Ahhh, It's Great to Be At Sea Again!!

We have had a really fun and adventurous year, visiting Chile, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Germany, France, California, Florida, NC, SC, Georgia. Plus getting a huge amount of maintenance work done on Soggy Paws. But it sure is good to be back on board, in the water, and cruising again.

Even though we are a bit on a schedule, and the wind is light, we managed to sail for most of the day yesterday. Our light air 'Code Zero' sail is invaluable in these conditions (without having to deal with the complexities of a spinnaker). We anchored overnight at Isla Salango, using waypoints from the Ecuador Cruiser's Handbook http://svsoggypaws.com/files/EcuadorCruisers2009.pdf We will stop tonight at San Mateo, and then get a very early start on Thursday morning, to be at the 'Waiting Room' for Bahia de Caraquez at 9:45am to be piloted over the bar.

We have a small stuffing box leak and a very small transmission oil drip, but neither is serious and both are fixable. (The 'stuffing box' is the hole where the prop shaft goes from the engine out to the prop. It is stuffed with some magic stuff that lets the shaft turn but theoretically keeps the water out. It is always a delicate balance between 'too tight, and there's too much friction', which is bad. And 'too loose, and the water comes in', which is also bad.

Dave is happy with the engine, though a little stressed by a couple of drops of transmission oil in his clean white bilge. But he is optimistic that he can stop that. We ran the engine for about 2 full hours yesterday, and Mr Perkins sounded good.

We have a few more chores to do on our 'must do before setting out for the Galapagos' list, and we are hoping to fit in one more adventure in northern Peru, and also see a little more of Ecuador. Daughter Nicki and her significant other, Phil, are coming for a Christmas visit to Cuenca (Ecuador). And then we set out for the Galapagos around the 6th or 7th of January. Our Autografo (cruising permit) for the Galapagos is 'in process'.

Can't wait!!
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At 11/25/2009 12:55 AM (utc) our position was 01°35.56'S 080°51.68'W

We are Afloat Again

We were supposed to go in first thing in the morning, because that's when the high tide was. But we're on Ecuadorian time, so finally about 11am the lift came. We were afloat by 11:45. They didn't drop us. There is no water coming in any of the wrong places. The engine works. The bottom paint survived the lift. What more can you ask for?

Tomorrow we leave for Bahia de Caraquez. We plan to arrive there on the high tide at 11am on Thursday, just in time for Thanksgiving Dinner!

Painting the Scrollwork

One of the last things to do to finish our 'beautification' is to paint the scrollwork on the trailboards (those black things on the bow). That was my job.


We couldn't find gold paint, so we used silver instead. I hand-painted with a small paintbrush. It looked pretty good when we finished. The silver paint matches our grey canvas pretty well.

Yahoo! Bottom Painting is Done!

We put on 4 coats of bottom paint (plus some extras at the waterline and leading edges) in 2 days. Now we let it dry. We have a launch appointment for early Monday morning.

Today we take our 75-lb liferaft by bus to Guayaquil to get it serviced. More on this adventure tomorrow!

Epoxying Is Done, Getting Ready to Bottom Paint

Well, all umpteen coats of epoxy are done on the bottom. We purposely used different colors as we applied layers. It makes it easy to see where you've missed a spot.


We've been white, red, blue, black, and now cammo-green.


Today we have them come lift us and move the blocks and stands around, so we can epoxy the places where they were. We're giving the epoxy time to dry really hard, and on Monday and Tuesday we'll put 4 coats of bottom paint on.

We couldn't get black bottom paint (our preferred color). I kind of liked the red, but I think we'll end up blue. Dave says he read that was the best color to keep from getting sunk by whales.


While the Stewart Yacht Services guys have been applying the epoxy, Dave has been putting the engine back together...bell housing on, the flywheel, pressure plate, transmission, and shaft coupling. He also worked on our starter, which has been a little cranky when trying to start the engine when it was hot.


Dave is also responsible for painting all the underwater bronze bits.


We have had Ignacio working on more varnishing, and he's now painting the 'trailboards'... the wooden (black) trim pieces on the bow, and our second spinnaker pole. (Note the Gator hat we brought back from the U.S. for him). We couldn't find any polyurethane paint at the local Ace Hardware, so we're using enamel. It should hold up for a couple of years.


