With a great weather forecast for ESE winds, we left Grenada on Dec 24th heading for Bequia with a planned stop on Union Island in Chatham Bay. The sail north was fantastic, and like always, we bashed thru the currents and waves at the north end of Grenada. This being our second run past here, we are learning how the winds and currents accelerate at the north ends or south ends of the Caribbean Islands. The winds are compressed and bent around the islands and then accelerate as they compress to make it up or down and around the end of the islands. It can be 30% more wind as you come out from behind the islands, so we always have a double reef in the mainsail.
Sailing north from Grenada to Union Island Dec 24, 2019, double reefed mainsail and a full 110 jib.
Caribbean Sailing is fantastic.
Island Packets love 20-25 knots of wind and they really like this on the beam or downwind. On this leg, since we are in the Windward Islands, our sailing course is north or south on an east wind! That means beam reaching or close reaching and the sailing is great. Here are some sailing photos, please enjoy.
GoPro lens was dirty, but I love to take photos of Radeen sailing, she likes to sailDay one of sailing, you can see my jib halyard is not hauled up tight enough, we are still rigging the boat. Sailing was still greatGoPro shot looking at the entire sail setFishing rod and cedar plug deployed, but no fish for these first two days.Aggressive sailing for our first day, we are out of shape and we bounced around and tried not to get hurt.Selfie of Hayden while sailing under wind vane autopilot steeringThis is max speed, hull speed, for an Island Packet 35! WOW, looking goooooood
Rainbow, our first for this 2019-2020 season
It rains nearly every day for 5-15 minutes and that presents a rainbow as well. Here is a photo enhanced rainbow as seen on our first sail of the season. What a joy, this was actually a full rainbow, but my panoramic did not work out, so here is the closest end of the rainbow
Rainbow as we sail north out of Grenada heading for Union Island
On anchor off Union Island, Chatham Bay
Union Island, Chatham Bay was a great place to drop the anchor close and off the beach. We immediately jumped in for a Christmas Eve snorkel and swim along the reef. We saw our first “Snake Eel” and a moray eel along with many colorful fish. Welcome to the Caribbean where the water is about 78 degrees and when you jump in, you try to decide if it is cold or not. 🙂 The next day, Christmas Morning, we up anchored and headed out for more sailing to Bequia. Our first Christmas Day Sail.
Sunrise as we sailed out of Union heading for Bequia
Sailing Christmas Day
What an unusual way to spend Christmas Day. Sailing! Our destination being Bequia where we arrived around 1100 with time to check in with customs and immigration. After checking in, we were off to the FIG TREE where the cruisers were having a pot luck gathering. Everyone brought a dish to share and your own meat to grill. Our hosts had the grills running and all the tables set up and we brought in our filet mignon and homemade iced pumpkin bars to share.
Sailing for Bequia, Christmas DayWe are making great speedTime to check into the country
Thank you John and Darcy and Lafayette
The Fig Tree has become the cruisers place to hang out because the owners, Sheryl and Lafayette, have made it so inviting to the boaters. This mother-daughter team opens their space for cruisers to come in and hang out for Christmas Day. Boat Buddies, John and Darcy, who got marrids here on Bequia, hosted and organized the pot luck. Tons of work for 80 cruisers to all have a place to sit and to have a buffet table and to share. What a great Christmas Day with everyone. We really enjoyed this.
My first Bequia Selfie with JOHN and DARCY, our cruising hosts for the event.Our Filet Mignon with shrimp, veggies and couscous from the buffetSheryl, the owner of the FIG TREE and our gracious Bequia Host, with John and Darcy in the background. Thank you all!The Fig Tree is large with seating for maybe 100. It has a popular bar and cafe and fun vibe.
Fun times on Bequia
We have now been here 5 days and we are really enjoying this island. Bequia has been a cruising favorite of ours since out first stop here in 1992. That was on a charter boat and like all charter boats, you only stay one day at a place because you only have one week and you want to see it all, so you move, move, move. Its so different cruising on your own boat. No schedule, no timeframe, so we can stay as long as we like an any location. That is what is so wonderful about cruising. So, we are hiking, walking, swimming, snorkeling the reef and visiting. Welcome to the simple peaceful life.
The Gingerbread House coffee shop on the beach at the dinghy dock, love itIt took two days, four different attempts and some extra cash for clearing in on a holiday but we finally got checked into the country.To our starboard, we have the coral reef where we snorkel with tropical fishTo our port bow are palm trees and the dinghy docksOut for excellent steel pan music at the Fig Tree
Up Next, Hiking…
We will write next about our wonderful three days of hiking Bequia where we have seen some amazing views. Thanks to our buddies on IP38 DreamCatcher, Dean and Kim, for organizing the hike. Here are a few teaser photos…..
Overlook back into our harbor, where Island Spirit is in the left valleyThere we are, the tan colored boat, the closest bat and one of the smallest in the harbor 🙂
Thank you all for following along. Radeen and I really enjoy sharing our sailing wit you. Your comments are emailed directly to us and we try to respond to them all. Thank you!
Living here at the Port Louis Marina docks is an easy life, but we came down here to go sailing, and sailing we will go on Dec 24 and Dec 25. Looks like we will have dream sailing conditions, SE winds from 110 degrees at 15-20 knots, calm seas, 5-7 feet seas. For the Caribbean Sea in the winter, this is as good as it can get. What a Christmas Day sailing adventure it will be. How lucky are we? For now, we are living well here at the dock as we provision the boat, and check each system and prepare. Here we are with our full sunshade up and our side shade drops blocking the hot sun. This really helps to cool the boat.
Sunshades are up on Island Spirit here at Port Louis Marina, St. George’s Grenada
Living on the boat
Living on the boat is similar to living on land in a house. You need to go for groceries and you need to plan and prepare cooking meals. etc. Well, going for groceries from a boat usually requires taking the dinghy to the dock and walking to the store, then walking back to the dinghy to load the groceries and moving to the boat and then climbing onto the boat to lift up the groceries. Below deck its time to find places to stow all these items. Some items need refrigeration, some need to be frozen, some need to be stored in lockers.
We had help with some provisioning by using the services of John Hovan of Fast Manicou. John is an ex-pat who takes orders for canned food, beer, wine, frozen foods, propane, scuba tanks, etc and cheerfully delivers on a weekly schedule to all the southern bays on Grenada. Radeen is so good at managing our provisions and stowing all of this. It takes time and it takes a plan,and she knows exactly how to do it all. Plus, she knows how to cook great meals on our boat! Lucky us!
