Back on the Boat

In El Salvador

June 2005

Friday, June 10, 2005

We have been back from Guatemala for over a week and have made three trips into San Salvador for Genset repair.  Last Thursday, we ran the small Kubota genset to charge up the batteries and about 20 minutes into the run the exhaust elbow broke, sending a shower of exhaust and salt water into the engine room.  Later in the day Bill started the removal process, but all the nuts attaching it to the engine head were very stuck and would not come off.  The next day Bill removed the entire head and still could not remove the bolts, so the entire piece was taken into a shop in San Salvador along with the axle for the bow anchor roller (another project!).  We needed a slightly longer bow roller axle made due to the spreading of the bow roller upon the first night-collision which Lanikai had late last summer.  We deposited all the parts at our favorite machine shop on Friday late morning and they said that all would be ready on Monday late morning. 

So, Monday after a leisurely breakfast on the boat we headed into town.  The axle was ready but they were not happy with their first attempt at repair of the exhaust elbow.  It would be ready by Wednesday.  We returned to the city for the part on Thursday, yesterday.  It was not ready in the early morning when we arrived but should be ready by 11.  We went off for breakfast and a visit with Amanda and Roberto returning to the shop about 11:30.  It still was not ready and Bill waited in the shop for about 30 minutes.  When the workers all took off for lunch we too took off.  We were to return at 2:30.  We went up to restaurant "Casa de las Piedras" overlooking the city and enjoyed a leisurely lunch, then drove back into town along a different route passing the zoo and then getting lost, being forced to go the opposite direction down the street that we wanted to be on.  Finally we found a turn-around spot and retraced our steps, returning to the shop after 3pm.  The part was ready but was still not quite right.  Bill waited while they re- welded the hose connection to be pointing up instead of down.  We then made a fast trip back to the boat arriving just before 5PM, too tired to even jump in the pool.  We did spend some time visiting with our friends while sipping lemonade before jumping into our dinghy to finish the trip back to Lanikai. 

Wednesday, Amanda and Roberto (along with a group of their friends from Miami, FL) were at the rancho and Amanda invited us to join them.  We had a relaxing day visiting in two languages and made a late afternoon trip with them to swim at the Tasajera side of the Bocana. 

Monday, June 13, 2005

Yesterday was Bill’s Birthday and we started the day with the breakfast buffet at the Hotel.  After a long relaxing breakfast we dinghied over to the rancho to see if Amanda and Roberto were planning on arriving later in the day.  When we arrived Roberto and a small group of friends had already arrived.  We spent the rest of the morning and into the afternoon visiting with Roberto and Juan.  At 2PM we headed over to the Hotel again as the Cruiser Variety Show was planned for a 3 o’clock start, with dinner at 5.  The cruiser’s presentations were real nice.  There are some great musicians among the fleet and one of the ex-teachers helped the children to develop several short skits that were lots of fun to watch.  There are about 8 children living on cruising boats here in the anchorage now. 

Over Friday and Saturday morning Bill got the Kubota genset back together and ran it to top off the batteries Saturday morning.  Of course it did not go back together as easily as it had come apart, but with some backtracking he got all the pieces back in place and got it running.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Much time has passed and we have been busy with more small repair projects, keeping cool and as dry as possible.  We have had rain most nights, sometimes almost arriving in the morning and we continue to use the pool for cooling down in the late afternoons.  Sunday while Bill stayed on the boat with a cold, I went to the local water park with the folks from Desiderata and Soy Libre.  We had a great time sliding down the many water slides, spending almost 5 hours and returning to Bahía totally exhausted from so much stair climbing.  Among our group were three children which made for a busy and fun time. 

Last night the cruisers had movie night at the hotel and we watched the first two Star Wars episodes in an air conditioned room.  Toward the end of the first movie we got a BIG rain storm with lightening.  The rain lasted until after the second movie finished so we had a wet ride back to Lanikai.  We managed to collect no water as our water catching bucket had blown away from the drip-point just as the storm started, but at least the boat stayed dry since we had closed up before leaving for the hotel.

Saturday, June 25, 2005

The last two days Bill has been busy helping Murray with moving boats around.  Murray had workers out for two days digging the channel to his lift deeper.  Thursday with the high tide Avante - a fairly deep draft boat - was launched but it took much effort and two dinghies to get it out the channel and anchored in the estero; it had jumped out of the deepest channel as it was transiting the mud flats.  Yesterday, again with the high tide, Bill helped Murray move a large catamaran into his dock.  They had a little excitement when the outboard on the dinghy that Murray was driving quit.  Colette and I took the panga out to help out, with its semi-working engine. 

Yesterday we took the car into Zacate and got the exhaust system repaired.  It has only been bad since we arrived last August with the noise getting louder and louder.  It turned out to be just one of the exhaust pipes was worn out.  A new pipe was bent and installed in about 30 minutes.  Now the car is quiet again! 

This morning Bill readjusted the valves on the Kubota as the last couple times we used it, it was rough starting. Today, after the new adjustments, it started easily and it ran much smoother.

Monday we are off to Oregon and Montana on an early flight out of El Salvador ,so tomorrow we plan to close up Lanikai and spend the night in the hotel.