And I have been working on finances... trying to get everything set so our financial lives will run pretty much on autopilot next year. We WILL be able to get internet in some places in French Polynesia, but it will be slow and expensive, and I don't want to have to spend all my shore time sitting at a computer.

I've also been provisioning... I've made 3 $250 trips to the grocery store so far. We generally spend $300-$400/month on groceries, and I'm trying to buy a year's worth of groceries!! Of course we won't be able to really carry a year's worth, so it's strategically buying and then carefully stowing.

Finally We Start Epoxying the Bottom

We have finally started putting the first coat of epoxy on the bottom today. It took George's guys 2 days to get the waterline right (to Dave's satisfaction), and then another day to finish prepping around the new waterline.


It was raining this morning when we woke up, and we were kinda bummed. But it was just the typical Ecuadorean mist, and it cleared up by mid-morning. They started laying the first coat of epoxy on around noon. It doesn't look like we'll get a second coat on today, but at least we've begun!

While the Stewart Yacht Services guys have been working on the bottom, we've been doing other things, including putting the new name on.



Notice our Paws!!

We used SpeedySigns.com to design, order, and ship our custom vinyl lettering. I don't know if it is the cheapest place on the internet, but their interactive lettering tool sure was easy to use, and it was all waiting for us when we arrived in the States. Putting on the vinyl lettering is a cinch, too.

We have finally finished unpacking all the stuff we brought back with us.

Dave has already mounted the new swim ladder with brackets we brought back. And he's started working on putting the engine back together.

And then there's the socializing--several new boats are in the marina, so we've been trading boat visits and discussing boat projects and Ecuadorean travel. Eight of us got together and shared $2 taxi rides over to Pizza Express in Salinas for two-fer pizzas and beer.

Bottom Paint and Epoxy

Well, we finalized the deal for almost $3,000 worth of Hempel brand epoxy product and bottom paint today... here's the plan:

2 coats of Low Viscosity Epoxy Primer. This is a thin 2-part epoxy that flows easily. It is supposed seal up the fiberglass and fill in the pin-holes.

2 coats of Mastic

2 coats of Coal Tar Epoxy

1 coat of Chlorinated Rubber. This is a 'tie coat' that preps for the bottom paint.

4 coats of Hempel Globic Bottom Paint (in 2 colors).

We are hoping this will seal up the fiberglass bottom, keep from having more blisters, and provide good bottom paint for about 4 years of cruising the Pacific.

I've uploaded our spreadsheet with all the detailed Hempel paint product numbers. Here All this stuff was provided directly by the Hempel dealer in La Libertad (near PLYC).

I know you Facebook-ers probably aren't interested, but our fellow cruisers might be. Those of you with questions... email Dave! He'll probably put a more technical post in his Workshop section of the website when he gets a chance.

For now, we've stored all the paint stuff in a locker under the boat, so we can start applying the stuff as soon as we return.

Dave With All Paint Packed Away

The Cats Supervising the Paint Organizing

Dave Checking the Hull Moisture Level One More Time

Boat Work

While Soggy Paws continues to dry out, Dave has been busying working down his 'high priority before crossing the Pacific' and 'must do while hauled out' projects lists.

He spent a couple of days polishing the prop & other bronze underwater fittings, and installing a new zinc.

He has rebuilt several of our pumps... our galley macerator had gotten erratic, the forward head macerator wouldn't work, and several spare macerators needed checking. One extra macerator motor needed rewinding, so he took it into town to a motor guy, and got it fixed up for $12. Then he installed new bearings, shafts and seals in our two spare engine raw water pumps so they would be ready for quick replacement if needed.

He took our Monitor Wind Vane off, made some adjustments to the gear mesh play because when we finally got to use it on our trip from Costa Rica, we found the gears were way too loose. Then of course it had to be all shined up.

While he was at it, he also raised the swim platform about 10". It was too low and kept slamming right next to our head in the water, when we were trying to sleep in rolly Pacific anchorages.

And we've got new Boat Name and Hailing Port vinyl lettering on order back in the States with Speedy Signs.

He re-plumbed our 2 3700 GPH electric bilge pumps with new Tigerflex smooth bore hose. Now these emergency pumps discharge into the cockpit. While doing so, he found one of the discharge hoses was completely blocked with oyster-like growth. Hmmm... that's probably why it wasn't pumping water out! Then he replumbed our big manual pump with the same hose.