Happy Radeen loading provisions into the dinghy to take back to the boat.Our current favorite breakfast is this particular brand of boxed milk, which is the best we have ever tried, and high protein weetabix.Heading out to and from the grocery store on the Carenage,, Grenada
Cooking a great meal
Radeen has been making great, healthy meals on Island Spirit for over 18 years! I built her a web site where she adds her recipes for cooking on a boat. These are mostly her own recipes, but we invite others to login and add meals they make on their boats. Check out Radeen’s recipe site here: http;//www.BoatRecipes.com
Here is a simple meal for tonight. I usually do not blog about food, because I figure everyone eats, but here is a post about tonight’s meal. Marinated chicken with a satay peanut sauce and basmati rice, ribbon strips of cucumber and carrots in a sweet and sour dressing and, of course, red wine.
Meal prep on Island Spirit, our three burner propane stove is great for making peanut sauce, chicken and rice.Eating well on Island Spirit, thank you, Radeen.
Photos Around St. George’s, Grenada
Here are a few photos of touring around town on the dinghy….
Colorful fishing boats on the town docks, St. George’s, GrenadaFisherman work so hardVery modern and very cool logo on a tuna boat. Notice the beats headphones!
We found our Christmas Present, Dec 24, 25 SAILING WINDS
There is a large weather system north of the Bahamas and this low, with counterclockwise winds, is so large and so strong that it is effecting the tradewinds all the way down to South America! Well, we are in the middle of this area and that means our normal East or NE winds will be moving to the Southeast. That is wonderful for us, as our course north out of Grenada to Bequia and St. Lucia and Martinique is a course of 030, or NE. So, the wind clocking to the SE gives us a perfect BEAM REACH. Ask any sailor and they will tell you that is the dream sail, on the beam. So, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO US. We will leave here Dec 24 and sail NE to Union Island and then Dec 25 we will sail to Bequia where we hope to join the cruisers’ pot luck by 1300 with boating friends. Here are the current wind maps for Dec 24 & 25. Merry Christmas sailing!
Dec 24, 2019, the low off Bahamas is pulling our winds to the southDec 25, 2019, the winds are 110 to 115, south of east, and we will be sailing 030 north east to Admiralty Bay, Bequia.Sailing out of Grenada to Union Island, then to Bequia
Radeen and I are very happy to be here, our boat is ready, all systems seem to be in working order. We have provisioned with dry goods and beverages for several months, All we need to do is move out and go sailing. Here are a few photos walking the beautiful Port Louis Marina property tonight….
Beautiful landscapingThe beach and sunset over the St. George’s anchorage tonightMerry Christmas 2019, sailing the Caribbean Sea.
After 7 days of rebuilding our own power cords, plugs, outlets we have finally found the source of the problem. There was an incorrect wiring installation in the brand new dock power poles. I found this problem when measuring the shorted out ground wires. I had been saying to them since day one, that it was not my boats problem, they kept showing me that I had 120 volts on Green to Black, so I did think it was my problem. What I did not know was that you really want to see 120 volts ALSO between Black to White and zero volts on Green to White. Well, they had 10-50 volts Green to White and 20-60 volts on Black to White. I said they had a grounding short and they said my boat had a problem. So there we were.
Christmas Presents for Radeen, two new shore power cords! I spoil her so much! $144 USD each. In the USA, these are $75
What is gong on?
With the marina electrician coming to my boat every day and showing me that he was delivering 120 volts between Green and Black to my boat, (and that was all he would measure) he kept telling me that my boat had a problem, Mon. It is not the marina. So with me seeing his volt meter presenting 120 volts, I thought it was my gear. So, we proceed with cutting off all 4 shore power cords and installing new cord ends at $30 to $60 each. This cost about $250.
Cut off the old, on with new power cord ends $$$$
With all new cord ends…
We still measured a short on the green side and the white neutral. Next we started to read up in shore power systems and looked into the Nigel Calder book as well. We read more than we ever needed to know about shore power. Oddly enough, we never really use shore power while cruising, but we came here to this dock 7 days ago to use the shore power for two things: #1 Equalize the battery bank, #2 Run air conditioning to dry out the boat. Now, after 7 days, we are still without shore power and we show them the problem daily….a short in their green ground wire to white.
New cord ends on our two shore power cords COST $ 250 Done….still the same problem!
Here is the Voltmeter Measured PROOF
After a few days of study on shore power systems and cords and plugs and with a lifeline support back to Reuben (IP380 PRIORITY) and Jeff (IP35 IP420 LUCILLE) we all three continued to say, it was the dock and they have a problem. We learned that when looking at a 30 amp shore power plug, the notched plug is GREEN/Ground and to the right is WHITE neutral and to the left is BLACK hot. A proper AV voltage on these should be:
Green to White = 0 volts for safety
Green to Black = 120 volts ( this is what the electrician was always showing me)
Black to White = 120 volts (this is your actual circuit that you will be using. The dock electrician never measured this)
Here are the measurements on our brand new cord ends after job one trying to fix this….
Green to White, should be ZERO, look it is 40 volts indicating a short!Green to Black showing 120 volts….see, you have power to your boat. Yes….but what about Black to White????Black to White showing 83 volts here. This is NOT 120 volts. Houston, we have a problem. It is not my cords, it is the dock power.
Meanwhile, Life goes on
Who needs power? We do have solar and wind power and also a working alternator and regulator, so we can keep the battery bank topped up and we can keep the beer and freezer cold. So, life goes on. Radeen is cooking some great beef chili and we gave a boat tour of Island Spirit to engineer Abby, friend of Butch and Fran of SMARTINI motor yacht. Abby and Butch came over to see what a sailboat is like, and Island Spirit did not disappoint. She is a great boat!
