One of the saddest bits of news from home was that our beloved German Shepherd, Freddie, who was adopted and loved by Alan when we sold our home to him, had passed on to the big kennel in the sky. As most blog readers will remember, we named our Autopilot Fred after him, as it sings and moans just like he did! After a few mid Atlantic scares, we finally seem to have sorted out the autohelm problem by giving it a hydrolic fluid transfusion. We have been using Freddie whenever we have sailed or motorsailed just to make sure he is up to speed. So Far so Good. We have just done a 25 nm leg from Paraty up to Ubitubinha on the Island, and Fred was once again, well behaved! Since the pre St Helena failure however, we have been very aware of how utterly dependant one becomes on the autopilot, when sailing short handed.
We made up our minds to make sure we had a back up in the event that Fred retired hurt again. Ideally, we would like to use the wind vane /trim tab option, as it is not power dependant. However, as we have elected to have davits over the transome, for lifting the dinghy out of the water each night, the wind vane system would have to be offset to one side, and be reliant on a transverse lever. It can work, but introduces yet more points of friction in a system which requires absolutely minimal friction to work well. So we also asked other cruisers about their systems, and their current demands.Two names which came up were APT, used by Niekie on "La Rose", and Alpha, used by Bob & Robyn on "Misty Dawn". Interestingly, La Rose also have a B & G Network hydrolic pilot, but they prefer to use the belt driven APT when conditions allow (95%), because it uses 1 amp vs the 4 to 5 of the B & G. The Alpha is also pretty basic, but apparantly bullet proof, and uses very little current. Both can be found and read about on the internet. With the APT being about $1500 compared to the Alpha +/-$3000 , both of these options were outside our cruising budget , for a second ,back up system. We decided to look out for a second hand option as we move up the coast. We did'nt have to look far! Jeremy and Yvonne had just fitted a very expensive Aquavane system to "Jervon", and had changed the gearing on their hydrolic steering, which made their Autohelm 3000 obsolete. A deal was done , and "Sheer Tenacity" now boasts a Fredlet as her back up system! An added bonus is that it only seems to draw 1 -1.5amps! We need to check this out in more challenging sea states.
One of the least appealing jobs of the skipper, is to sort out a blocked and jammed heads system! This was my lot yesterday on fathers day! I started at the Jabsco pump end, and ended by virtually dismantling all the bathroom/heads cupboards in order to remove all the pipes, anti syphon loops, diverter valves etc. That was the easy bit!! Chipping out all the calcium /uric acid build up that sets like concrete, beating the hoses, overboard, with a stainless steel pipe until you crack it up, and the clearing it all out of the pipes and fittings, can only be described as a Really Shitty Job!! From now on, its a bottle of vinegar into the system every week to stop the build up. ( Its creates a very graphic picture of what a chelesterol build up would look like in ones arteries! Enough to make one go on a fat & cholestrol free diet for life!)
On a happier not, I got an email from my man Hector in Frade, whose assistance I had requested, in chasing up the shop to whom I had returned the Merc 3.3 for fixing. "OK Rod. The owner he said to me the out board motor on tuesday it will be in your hands." Much better to get a Marina Manager to bomb on the shop owner in his own language , on your behalf! Well done Hector ! You really are a star! We plan to go back to Angra on Wednesday, pick up the outboard, do a provision shop, and then head round to ICAR and Itanhanga, and Frade. I would like to introduce Jeremy & Yvonne to ICAR, and Jeremy is keen to meet Hector! A very good man to know!!
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