The details of his bilge pump arrangement are on our Soggy Paws Plumbing page, under Bilge Pump Engineering if you are interested.

The past couple of days he has been equalizing the batteries and tracing down a voltage drop on one bank. And so it goes. Next is a week of engine work.

Soggy Paws, Bare and Drying Out

Anti-Bird Device

When we got back on Soggy Paws from 6 weeks in Peru, the boat was fine. Except the deck was completely befowled with bird-poo.

Dave spent about 2 hours scrubbing it down. But at dusk... the pesky bird came home to roost... on the top of our mast. It was a huge Man-O-War bird. We banged the rigging and it flew away. But during dinner, we heard a 'splat' on deck. Yup, he was back, and had just splatted Dave's clean deck.

So the next day, Dave made an 'anti-bird device'. He went up the mast and took down our wind arrow... it's the first thing to go when big birds start roosting on your mast. And then he made a template of the mast top, using an old plastic placemat.


The end result was a plywood 'cap' for the top of the mast (with a hole cut out for the light and lightning dissipator), that has long screws sticking up. He also tied a piece of string from the back of the rod that the masthead fly was on, up to the top of the trilight.

Update: August 10...So far (in 10 days), no more poopy birds!

Back on Board in Ecuador

The LAN Checkout Counter in the Lima Airport
It's not as chaotic as it looks!
Well, we are back aboard Soggy Paws at Puerto Lucia Yacht Club, near Salinas, in Ecuador.

We flew back yesterday after about 6 weeks in Peru. We saw a lot of interesting stuff, but still only covered about 25% of what there is to see in Peru. We hope to do another trip to see parts of northern Peru in November or December.

A View of the Cordillera Blanca (White Mountains) from the Airplane
The boat is fine--this is a great place to leave the boat. Very secure, and a nice dry atmosphere. Usually when we come back, there is a green film (mold) on everything inside. But this time, hardly anything.

Our task this month is to get the bottom finished up, and hopefully start working on some of the other 'must do' projects.

Headed for Peru

Well, Soggy Paws is stripped down to the fiberglass and drying out in the nice cool dry air at Puerto Lucia.

So we are headed off to see some of Peru. We are starting in Lima, with our friends Eduardo and Anamarie. If Edy can take the time off work, we are hoping we can go together to visit the Huarez area of Peru. If now is not a good time for Edy, Dave and I will head off on our own to see Cuzco and the surrounding area.

We don't have a real concrete plan on this trip. Unlike our trip to Chile, where we almost had the entire 7 weeks planned out day-by-day. But Dave has been to Peru twice before, and we've got lots of notes from several cruising friends who've visted Peru recentl, plus the Lonely Planet. We also have the Bolivia section of the LP South America guide.. if we get a chance, we'll try to hit the high spots of Bolivia on this trip as well.

For a compact summary of where we went and where we stayed on our travels within Peru, see our Travel Peru page on the website.

On the Hard in Puerto Lucia

Clearance in La Libertad

The clearance here was easy, but expensive. PLYC arranged for all the officials to be here. We had 5 guys in our cockpit... 4 officials and an agent. We only had to pay $13 for 'Reception', but the agent gave us a 'bill' that we will have to pay on clearing out, for the following additional costs:

Zarpe: $43.50
Immigration: $15
Agent Fee $185

This is just for clearance from Bahia de Caraquez, and our clearance back to Bahia. Coming in from somewhere else, would cost a little more, I think. We DIDN'T have to pay a 'lights and bouys' fee, which we had already paid in Bahia (and could show a receipt for).

The agent fee is for a commercial agent to do all our in/out paperwork. (In Bahia, an agent is also required when entering or leaving, but Puerto Amistad acts as the agent and charges no fee).

I am not sure who bore the cost of getting the officials here... in Bahia you pay $60 taxi fare to taxi the officials from Manta. This fee is likely either the 'Reception' fee, or embedded in the Agent Fee.

We discussed with the Customs official, the one who has been making cruisers lives miserable here, our plans to stay at Puerto Lucia for about 2 months. This is the guy who has been using a rule not intended to apply to sailing vessels, to limit the boat stay to 6 months. (which, of course, can be extended if you jump through the right hoops). He agreed that we could stay 2 months (which would make our stay 'in country' over 6 months), and said that if we needed more time, we'd just need to write a letter explaining that we were still working on the boat. We won't know how this will all turn out until we leave, but we're not too worried about it.