Cooking up some chilli, the best recipe of all. Radeen publishes all here recipes at http://boatrecipes.com/149-charmed_chiliDrop off laundry services will make any admiral happy, then to the pub for a cold one 🙂
Abby the Engineer visits Island Spirit
Engineer ABBY makes the blog on Island Spirit, what a SMART Lovely girl, we really enjoyed her visit.Abby, Blue Eyes and Radeen on Island Spirit
Getting Serious now with Power
On Day #7 the dock electrician and dock master came out to investigate this power problem one more time. This time they took apart the power pole and looked into the brand new wiring job. These poles were made in Dubai and then shipped here to Grenada. An English contractor arrived and connected it all together. It was reported that it never worked for 30 amp since it was set up, but it worked fine for 50 amp, so no worries. It is a well know fact in the marine supply store, Island Water World that boaters were coming in and buying power wires, plugs, splitters, etc. for months as everyone has had 30 amp power problems on this new dock. NOW, with the pole apart, the electrician FOUND THE PROBLEM! The green is connected WRONG and that is why it will short out the 30 amp splitters but not the 50 amp. The 50 amp uses both legs but the 30 amp uses one leg. The 30 amp side would short out and not work!. They moved one wire and POOF, we had proper power that now measured right. We connected our boat and POOF, our AC and Charger worked normally like always. FINALLY after 7 days on the dock, $580 spent, we now have power and we can EQUALIZE and run AIR CONDITIONING. Yahoo.
The dock electrician looks into the power pole wiring and find that they pole is wired wrong!
OK, LET’s Equalize the battery bank…Hold on MON!
Well not so fast sailor…..you are on ISLAND TIME MON…..WHAT? I get up on day one with power at 0630. I set up my equalization charge at 15.4 volts on my battery bank, and all is going well. Finally I can get this job done. Lifeline battery banks need to be equalize, or “have a conditioning charge” once a year, look it up on Lifeline site, they recommend this. I now have this started and I am 30 minutes into this 4 hour job…..KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK…..Hey Island Spirit, we need to turn off the power to check the dock. WHAT???? NO WAY, I JUST GOT POWER ON and now you want to turn it off. Yes, but for only be off for 15 minutes. OK, so I shut down my equalization charge and I unplug.
Now, four hours later, the power is STILL NOT ON, and they are not sure if it will be turned back on. So, after waiting for 7 days to get my power fixed, I showed them the problem, they fixed it and NOW, they turned off the power to look into the problem even more. I am getting very frustrated! Rightfully so.
I had it all set up and working, I was equalizing and THEN, they shut off the power on me. OMG!
OK, Drop Back, Calm Down, Chill Out, its Christmas Time
I am trying to remain calm. I have been at this dock now 8 days, all for the reason of setting up the boat, equalizating the battery bank and hopefully running air conditioning to dry out the boat. Instead I have spent $580 on new shore power cord plugs and two new power cords. I have not accomplished my two primary goals, but we are at a dock with a pool and a pub and an easy walk to town. So, we remain positive and focused and we accept that this is typical island time work and processes. Heck, I have been trying for days to get an alternator or a Balmar 614 regulator as a spare and I am told 6-8 weeks to ship one in. FORGET that, we will sail out and deal with it up north, like in Martinique where they have supplies and can ship items into the island in a few days.
Grenada Flag, I love the Red, Green, Yellow colorsIsland Spirit with nearly all the shade up to help cool the boat. It is HOT HOT HOT in dockMerry Christmas to all, look at the typical landscaping.
We are in paradise and the weather is beautiful, the people are kind and we are at a dock. Like we said….who needs power? Oh, and don’t ask about water, that is another story.
YOLO, our moto
YOLO = You Only Live Once, and that is how we are looking at all. Let’s get the most out of every day and live with a positive attitude and an Attitude of Gratitude. Carry on!
We have been working on a few systems over the past couple of days. Primarily the shore power cords and inlet plugs. We have concluded that the dock power is not working properly here as all our own connections are clean and check out with continuity thru the plug and thru the breakers. So, there is no need to work any more on our ship’s 110v systems. We think it is all related to the dock power feed. But then again, the boat next to us has been running air conditioning 24/7 off the same power pole, so who knows. Either way, we have been here 4 days, docked for power to run AC and we have no power. We have spent $235 USD on plug ends and ship power deck connections, etc. No 110v power into the boat, so we gave up.
We took apart our shore power inlets and breakers and we checked continuity on all connections. All checks out fine.We cut off these old wiring ends and installed new ends, at about $40 eachEasy to do, but it made no difference, still no power into the boat.
We finally gave up, and we said who needs shore power, we do not. We usually are never plugged into a dock and we usually never run the AC, so after 3 days of trying and many hours and hundreds of dollars spent. Forget it. We put the power cords away.
On to Leaking Water system
They say, no good deed goes unpunished. Well that is true here. Last year, an IP owner was asking how the water faucets come apart and how do you stop a leak. So, while we were sailing south, I decided to take apart our own water system to make a photo essay to help this IP owner. In doing so, I broke our own shower system and we lost water pressure. OH MY GOSH!!!!! So, it took me two days of working on a fix at Rodney Bay, St. Lucia with hardware store parts and I made a fix. Not pretty but we could at least turn back on our water.
So, this year we arrived with parts to fix this problem properly. These Grohe cartridges are odd and very unique. I have never seen them in a home plumbing system. They are the system that seals off the water and or allows it to flow. They are behind the handle and they are thread into the plumbing in the wall or countertop. We carried 6 of these in for all the faucets on Island Spirit. Here are some photos of the process.
Teak box shower faucets are threading into the wall, when removed, you will find these Grohe cartridges.The shower handle untreads from the wall, and sometimes the cartridge comes out with the handle. that is not good.The re-built shower faucets with new Grohe.The Grohe Cratridges look like this, here are new vs old. These cost about $30 to $50 eachThe sinks are way easier to take apart.The sink handle just untreads and there is the cartridgeThe sink knobs are odd. They have an offset cam that holds them onto the cone.When unlucky, the cartridge comes out with the handle. Not you need to get these apart using PB Blaster and being very careful now to damage the threads.
Prepare the “car” the dinghy
We next had to set the dinghy up with her sunshade chaps which protect the fabric from the intense UV. We also needed to add the 15 hp outboard and test the motor as we ran out all the engine fogging oil. We needed to connect the security cable and dinghy seat bag. We are happy to say, the Yamaha started up on one pull. What a great engine, The best of the best. Here is the dinghy hanging in the davits ready to run.
BUNNS II, the 10 foot AB RIB dinghy with a 15 Yamaha in the davits up and running.
