermaker is back on line. We have a new autopilot remote coming in via Randy, we have new cockpit speakers installed. We are looking good! What a relief.
After putting things back together, we took dingy to dock. It was a bit windy and rough, but no big problem. We walked down to Bora Bora Yacht club and had a pleasant lunch. We then did some grocery shopping and got back to boat. Even that was a bit of challenge as the dinghys were really bounciing around and one of them had been holed. Anyway, we dropped our mooring and powered up to Bloody Mary's. It was slow going due to 20 kts on the nose, but no problem. The Paul Gaugain cruise ship was anchored in the lagoon, and it was fun to get a good look at it. We are now up at Bloody Mary's, very quiet despite the breeze, listening to Jimmy and having a cocktail. We are looking forward to a nice dinner and a quiet sleep. All for now, Aloha, David and Karin
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