Haulout

Costs to Haul Out, for our 44' Boat are as follows:

Travel Lift: $445.76 (does not include pressure wash)
Monthly Fee: $663.04 / mo (gets a little cheaper months 3+)
Liveaboard fee: $5/day
Water: Metered at $3/250 gallons
Elec: Metered at .25/Kwh

The 'Liveaboard Fee' only applies when we are actually on the boat. It seems high when added on top of Water, Electricity, and the monthly cost for the boat, but what it does is give us access to the BEAUTIFUL club facilities here.

I think dockage is the same as the 'on the hard' fee. And right now there are plenty of slips available. The prices are high for Ecuador, but the facility is first class. Is a great place to leave the boat safely.

Puerto Lucia Yacht Club

Wow, what a nice place. This is a full 'yacht club' complex, including about 10 hotel rooms, 2 restaurants, 2 pools, a sauna, 3 tennis courts, a fully-equipped gym, a computer room with internet access, a 24x7 gate guard and foot patrols. The $5/day liveaboard fee (which is NOT optional, if you are here), pays for access to all that.




There is a big mall right down the street, complete with 8-screen movie theater, food court, and a big 'Hypermart', which is somewhat like a Super Walmart... Ace Hardware, clothing store, and big grocery store in one.

We haven't yet had time to explore the town of La Libertad, but I know there is a great market there, where we can get fresh veggies and seafood for really good prices. It's a 35-cent bus ride from here, or a $1 taxi ride. And the beach town of Salinas is about the same distance in the other direction.

The Weather and Working Conditions

We have never had such a nice environment for working on the boat. Or living on the boat for that matter. The temp is a fairly constant 75F during the day, and a little cooler at night. There's usually a 10kt breeze. It is dry, no thunderstorms, or the hot muggy weather that's in Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia right now.

Stewart Yacht Services

Run by Canadian ex-pat, George Stewart, and his Ecuadorian wife, Marisol, Stewart Yacht Services is a do-all yacht services company that works out of PLYC. He comes highly recommended by other cruisers. We have George and his guys stripping Soggy Paws down to bare fiberglass, addressing blister issues, and then building it back up with a barrier coat and bottom paint.

So far we have found George very helpful and knowledgable, and his 'guys' very hard workers. We are paying George for good, experienced workers at the rate of $60/day, plus materials. George regularly ships stuff from the U.S. into Ecuador, and also knows all the local contacts for things like galvinizing chain, bottom paint, etc.

Immigration Issues

We were really sweating the 3-month tourist visa limitation, when we found we didn't get 'reset' on re-entry to Ecuador a few weeks ago. But since then, we know of one cruiser here at PLYC who successfully extended himself another 6 months (in Guayaquil). He documented the process for us, and we plan to follow his lead and do our own extension when the time comes.

Diesel Fuel

Getting diesel fuel has been a bit of a problem in Ecuador in the last few years. The problem is, they sell fuel to the people of Ecuador at nationally subsidized prices (the price is currently around $1/gallon ). Apparently some boats (maybe not cruisers, but fishing boats) were coming to Ecuador and filling up, and then going elsewhere and selling Ecuadorian fuel at a huge profit. So Ecuador made a law that prohibited selling fuel to foreigners. Of course, that was a great inconvenience for visiting sailboats, and there has been much said about the problem in the SSCA newsletters and online forums.

Now, 2 years later, things have settled out a little. Puerto Lucia has a permit, that they say cost them $100,000 in fees and surveys, to sell fuel to foreigners. The cost for 'foreign fuel' is around $2/gal right now. Double what the locals pay, but still substantially cheaper than surrounding countries.

Bahia WAS selling fuel under a temporary permit, for $1.50/gal when we arrived in Feb. But recently, they became 'unpermitted' (don't ask, we don't know). Tripp Martin at Puerto Amistad is working feverishly on formalizing an official permit. In the meantime, there is a 'workaround' so cruising boats coming to Bahia can get diesel when needed.

Ecuador is a great place, I can't believe there aren't more cruisers here. Even with the changing regulations and the high agent fee in Puerto Lucia, it's still a great place.