With all fixed, it was POOL time
Here at this Port Louis Marina, they have a great pool, so after a day of working on setting up the boat, we hit the pool for a few laps. Radeen loves to swim, so this is becoming a daily event. Now the question is ….”Why Leave hear?”
Radeen with the pool to herself. Love it
Duty fee Shops? WOW
Our friends Dean and Kim heard about a duty free shop in the cruise ship mall where we could get a deal on some liquor. So we rode the local bus for $2.50 ECD each one way. It took a bit of searching to find the store, but it turned out it was in the same shops that we shopped last year when we rode the dinghy over to here. Take a look at this price for Crown Royal, $20 USD! WOW
Crown Royal for $20, who needs some???? Merry Christmas!
Living our Dream
It was 1996 when Radeen and I wrote done this sailing dream to retire in 2011 and to set sail. Now, this is year #9 of retirement and we are still sailing and stretching our areas and expanding our goals. We will say, that his has been the most challenging year of boat prep and launch. We think it is all due to the heat and humidity and storage of the yacht for 6 months that has taken a toll on the boat. We usually do not have so many issues to resolve when we launch, yet here we had a few that seemed bad. Now with most all fixed, we are into provisioning and loading up to take off. For now, we will enjoy Grenada, take in the sunsets and enjoy our friends here at the docks with us. This is the sunset as seen from the roof deck of good friends, Fran and Butch owners of Motor Yacht SMARTINI.
Island Spirit in dock at Port Louis, Grenada, we are getting all set up to set sail for the winter.
We are back up and charging with our replaced Balmar 614 regulator. Turns out the unit shorted out on the power input side of the regulator. I never tested this aspect BEFORE. Our Balmar tech support advised me that the alternator had a short. I really can’t blame them, as I should have had enough skills to think this out myself. The situation now all makes sense, but questions remain.
Our new regulator which we bought two years ago so we would have one if ours failed. This was $350 back then in Annapolis. I cant imagine what this would cost here in Grenada.
The chain of events
We first noticed no charging when running the engine. I found a blown fuse on the power feed to the regulator. I replace this 10 amp fuse. When I plug back in the regulator, it sparked and smoked, at the regulator’s power plug (this should have been a clue) and then blew the fuse again. So, I think there is a wiring problem causing a short. I then called Balmar in Washington State, USA and their tech support has me measure the ohms (resistance) on the blue field wire to ground to check the alternator. IF it measures 350 ohms it is normal, mine measures 0.007 ohms. This he said indicated a short inside the alternator and that is where our problem lies. NOTE: At this point I wish I had checked for a short on the regulator power plug, but I did not at this point.
We then replaced the alternator
That sent us down the rabbit hole of pulling the alternator and installing our spare. This took a few hours until I rewired all the wires from the regulator to the alternator and installed our back up alt.
We replaced the alternator, we have two spares, the white one is the Balmar we measured a short on….
After Rebuilding, all is fine
After we installed the back up alternator, leaving the regulator in place, we ran the boat for 30 minutes and all was charging fine. The system was generating 14.4 volts and eventually dropped back into the 13 volts like it should, so we shut it all down. We were happy it all was back up and running, we assumed we had a bad alternator at this point.
All is running fine, we are happy
Next day, blown fuse, again
The next day, we prepare to leave and upon starting the engine, the fuse burns out again and the regulator goes off line. WHAT? Why are we blowing fuses? Now what is the problem? We have all new wiring to the the regulator, we have a replaced alternator, and it ran fine for 30 minutes after rebuilding. One more call to Balmar and we were advised NOW to test the red and black power feed to the regulator to see if it could have a short. Good idea. We test that and there you have it, THE REGULATOR HAS A SHORT on the power plugs! OMG. no way. This would have been very easy to measure yesterday when we started down this rabbit hole, but I never thought to check the regulator. I was advised that the short was in the alternator and that the blue filed wire was back feeding the reg and blowing the fuse!
Video on our discovery and running boat
With new Regulator we are running
So, to replace the regulator took about 5 minutes, as it is unplug old, plug in new and turn on the engine. UNREAL. that was the problem.
Unplug old, plug in new….too easy with exact replacement
QUESTIONS NOW?
Did the White (removed) Balmar Alternator really have a shore?
Did the White Balmar alternator blow up the regulator?
Why did the replaced and rewired fix run for 30 minutes and blow the next day?
Should I pull the replaced alternator and re-install the white Balmar?
If I put back on the white Balmar might it blow up this new regulator?
Should I let it alone as is, keep it running and send out white alt to be tested?
Our general rule while out cruising is….IF IT IS RUNNING and IF IT IS WORKING, THEN DO NOT TAKE IT APART, LET IT ALONE! So, we think we will see if someone can prove that the white alternator is shored or not. If shorted please fix it, if it is all OK, please don’t touch it. Then, once tested, we would re-install the white one and we would be back to normal with a new regulator. What an ordeal and it all could have been found with a quick testing of the regulator power plug and the short found in 5 minutes. As it was, this took 6 to 8 hours and two days!
Meanwhile, Full Moon and Flowers are blooming
Flowers are blooming, it is 80 degrees FFull moon setting over our sternFull moon in the masts of ATHENA, mega sailboat
Well, we started up the engine after our happy fix yesterday only to find out the Balmar regulator blew the fuse again and shut down our replaced spare alternator. So, we said….”Who needs an Alternator?” We do not, and we disconnected the positive output from it and pulled the power on the 614 Balmar regulator and started the engine. We have 400 watts of solar and 450 watts of wind turbine to power the 12 volt electronics. The engine will run as long as it has fuel and cooling. The alternator belt is needed to turn the coolant pump, so it needs to stay in place. So, we start up YEAR #9 of boating retirement cruising with several challenges.
Our happy photo departing Clark’s Court and heading for the cut thru the reef
What is going on?
This problem should not be that big of a problem. It is a simple regulator and a standard alternator. The problem is that the 10 amp fuse that is in the red positive line to the regulator keeps blowing. Then when I unplug the regulator from power, and I replace the fuse and then plug back in the regulator, it smokes and sparks and blows the fuse and I pull the plug again. Tech support at Balmar had me measure the ohms on the field wire (blue wire) to ground. If this showed a very low ohms reading then it must be a short in the alternator. So, that is WHY we pulled the alternator and replace it. The really odd aspect is that when rebuilt, it all ran fine for 30 minutes producing 14.4v, then down to 13.9v so the new rebuild was working fine. We were happy. The next AM, we fire up the engine and POOF, blown fuse, dead regulator and the same situation when replacing the fuse.
