Noe Mar, 2010 March

Candy insisted on taking a picture of me with the Noe Mar this time...so as all can see, she (the Noe Mar) is in good shape, the Skipper could use a little more muscle but all in all, she and he are ready to sail. Unfortunately the First Mate really would prefer to rest ashore and have me take her out with a crew.

Fortunately, one of my old crew is contemplating a sail in the Sea of Cortez for a week or so...now if all goes well and I play my cards right, I will convince them to take a month sabbatical and sail with me to Hawaii within the next year or so. Then we will have some real posts. Cheers all...tell next time

Skipper of the Noe Mar..............Ken

Tinker 2010

Here is Candy at the bow of the Tinker (seen elsewhere on this blog)we are under power. Well, if you can call a 3.3 HP Merc engine, power. I learned the hard way several things when leaving an engine for a long period of time. 1) remove the spark plug and spray in a marine grade lubricant. 2) run it out of gasoline/mix when leaving it. and now 3) if it won't start, loosen the fuel line to the float bowl, and spray in carb cleaner. These things work...the engine runs great, but do not over rev her, or you will rebuild it. The shop in San Carlos that rebuilt it called her a "Barbie" engine. :-)

As you can see, yours truly was at the helm of this small craft. The Tinker is an amazing inflatable...she sails, she rows, she motors and she is even a life raft...that and the CO2 inflatable life cushions in the Noe Mar make her very ocean safe.

La Paz car show

The car with it's owner (yes, he spoke English) is an MG Magnet, 1500cc and immaculate original paint. The upholstery is new and the dash is custom made in La Paz of wood. What a beauty.

The Maverick (yes, a Ford Maverick)is a Boss 302...all original and a top notch paint job. My Dad had a Maverick, to bad it wasn't a Boss 302 painted orange.

The Baja rig was the first to be displayed in the show, but it was really outdone by the older pickups and even a VW Karmen Ghia in orange. Nice show...all across from the Malecon. Great evning.

La Paz and Candy 2010

As always, when we go to La Paz and the Noe Mar, there is a street vendor on the Malecon that is selling Red Roses...and in this case a red rose and a few daises. Since Candy is frequently on my laptop (hey, notice the New Gateway NV) I took this picture of her in our deluxe vase...right on, we do recycle.

La Paz and the Malecon

La Paz has this great Malecon, which we walk every evening when we are in Port. Seems most of La Paz does the same thing. As previous posts have shown, there are lots of bronze statues and palm trees. We noticed a few years ago that they had added clever recycling bins on the Malecon...Organico...Inorganico. Well, Candy insisted on a picture of me between them...seems I have lost some wt. since the Hosp stay, but hey, the picture is of the recycling bins, not me. OK?

During our walks, we encounter various art fairs, music and dancing performances...especially on the week-end. Here is Candy with a local artist (I will find his name) that air brushes batiks of animals, esp African ones. I bought her one that is of a leopard...well half a leopard with this eye that won't quit. It will hang in our hall going downstairs.

The occasion for the artists being in this mall was a show given by one of the musica eschola...loved their music, but sadly there were no CD's available, and my espanol is so bad, I gave up trying to find if there ever was one. I didn't get a picture of them, but the next day I did get a small picture of the local belly dancer's school. Sorry about my use of "blogger", it seems to post pictures at the beginning of a new blog...so I need to study that procedure.

What for the next few pictures and blog... Mediterranean restaurant, car show, and Candy.

Thanks for looking at what I do and the Noe Mar.

Aqua Air generator, 2010

Some time ago, I purchased a thin layer film solar panel to go with my existing Crystal solar panel, but I never was sure that I would have enough juice to run all of the electronics and fridge (cool blue) that I have on the boat, that and the running lights. So, I did some research and came up with Aqua Air from the UK. A tried and true generator, that can be used as a wind generator when anchored (remember the Noe Mar is a Seagoer Yawl and has no room for a normal wind generator...and the mizzen mast is taken up with a radar dome).

The aqua part of this generator uses a small blade on a shaft, similar to a taft knot log of the old days, only larger, and the same principle. The blade twists a line that is attached to the center of the generator and creates electricity while you are sailing...even directly down wind. I queried a couple that used it for years on their sailing journey and the say it never slowed their boat down even a 1/4 of a knot...not that they could discern. After building a new stern rail, I mounted the generator, ready to be used on distant cruising. Next I had to mount the controller to prevent the batteries from being over charged. I also have a controller for the solar panels. Anyway, here is the picture of the small electronic controller that I mounted under the deck and down to the house battery system. More fun, tight quarters...but it is done. Now I only need to test the system. Anyone up to sailing with me to Hawaii next spring? We could test it, as soon as we clear the cape or cabo (espanol) and head into the trade winds.

March 2010

We arrived to the Noe Mar on March 17th, opened up the dusty hatch, took out the diesel jerry cans, and the outboard motor. Now we can safely enter the cabin and store our belongings. OK, so let's get out the hose and wash her down (the Noe Mar, not my wife Candy...besides she would've really hosed me off if I even tried).

That was good, as Candy is putting things in order, I decide to fire up the Iron Genny...and so I did. The volvo hummed and ran nicely...then I picked up the rpm...OUCH! I couldn't get it to 1500 rpm. I shut it down, popped open the motor hatch, and looked inside. Looked OK, so I had Candy move the throttle lever ... all OK there, then I noticed that the original air intake on the Volvo Penta engine, was deteriorating. I unfastened the air intake pipe and sure enough the original air cleaner had disintegrated. I took the spring and foam off in the garbage container on my work bench (Yes, I have one, albeit small). I fired the engine up...and hooray she ran fine, so I ran it for a few minutes, to be sure that any foam that was sucked up into the engine was totally consumed.

I went to the local chandelier, Sea Mar, and no such luck, but they drew me a map on how to get to the Auto Zone store. Well, Candy and I walked for about 3-4miles and asked a lot of directions from helpful locals here in La Paz and finally found it. The clerk had lived in Kansas for many years (did he know Dorothy?) but came back to his home town, La Paz and now has a job. He was very helpful and the above picture is what we came up with. There is a hard plastic insert that is over the intake pipe (rubber with a steel insert inside it) and the filter is clamped onto that piece. The hard plastic is jammed down over the hose and fits tight over the steel insert. However, a "wee" bit O' duct tape...orange one is heavier than the standard grey...and she purrs like a kitten. Job done.

You will notice that after I hook up my new Gateway laptop (I have 3 of them now, two will remain on the Noe Mar) and picked up the rose I always get, she is content and happy...Candy that is...not sure about the Noe Mar, since she is still at the dock.