Panama Departure

Hi everyone,
At 1200 today we were at 09 51N 079 42W steering 345M, sailng under full main and single-furled yankee at 4.5 knots.  It is sunny with scattered cumulus clouds.  The wind was 08G12 from the NE.  Our run since departure at 0830 this morning was 16nm (by the log).

Panama in our wake

Yesterday we cleared out from Panama.  It turned out to be an all day adventure.  We started on the $3 two hour bus from Linton Bay to Sabanitas at 0600.  From Sabanitas we took a $5 taxi into Colon to the Customs office.  They gave us a strange looking Zarpe (ship clearance) which turned out to be only a 'permission to issue a Zarpe'.

From Customs we taxied to the Immigration office at the Cruise Ship terminal in Colon.  They told us we had to go to the Protobelo Immigation office.  So we taxied back to Sabanitas, did some last supermarket shopping, and took a $2 1.5 hour bus back to Portobelo.  At the Immigration office they said they could stamp our passports, but only after we get our Zarpe at the Customs office in Linton Bay.  $10 taxi to Linton Bay where we just made it before they closed at 1200 and got our Zarpe.

Another $10 taxi back to Portobelo to the Immigration and we finally got our passports stamped.  We each had to pay a $50 fine for exceeding our 90 day visa.  After a final $10 taxi back to Linton Bay we were at last good to go, and ready for a beer!

We had a nice evening at the bar with the crews of sv Triton and sv Skyfall.  And this morning they cast off our lines for us.  Our two months in Linton Bay were tedious in some respects, but we made (and renewed) some good new friends.  That included sv Asha, Avanti, Grainne Mhaol, Jetlag, LaVida, LuSea, Mac, Packific, Ruffian, Tanager, Timmies Run, Triton, Skyfall, Zelda and Zoria.

On clearing Linton Bay this morning we set our course NNW in a lightish NE breeze.  The breeze lightened and early in the afternoon started to back.  At 1415 we tacked onto port and are now heading 090 at 4.5kt.

Trust all's well where you are!

Linton Bay Adventures #2

Hi everyone,

We've now been in Linton Bay Marina for over two months.  Much longer than anticipated but we now have a working engine again!  It was quite an adventure fixing it.

Semi-custom mounts ready to install

As the previous blog describes, the mount inserts were disintegrating and needed replacing.  New inserts arrived from Australia and were fitted into the mounts after removing the engine from its bay.  Replacing the engine revealed that aligning the engine with the shaft was impossible - the mounts were already bottomed-out and the engine had moved up with the new inserts.

The solution was found by Vince, an American with a metal fabrication business PCAfab in nearby Puerto Lindo.  He pointed out that new mount bases could be constructed with the 'collar' on which the inserts sit lowered.  This would give us 8-9mm depression.  We would have to cut circular holes below each mount to allow the moving part freedom to move.  And the new mount bases would need to be custom made.

Within a few hours Vince had sent us a mechanical drawing to check and we had agreed a price.  It took three weeks for a set of mount bases to be manufactured in Panama City.  Sadly two dimensions were mixed up and they had to be remade, which took another week.  A week ago we finally had the solution to our problem.  It only took two months, which I'm told isn't too bad in Panama.

While waiting on the custom mount bases we worked on the rest of the to-do list.  One item which had been languishing for months was a sewing table for Nicki.  We had bought a sheet of 9mm marine ply in Grenada and cut it roughly to size there.

The table consists of two top pieces, port and starboard, each of which stows under a saloon settee seat.  Below them is a central piece which holds the two top pieces together.  Everything is held together by four bolts which pass through top piece, central piece and the the existing table top.  Each bolt has two nuts, one to secure top to centre, and the other the whole to the table.  Came together pretty well with most time spent on the varnishing.

Measure thrice, cut once

Asssembly inverted in saloon

Demountable sewing/dining table in place

We also managed a day trip to Panama City.  We took busses all the way there and back - about 4 hours each way.  We had four hours to explore a little of the city, the sea front and the old city.  We spent the day with sv Ruffian of Amble and sv Skyfall.

Bust of Einstein in Panama City

One of many high-rise buildings in the new city

Cathedral

Panama City Cathedral

A view across (part of) the Pacific!

Mola Museum

More Molas!

Old Panama City Cathedral

Colonial architecture in the old city

Murals in the old city

The fish market

Lunch near the fish market

One of many Panama Hat shops

A couple of days before the new mount bases were due for delivery Vince visited to drill the holes in the beds.  Prior to that I had cleaned and repainted the engine bay.

Engine bay repainted and tackles rigged

Vince drilling the bed-top holes

New mounts in place

The mount bases were delivered on Sunday.  On Monday the crews of sv Skyfall and sv Triton assisted with lifting the engine back into its bay and onto the mounts.  On Tuesday I aligned the engine with the shaft and hooked up morse cables, water/exhaust hoses, electrics etc.  On Wednesday we refilled coolant and oil, and replaced the oil filter.  When we started the engine oil gushed into the bilge - not good!  Eventually we figured out the reason with help from sv Asha - I'd fitted the new filter and its seal with the old filter's seal still in place.  After fixing this error we test ran the engine from idle to its 3400rpm max.  This showed the new mount inserts are damping resonance peaks much better than the old.