No charging when the engine is on, this is not good. We need a regulator and alternator working
So, we depart, Let’s Go
We do not need an alternator or regulator to run the engine. That is only needed to produce 12 volt power and we have wind and solar for that. The engine is starting, the engine is running fine, the alternator belt is turning the coolant pump, so let’s go. We did. We ran out thru the reef, performing our engine checks as taught my Tom Tursi of MDSchool.com and made it to sea. There we turned downwind and rolled out the jib. We motor sailed most of the way west and around the south corner of Grenada.
Rolled out the job on starboard as we motor sailed west in 10-15 knotsRadeen is always so positive and so happy and she is a great sailing GrL. This photos makes me smile.We round the south corner and jib to port.
SQUALL, here we go…
Shortly around the corner we had a rain squall and the winds came up to 25 knots dead on the bow, so we turned downwind to 120 angle and set the jib on a nice broad reach and then we furled the jib. Of course the furling line was not run properly so it was far more difficult, but we got the sail in an then turned back into the wind pushing on into limited visibility. Our start has been and continues to be challenging. It is Dec 12, 2019, seven days after flying in!
The visibility is limited due to the rain on the canvasThis was our view making this run. We even docked in the rain
Welcome to Port Louis, Grenada
We roll up the enclosure and suit up with foul weather jackets, set up the dock lines and get out the fenders. We are docking at a marina with shore power, water, laundry, restaurants, and a pool. YES, this will really be nice. We mainly want to plug in the boat to run the Air conditioning to dry out the boat from all this humidity.
Happy Radeen in the rain heading into St. Georges, GRenadaWe are docked on the NEW docks with water, power and view of the marine supply store called ISLAND WATER WORLD where we have an account!
Let’s plug into shore power
Well not so fast there sailor. You are in the Caribbean, power is tricky down here. It took 2.5 hours to get my plug plugged in and to turn on the power switch from the other side of the world. Via numerous radio calls, managers, electricians, service workers, etc, they finally were able to plug us in. Well, HOLD ON says Island Spirit, I might have another problem.
YUP, we now have no 120 volt on the boat. We have proven power is to the end of my cord. The cord is plugged into the shore power plug like we have done since 2001. NO power into the boat. No worries, I have two plugs, lets forget the battery charger plug, let’s plug into the air conditioning plug because that is all we really need. NOPE, no power going into that plug either. So the dock team leaves proving with a volt meter that they have delivered 120 volts to the end of my shore power plug.
So, we now have a NEW challenge. Why is there no 120 volt power going into the boat? It all worked last year, because we used it. OK, time to tear apart another electrical system.
We find corrosion on the breakers, but the plugs looks fineWe have two plugs with two breakers. One plug and breaker are original 1994 on the right. The other plug and breaker to left are new 2001 for direct to air conditioning. Neither are working
We think we have problems? Ha
Check this out. This yacht owner has problems too, and he is a billionaire from Russia. Look at this! He is missing the E on his OCEAN VICTORY yacht sign board. Can you imagine the stress and frustration of that? We are so lucky, we just have no way of charging out boat and no way to plug in our boat…ha ha
Russian Steel billionaire Ocean Victory Yacht is soooooo beautiful. That is 6 stories above the waterSee, even mega yachts have challenges, she is missing a letter!
We also do not need 4 fuel truck
This is also NOT our problem. This mega yacht named DAR, another Russian billionaire needed not one, not two, but four fuel trucks to take on 30,000 gallons of diesel fuel. So, we think we have problems, ha, not like this. 🙂
The 4th fuel truck to empty into motor yacht DAR, 30,000 imperial gallons loadedMotor Yacht DAR, google that Took on 30,000 gallons of diesel fuel. Merry Christmas. Remember, these are all a wright off for tax evasion, as they are “charter boats” and book as a business. This yacht has a crew of 30 and takes 12 guest. So that is 2.5 crew per guest. WOW!
We will figure this all out
We are safe, we are warm, we have solar, we have ice in frig, we have water and food, who needs power? We will now replace the regulator and next we will look into replacing these plugs and breakers after we trouble shoot them with our volt meter checking if they are working or not. Welcome to the Caribbean, where your boat takes a beating from storing it in the hot humid tropics!
Well, our first Caribbean / Grenada boating day started out great but then presented new challenges. While warming up the engine at 0900, to check all systems, we noticed that the charging system was at 12.5 volts. That is odd. That means that the alternator is not putting out the normal power, which should be 14.4 to 13.3 volts. This is usually a very simple solution with Balmar gear. Usually 99% of the time, it is simple power to the Balmar 614 regulator is off. A wire came off, a fuse burned out, there is a short somewhere. So, after running for 15 minutes, we concluded that the alternator was not working and we needed to look into this. We alerted IP38 DreamCatcher that we would remain in dock and solve this problem. Well…..from 0900 to 1500 we did. OMG.
We are ready to go
We had just spend 5 days in the boat yard preparing the boat for launch. We launched it yesterday and finished the sails and dinghy late last night. Today we were planning on departing and moving over to town where we could have access to groceries and marine supplies plus water and power on the dock. This dock is the service dock and water and power are not easily delivered. So we planned to launch the boat and move. Well, not today.
Island Spirit with IP38 DreamCatcher
We start with the Balmar 614
Like most alternator problems, it is the 12 volt power not getting to the regulator. So we first start there and check all the fuses with our volt meter. Sure enough we find a blown fuse on the red line powering the regulator. So, we replace this and POOF, it blows again along with smoke and sparks. NOT GOOD on a plastic boat. NOW it is serious, any time we have electrical problems, we take them very seriously because they can start a boat fire and that is not good. So, we now need to find out why the fuse keeps blowing and where the short is located.
Checking the 614 regulator wiring harness. All is good.
Balmar to the Rescue plus Google Fi phone
Balmar has always provided the best support over the many years we have used them. So, I called Washington State from Grenada and spoke with support. I explained the issue and they pointed me to testing the alternator for a short. I said, it was fine when I put it always, and now it was stored for 6 months and POOF, it is not working. Very odd. I wanted to Full Field the alternator and jump it, but they explained that this could be a serious problem if there is a short. So they had me check the ohm reading on the blue field wire to the ground. If it was 7 – 8 ohms then that would be OK. If not, we have a short. Well the ohms were .007 which means going to ground, a serious short inside the alternator. So they directed me to pull it and replace it.
