Well we didn't get around to the blog yesterday so I'll try to catch up now. We woke up yesterday a bit late - it was right before the VHF cruiser's net started (about 8:25) and then after that we did a little cleaning up and realized that we were quite hungry and not quite up for making breakfast. We went to this pancake house in the gringo mall and had delicious egg dishes. After eating, and on the way back to Whisper, we ran into Tom and Dan (Persistence) and they were on their way out to either La Cruz or Punta Mita (about 5 and 15 miles or so from the marina, respectively, or so I hear). They invited us along, but we figured we'd stay on our boat and do boat stuff. Tom tried to persuade us with delicious food they had aboard, margaritas, and ice-cold beer, plus he noted that it was Mexico and we shouldn't be working all the time. Somehow we resisted and came back here to the boat.
Janet worked on sanding, oiling, and putting no-slip treads on the steps that lead from the cockpit to the galley so we'll be less likely to fall and they look nice too :) I noticed that the batteries were still charging at 30+ amps and thought that they had been charging up for quite some time. I lifted the quarter berth cushion and touched the panels that the house battery bank lies under and it was HOT. I opened up the compartment and the batteries themselves were really hot and a little liquid was coming out the top. Thinking I had overcharged the batteries (the voltage wasn't too bad, high 13s, but we had been charging so long the math - along with the amp-hour meter showing how much juice we put in - suggested over-charging), I shut down the charger, but continued to draw juice for the lights, fans, fridge, etc. Also, I left open the hatches covering the batteries (and raised the cushion) so they could better dissipate heat. After sending a few e-mails to Ben and reading up (in Nigel Calder's book on boat maintenance and electrical systems - written kinda like a textbook so it's not dumbed down, but not inaccessible at the same time) on batteries, I thought that things would be okay and that the batteries needed to rest. Yes, deep cycle batteries benefit from rest, which is something I can relate too. So today (Sat) I checked the batteries and they were cool, and then turned the charger back on and they didn't seem to heat up too much at all. Also we went looking for distilled water to add to the batteries as they might have lost some during the deep charge. I got into a fairly big debate with Janet and a couple other sailors on the difference between distilled drinking water and distilled water for batteries. They say that distilled water is distilled water. My understanding, which could be wrong and I'll check on, is that pure distilled water is undrinkable due to the complete lack of minerals. This lack of minerals in the water is great for batteries as it doesn't create any short circuiting (which regular water will do, albeit only by a small amount). My position is that the drinking distilled water is not completely mineral-free, and therefore not ideal for topping off wet cell batteries. Since we obviously would like the longest lifespan practically possible for our house battery bank, Janet went through the extra effort to get special distilled water (at the outrageous price of $1.50 for 1 liter) which was in the automotive department (and says for batteries) at a local store (called Commercial, funny enough). I'm sure some good googling will provide some sort of answer. . .if anyone sees anything in support of my position, please feel free to let me know, otherwise I don't want to hear about it :)
Funny story - on Janet's way back from Commercial (gotta say it with a Mexican/Spanish accent - co-mer-SEE-al) she got off the bus a little too early (about a 20 min walk). While walking back, she saw this pickup pull up next to her and slow down. This guy driving was craning his neck and waving at Janet. Eventually she looked over and realized it was Max (the New Zealander who was supposed to help us fix our sleeping quarters)! He gave her a ride back and I guess they had a good laugh over it as she completely ignored what she thought was some lecherous dude - like the construction guys who giver her a cacophony (her words) of whistles ever time she walks by.
Back to yesterday (Friday) - Janet's UTI and my eye issues were much better and I put my left contact back in today and hope to have fewer bumps on my left side as a result! Max was the guy who was supposed to help with our bed construction issues (see earlier blog post, can't remember which one now), but has his own issues. Fortunately John (from Scarlet O'Hara) is also a woodworker. Janet dropped off the plans at his boat, and he came by to do some of his own measurements. Hopefully he'll get the wood to us this week and we won't have to sleep apart much longer!!!
We had a late lunch at the yacht club yesterday, and one of the bartenders we like (Alejandro, or Alex) was there and remembered us from earlier in the week. I asked him about getting an acoustic guitar and he said he had several musician friends and would buy one for me (to pay him back). I am not sure if this means I'm getting a deal (no gringo markup) or he's taking a cut (ultimate gringo markup) but he's nice and I didn't bring down my guitar (pain in the ass to fly with!) so I am hoping it works out.
We also flushed out our water tanks again (we went empty with all the cleaning, and used the opportunity to blast the heck out of the tank) and did some scrubbing. It's not perfectly clean, but I'm sure most people's pipes at home are not shiny on the inside either! The water looks fine and smells fine (no bleach yet as I remembered it is bad for the watermaker when we need to put that back in service - more on that when we do it) and is probably okay to drink. Anyways, we're sticking with the bottled water (at the expensive mall market it's $1.90 for five liters, at any other market it's like $1.50 for ten liters) 'till the watermaker is online.
Now on to today - it was a good working Saturday I have to say. Janet went to the swap meet this morning and picked us up some sweet dry-bags for "coconuts" (everyone says coconuts when they mean cheap) while I worked on the boat. In addition to figuring out the battery stuff (see above), I cleaned out the v-berth (at the bow, or front, of the boat), got out our inflatable dinghy and pumped it up (we have this great foot pump). I spent a long time with the outboard (we have a 2.5 hp 2-stroke gasoline motor for the dinghy) as the bolt that fastens it to the dinghy is frozen. I applied several coats of WD40 hoping to free it, but no luck yet. I'll hit it again with WD40 before going to sleep and try again tomorrow morning. If that doesn't work, I'll either use a hammer and/or try to get some penetrating oil (we had some on the boat, but the cans have lost all their propellant so their kinda useless - must be the heat!) and bigger wrenches. So I haven't even tested if it works yet, but if I can't attach it to anything it doesn't seem to matter so much. We also did some rearranging (on purpose this time, not just to clean some area which is kinda refreshing) and then I was getting ready to try and start the diesel. Instead, we showered up and went to this charity spaghetti dinner for junior sailors. I won't say much about it here as this post is getting pretty long, but my opinion was it was more people patting themselves on the back than anything else (most, but NOT all) of the sailing kids were current sailor/cruiser's kids, and I'll just leave it at that. . .