On Thursday we ran the engine in gear and checked the alignment.  Everything was fine over the full range of revs (up to 2500 rpm which is our in-gear max).  We let the engine run for an hour.

Tools at the ready

Lifting gear

Engine restored!

On Friday we were visited by Carlos the mechanic.  We had him check the re-installation overall and the shaft alignment.  He seemed to do a thorough job and declared 'very nice installation ' and 'perfect alignment'.  Phew!

We're now preparing to clear-out of Panama.  We will be heading north.  Monitoring the weather.

Linton Bay Adventures

Hi everyone,

We've now been in Linton Bay Marina for over a month.  As mentioned previously our engine mounts were showing signs of deterioration as we cruised the eastern San Blas.  We ordered a new set of polymer inserts from PolyFlex in Australia before arriving in Linton Bay.  The primary goal of our stay in the marina here is to replace the mounts.

Engine Out!

As soon as we arrived in Linton Bay we ordered a set of blocks from the US.  They were to use in lifting the engine.  Unfortunately one order turned into a set of parcels which was a nightmare.  We spent a couple of days draining fluids and entirely disconnecting the engine.  Oil, coolant, fuel, water, electrics, morse controls, vented loop, exhaust, shaft coupling etc.

While waiting for parcels we worked on other jobs.  For ages we'd been wanting to remove the s/s mounts for our long-ago removed 'granny bars'  each side of the mast.  We'd also had water ingress into the forepeak which discoloured the adjacent bulkhead veneer.  So we removed and rebedded all the potentially responsible foredeck fittings, and permanently removed the six granny bar mounts.  And once we were confident we'd fixed the water ingress we cut away the bad veneer and varnished the underlying marine ply bulkhead.

Removing the granny bar mounts involved taking down part of the saloon headlining.  We took the opportunity to revarnish the battens which help hold it up.  With the mounts removed we cleaned the holes and filled them with epoxy putty - made up using flour as a thickener.  Unconventional but it worked!

Granny Bar Mounts removed

Holes plugged on deck

Holes plugged below

Varnishing the headliner battens

The filled holes were sanded back and painted with epoxy primer.  The hardener had the consistency of contact cement but happily worked just fine.  It's hard to source marine gear here in Panama, except perhaps in Panama City which is a full day on a bus or US$150 for a taxi each way.  So we made do with what we had, when possible!  While awaiting the parcels we also removed the bolts holding down the engine mounts.  That wasn't an easy task with very poor access under the engine beds.  

The wait for the mount inserts and blocks was interminable, but Linton Bay is quite social.  Many boats pass through and we enjoyed meeting quite a few of them.  The cafe and bar is a nice meeting place.  And there's a good fruit'n'veg guy here 6 days a week.  And there's a small but very good supermarket a 15 minute walk away.

Three weeks after arrival we finally had the new mount inserts and sufficient blocks to lift the engine.  Each parcel arrival required a 3 hour (each way) bus ride into Colon to collect it.  We did this at least three times - I lost count!

On the bus to Colon

With all the gear on hand, and help from Karl of Aussie sv Grainne Mhaol, we lifted the engine sufficiently to slide out the mounts and lowered the engine onto chocks.

Engine and Lifting Tackle

Refurbishing the mounts was simple.  The PolyFlex mounts disassemble and reassemble easily.  All elements got a good clean.  The old inserts were clearly u/s.

Refurbished Mounts

We then lifted the engine back up, attached the mounts to the engine and lowered it into place.  That's when we found the problem.  The aft engine mounts were already at the bottom of their travel and the engine was now too high to align with the shaft.

We spent a week pondering and discussing approaches to fix the problem.  All involved cutting down the engine beds in one way or another.  I really didn't like the sound of that.  With help from Richard of Kiwi sv La Vida we lifted the engine out of the engine bay.  This showed the engine bed tops were too thin to route down.  The only option seemed to be to cut the beds down.  While pondering further we cleaned the engine bay.

Preparing to lift the engine out of its bay

Cleaning the empty engine bay

And then, almost by accident, we found an American metal fabricator with a business a few miles away.  He visited and came up with a novel solution within minutes.  But that's for a future exciting episode.

The busses we took to Colon to collect our parcels pass through Sabanitas.  Sabanitas has an array of large supermarkets, general hardware stores and ATMs.  We've been provisioning for the months ahead between other jobs. 

Full Bilges!

At least we can have a nice long shower every day here in the marina.  And hopefully we're now well on the way towards fixing our engine mounts.

Zen Again in Linton Bay Marina

Trust all's well where you are.