OH, sure, this alternator cost about $650 dollars, I will just go get another one!
Balmar documents and help is always the best
Off with the old. which is new
So, we pulled the old, 3 year old $650 Balmar 100 amp alternator and we checked all the wiring. We could not see anything wrong with our ships wiring, so it had to be in the alternator.
Pull the old white BalmarWe always disconnect the red power feed from the alt back to the battery, as that wire is large and directly to the bank. It is serious if you short out that large wire, so we take it off the bank first, then drop the alt.
Pick an alternator, we have 3
We have full spare parts on Island Spirit just in case we need to make repairs at sea or in remote locations like this. So, In our bow locker under the bed we pull out two spare alternators and one spare Balmar 614 regulator. So, we have the parts to fix this. The problem with alternators is that they all fit the saddle differently and their wiring connections are in different location. Add to this, their field wire and stater plugs are different. They all should be universal but they are not.
The oldest alt seemed to be my best fit. The saddle was right, and the field wire plug was the same as the Balmar, so it was plug and pray.
My three alternators, Balmar 100 amp, Ample Power 120 amp, and Yanmar/Hitachi 55 amp. We use the smallest one,
Of course we do it twice
We always do things twice it seems with 12 volt power as this is our weakest skill set. Here I installed the alternator with positive, negative and temperature prob, leaving the field wire til after installed. Once fully set up and bet tension done, I go to the back to plug in the field wire and it is behind the heat exchanger, so I have to remove it all and start over. Round two, I connected all wires and THEN mounted and installed the alternator. Rookie mechanic mistake.
Installed and running, all looks good.Close up of my marking from when I last removed this. Positive, Field and Negative>s it is not the right bolt on top, but it was all I could make work.
We did it
A required selfie with our success. We are happy and all is back up and running. This has been the most challenging launch in 18 years. The heat, and humidity is high. The boat is in the worst shape in 18 years. We are having breakdowns on new systems that we put in to come down here. And to top it off we are rusty and not even close to up to speed. Toughest start ever and we think it is just the remoteness of the start. It sure is 10 times easier in Stuart, Fl or Miami, Fl. WOW.
Hayden and Radeen with an alternator repair need now in Grenada
Next up, hanging with the big boys
This is where we are gong, over to the main marina in town, Port Louis where we will hang out with the big players. Check out these buddy boats!
Oh yea, we hope to stop over and visit….NOT INVITED….i betOur first destination from Clarks Court Marina.
Our LIVE tracking MAP is here
We run the Garmin InReach and when the boat moves it places a pin on this map often. Please look at out map here, and if you want to see all our pins, click the VIEW ALL TRACKS and then zoom back.
We did it, after 5 days of boat yard work we launched the boat here in Clark’s Court Grenada at 0900! SHE FLOATS, ENGINE STARTED, we did not sink! even after doing this every year since 1991, we still get very nervous doing this. There are so many aspects that could go wrong, and there are many systems that have not been running, we get very nervous until we are floating and docked and secured.
It is so hot, we are soaked every day by 9 am, and during noon to 2 pm you have to take cover and get out of the sun. Here we are, 9am and the boat is picked up. We started at 8am
Launching with a tractor and hydraulic trailer
We have not seen this set up before pulling into here in May. This hydraulic trailer is incredible and our boat at 18,000 lbs is a dinghy for this machine. The driver can make the rig wider, taller, lower, and tilt. It is really interesting to see.
The lifting trailer backing up to our boat
Move the Jack Stands!
In order to back the trailer under the boat, they need to remove the jack stands. Notice how they re position them at an angle allowing for room for the trailer! This looks so dangerous, we stayed back.
The jack stands are cleared but a few are put back at an angle to hold the boat.
Back up the trailer!
The driver then backs this massive trailer under the yacht while the helpers help with direction. The trailer is in the lowest position right now. Look at how close the frame is to the ground and wheels.
The trailer is backed under the yacht
Raise the Hydraulic rams
The large rams then are raised up taking the load of the yacht but they do nto lift the yacht. First the process is to get these rams up and tight against the yacht. Then all the remaining jack stands can be removed.
The rams are raised and pressed against the yacht
Jack up the trailer
Next the entire trailer is lifted as the frame hydrailic rams press the frame vertically. Notice the frame and the wheels now, the entire yacht and frame are pushed up and the yacht is now lifted off the ground. That is 18,000 lbs mininum and more like 20,000 lbs due to all the extra gear we have loaded onboard. So, 10 tons lifted and off it goese.
The frame of the trailer now is lifted up
There she goes
Island Spirit is headed for the water on a trailer with a tractor. OMG! How crazy is that? We then move the car and follow along with the rig.
Riding the trailer to the waterWe are in company with RUTH, the 100 foot tall ship also heading to the water in the 240 ton travel lift,Very cool photo, Island Spirit with RUTH, 35 foot vs 100 footLook at the scale of this mega yacht
Back her down the ramp
This part was interesting as Radeen and I had to climb a ladder to the board the yacht. We then had to ride it down the ramp and into the water. Then when the boat was deep enough we had to check all thru hulls and start the engine and get water flowing and cooling and then, they let us free. We backed away and with 20-25 knots of ENE winds blowing we are feeling the rush. It is always so wild….what if….will drive you crazy.
Backing into the water
Off we go, our first leg
Drive from the ramp to the marina and dock. Get your dock lines ready, hope and pray the engine keeps running, hope and pray the anchor is ready, get your fenders down, get to the dock.
Radeen is getting the lines and fenders ready
Success, leg #1 completed
We did it. Leg one is finished. We launched and moved 200 yards to the dock. Notice that the dinghy needs launched, the staysail needs installed. The jib needs installed, we never do these on the jack stands as that is not safe. We need to finish these jobs today, which we did, and then check out of here and move over to the town of St. Georges where we will dock at Port St. Lucie where they have electric and water on the dock. No services here.
Island Spirit on the dock, day one Dec 10, 2019Dinner on the dock over looking the marina with a nearly full moon rising
A celebration Beer
Ahhhhh a cold one to celebrate and dinner with Dean and Kim. Let the good times start. Enough work….
