Burgers, engine servicing and lack of noise

Posted On 16 May, 2014

Position – 6°10N 98° 26W

Course Steered – 068°

Wave Height and Direction – 0.5m from W

Wind – WSW 3 knots

Miles to Panama – 1212

Miles covered from New Zealand – 7230

Average speed – 10 knots

Fuel burned 12:00 14/5/14 – 12:00 15/5/14 – 467L

We are all pleased to learn that the earthquake is irrelevant to us. It seems to me that the safest place to be when a quake hits is probably out at sea as you’re already surrounded by water.

You asked about noise levels on board. Actually, it is reasonably quiet. You soon become used to the background noise from the engine and it doesn’t take much longer to find ways of drowning out the constant banter from Kiwis and the like! You might say that Matt has drawn the short straw on noise as the engineer’s cabin is right next to the engine room, so he gets the brunt of it, but he’s not complaining. He has a bed.

The engine is checked once every six hours, with Jeff taking a look around and making sure everything is running smoothly down there. The machinery doesn’t have to be shut down to check the levels because the Maretron reports it all. We did have to stop it when the high-level alarm went off, however. In that instance only the dipstick could be relied on for the whole truth, so it was ‘back to basics’ when it really counted.

The main engine was fully serviced in Tahiti, and when we arrive in Panama it’ll get the treatment again. This involves oil changes, oil filters, fuel filters, valve clearances, drive-belt inspection and a hard look at the injectors, although these are probably going to need nothing. The job finished with a general clean-up around the engine which allows for a check on anything which may have vibrated loose during the long passage. The next Berthon apprentice will have his work cut out!

As well as engine servicing there will be the general tasks of replacing fuel, food and the rest of the passage consumables. Bunkering is going to take longer than before as we ‘ll probably have burned around 10,000 litres by the time we fetch Panama. We’ll stock up on fresh produce again and I suspect there will have to be some modification to the ‘goody bags’. So far, these have been full of muesli bars not a lot of chocolate! It’s hard to say how this can have happened, but the general opinion is that it is a question for Tony to answer.

Right now the weather continues wonderfully calm and nobody’s complaining. Believe it or not, we’ve been filling today with old war films! I was on dinner tonight so I really put my culinary skills on test to knock out burgers, chips and beans with fresh homemade rolls. I didn’t hear any complaints. Perhaps it was the comfort food effect. I even heard a whisper that my bread rolls were the best batch so far, but don’t let Tony read this, or I’ll be on baking duties for the rest of my time here.

Ben

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Thanks Ben

It’s funny how the choc disappears on boats. Have you checked under Tony’s bunk? When we went to Greenland in 1982 with our 4-year-old, she reckoned her cuddly bear was troughing all the Crunchie bars. Really it was her and the bosun. He was 18 and he never stopped eating!

I’m curious about how many of your systems rely on mains power from the generator. The watermaker, perhaps? And the freezer? Or is it all somehow powered from the main engine. Do you run the genset each day? How long for? And when? Mine has to be on for 2 hours after breakfast on passage, but we’re a sailing boat which is munching battery capacity from the moment the generator is shut down.

Keep smiling,

Tom

www.tomcunliffe.com