We are ready for launch and will move out of our comfy air conditioned condo and onto the boat Tue, December 10, 2019. Boat yard work can be so difficult, especially when it is hot. First you have to climb 12 steps up a ladder to the deck. Your power is only wind and solar for lights and fans as there is no access to a power plug. This means there is no air conditioning. Water is only the water in your tank, as there is no water hose that is easily reachable. So, we are preparing the boat with all our own services. To help, we hired out the hull waxing, the stainless steel cleaning, and the interior cleaning, for the first time ever. So we are helping the local economy as we prep the boat.
Our 1994 Island Packet 35, ready for launch Dec 9, 2019, Grenada
The Prep Work
After a quick breakfast in the condo, our first task (after painting and hull wax) was to re-run all the halyards we had pulled off the mast to protect them from the intense summer sun. While I am working on deck, Radeen is working below deck cleaning and sorting out the boat.
Boxed milk, protein Weetabix and finger bananas, yum yumGood morning Radeen, can you tell it is HOT and she is ready to clean da boat 🙂 ?Halyards and sheets going up.
Halyard work
Most people do not pull the halyards and sheets off the boat and store them below decks. This is something we have done since we arrived down here in the Caribbean. When pulling off the lines, we pull a small 3/16″ chase line in its place so we can then re-pull the large halyards back up and into the mast. Yes, most of our lines are internal, but when stored, half of the line is external, and that gets damaged by the UV/sun.
Mack Sails rigging, they add a nice loop on the lazy end, making pulling easy!The main halyard pulling 50 feet up the outside of the mast, into the crane head and down the 50 foot mast and out the exit. You really do not want to lose these inside the mast!My jib halyard, I used my old green main halyard so this I had to sew together and then tape. Sewing makes sure it does not pull apart as you pull it into the mast.
Loading the Main Sail
Our new main sail is a fully battened main sail, which means it weighs in at about 50-60 pounds. We also have a stack pack, which we love, but putting this all back together and pulling up the lazy jacks and loading in the sail battens can easily take two hours. It is not an easy job, and I have done this 18 years! First we have to run the stack pack bolt rope into the boom and hang the pack inside out. Then we load the loose footed main sail onto the boat, but just the tack and clew. We then push all the main sail over to the port side. Now we pull the bottom of the main sail up and over the boom to the starboard side. With the first bottom batten pocket now on the cabintop, we can take apart the batten car and install the long batten and tension it. We do this for each batten, until we reach the head of the sail. At this point we can then load the head of the sail into the Tides Strong Track, and push and lift it up the mast track until all is loaded. With the main sail only pulled up about 4-5 feet, we can now work on the lazy jacks and lift up the stack pack. Once the stack pack is lifted, we can then fold and store the main sail into the pack.
The Stack Pack on the boom inside out with lazy jacks on the deckThe Main sail fully loaded and the lazy jacks pulling the stack pack up and into position. We need to run the reefing lines next!
Run to town
While Radeen is working below decks cleaning, I ran to town to get dinghy gas, car gas, propane bottle filled, WD-40 and more. Notice that the car ha the steering wheel on the “proper” side of the car, the right side. In Grenada, they drive on the left side and that makes for an interesting activity. I fold in the mirrors when driving because the cars pass each other about 1 millimeter apart, so we are NOT paying for mirrors. A common charge. Who needs mirrors? I bought $60 ECD for the car and I bought $70 ECD of gas for the dinghy. This was about 4 gallons in the car and 5 gallons for the dinghy! $1 USD to $0.37 ECD, basically divide the ECD by 3, that will get you close.
Our rental car, Toyota Rav 4, $50 USD per day plus $15 Insurance with a $2,000 ECD deductible! YIKES, do not wreck.I found one gallon of oil, so I bought it. That’s the rule in the Islands, if you see something and will need it, buy it no. Thje gallon was $100 ECD for one gallon, so that is $37 USD for a gallon of oil. OH MY GOSH!!!!!
Spoiling Radeen
Sunday the local cafe here at Clarke’s Court had local craftsman selling handmade items. I had to buy Radeen something, so I found these Grenada colored ear rings. So nice.
Christmas present for Radeen, spoiling her daily 🙂
Of course I took her out to lunch but the place was closed today….
Our Lunch stop….closed, darn it
Finish the Bottom Paint, Install Canvas
The yard has to move the jack stands so we can paint under the pads. So, they came out and re positioned all 9 jack stands. This is why we keep back a half a gallon of paint. The extra covers these pad areas and then the rest is used as a second coat around the water line. That is a wrap on the painting and we can then pull off the tape
Removing the tape, bottom paint is finished. Yes, our boot stripe is needing another paint job, but it OK for one more year.Looking good,Much easier than loading the sails, the dodger and bimini go on next. This canvas is old and needs replaced. Design ideas are being discussed.
Out to dinner at Clarke’s Court
Breakfast and lunch are in our condo/room but for a treat after a hard day’s work in the boat yard, we shower and go downstairs for a nice dinner. Radeen ordered a Caribe and said it was the best beer of her entire life! The Cruiser’s Reef Cafe is newly open and they are doing a great job seven days a week, 7 am to 11 pm. WOW, that makes long days for the staff, who are all consistently polite and friendly.
Look at Beautiful Radeen, the hard working boating GrL
NOT FOR SALE…..but ….. make an offer…
We always joke that we are always prepared complete with signs and all. Island Spirit is NOT for sale, no way, …. but …. go ahead, MAKE AN OFFER….ha ha….like we said, She is NOT for sale….but sometimes we ……nope, won’t go there. OK, launch day Tuesday, Dec 10th is here…
We arrived into Grenada with our two duffel bags, two overhead bags and two backpacks after two days of travel. First PHL to MIA, spent the night in Cambria Hotel and caught up with Dr. Nicholas. Day 2 MIA-GND and landed in the country about 430 pm. Passed thru customs and our car rental drive was waiting for us with a sign with our name on it. How wonderful. We love it when a plan comes together. Let the new sailing season begin.
Welcome to Grenada, it is sunny and warm 85F. Off to customs
But first, getting there….
We asked out dear friend Jenna is she would UBER us to the Philly airport because were were leaving for 6 months and wanted to leave out car in the garage. Well she was a real pro. Jenna and her cute son arrived right on time and she even had snacks and drinks for out ride to the airport. What a great friend. Thank you Jenna!
UBER Jenna and our new Crew member and jib trimmer in back with Radeen.Running light, 2 duffel bags, 2 overhead carry on bags, 2 backpacks. We are gone
Arrival in MIAMI, the best
We have flown into Miami many times but this approach was incredible. The pilot flew down the coast at about 5,000 feet just offshore and we watched the coast and the famous sights of West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, South Beach and the City of Miami pass by our wind. What an amazing sight to see.
Just offshore of Florida around West Palm BeachTurning west flying directly over South Beach, so coolFlying across Miami to the airport out west of town
UBER Drive # 2 Dr. Nicholas
Our other personal UBER drive was Dr. Nicholas who is the son of Dr. JB our great diving instructor and close friend. Nicholas picked us up at the MIA and took us to our Cambria hotel where we all three enjoyed dinner together and we caught up on his Doctoral work in Psychology. How proud we are of him and all his hard work. Thank you Doc Jr.
Dr. Nicholas helped us out when we arrived Miami, thank you so much!
Day 2 of travel to Grenada
Back to the MIA airport via shuttle van at 0830 for out 1130 flight. We like to be early and it has always worked out. We were told to dress up like you are going to Sandles Resort so that customs does not look for boat parts. We failed, as we always look and dress like boaters. My IPY hat and my Whiteaker Yacht Sales shirt were not helping me sneak in to Grenada.
Selfie on the Flight MIA to GNDThere it is, arriving GND, of course you fly into the EAST Trades!
Welcome to Grenada
We are happy to be back and we are looking forward to Caribbean sailing Season of 6 months! No schedule, no destination, no plans, just get this boat up and running, get her launched and lets go sailing. Let season 18 on Island Spirit begin NOW….GRENADA!
WHAT NO CELL, NO GOOGLE FI?
You all know how much we love out Google Fi service and since March 2019, when we started using our first two Fi phones, Motorola X4 $150 shipped into St. Thomas, thanks to JENNA. We love this service. Since March we have taken the service to 19 countries and we have connected upon arrival. Here are are in Grenada, where it worked fine in May, and we can not get onto the grid.
Well, 6 hours of tech support, with Google Fi and three different techs via WiFi chat, no one could get our two phones onto the grid. So, I asked my good boat buddy, Dr. Don of sv Fezywig and he gave me the answer in 4 or 5 clicks. POOF, we had 4G LTE just like that, just like expected, just like before. So, a BIG thanks to Don for connecting us back to the net.
It is amazing how cell technology is on every island, this is our tower
Let’s Get to WORK, unwrap, prep for paint
Job #1 was to remove the 1,200 sq.ft. of coolaroo sunshade cover. This is a 90% UV blocking fabric that we buy and fit to the yacht. This is the third time we have done this and it works great. We simply cut the sip ties dropped it and then folded and rolled the fabric back into 4 rolls. We are thinking of storing it here, but Radeen wants to pack it into the sail locker and take it with us. YIKES! Not sure we have enough room for it, we will see.
This is our cover of Coolaroo, see previous blog post on how we did this.We rolled it up and tossed it to the groundThe folded length of 50 feet rolled up onto the car hood, that worked4 rolls of coolaroo fill the back seat of this RAV
Next Task, PAINT THE BOTTOM!
We have painted the bottom of our boats since 1991. We know the process well and we have painted this IP 35 nine times. It takes us a couple of hours to prep, we do not sand the bottom. We simply flake off any loose paint, sand that area, and then tape the boot stripe and roll on new paint. Painting takes 2 hours with both of us working on the job. Radeen has always helped paint the boat, she helps on every job and THAT makes us a great team.
Radeen preparing the bottom, chipping off loose paint12 steps to the deck, one full flight up, we get our workoutRadeen like to cover up because this paint is nearly impossible to get off your skin or out of your hair. I just use latex gloves.I took this photo to show how far ONE GALLON reaches. All the starboard side plus this much of the port side. One Gallon of Trinidad is about $325 USD, we need two gallons to paint this boat.Touch up Radeen as she works the rudder and prop areasWe tried to recreate the AMERICAN GOTHIC photo, pitch fork etc, but with paint rollers…ha haPainting on Day 2. Taped at 0730. Shook paint at 0800, Started painting at 0800, wrapped up at 1030, time for coffee now
Power in Grenada = 220v 50 htz
When we travel, we always travel with power plug adapters, and here in Grenada, the power grid is 220 volts, much like the rest of the “real” world. Look at this plug, it is like the one used in England. Also notice that our room has 110 volt next to all 220 v. This is very kind, but also very unusual. They know many Americans come here so they are trying to accommodate us all.
The rooms at Clarks Court Boat Yard can be booked and we stay here while working on the boat. Nice rooms with a balcony, little kitchen and bath.The room view looking over the docks and the exit to sea in the distanceHere are the power outlets. On the left, 110 volt like USA, on the right, the normal UK/Grenada 220 volt. Not the switches on the outlets. Very nice.
A nice Break at UMBRELLAS with Dean and Kim
We are here in the yard with another Island Packet Owner, IP 38 DreamCatcher owned by Dean and Kim. They invited us to go to Umbrellas on the beach for burgers and PainKillers. YAHOOOOO….great idea. So, after we painted the boat, we cleaned up and hit the beach bar at 1230. Dean and Kim have been cruising their IP 38 now 4 years and they have sailed from Florida to Grenada and they know the area well. They have helped us with this area and this boat yard. We are following their lead.
The best Beach Bar, Umbrellas, GrenadaIf you are with “PhotoBoy” Hayden, then there will be selfies. Fun times to remember. Hayden, Radeen, Kim and Dean.
We picked up two pets
These are the local goats and they are everywhere. Herds of them roam the boat year and come down out of the hills. These are the two at out yard exit. Should we take them on the boat? nahhhhhh
Team Island Spirit’s new PET GOATS
Up next
We need to have the jack stands moved and paint under them on Monday. We need to keep cleaning and unpacking and get the rust off all the stainless. We have hired helpers to help us out. We hired out the hull wax, thank goodness. We need to re-run all running rigging Sunday. We need sails and canvas put back on. We need to recommission the dinghy and 15 hp Yamaha. All by Tue when we launch and move aboard. Lots of work recommissioning a boat that is in storage. Welcome to the boat yard.
Thanks for sailing along.
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