BRAVO Refit - Weeks 10 thru 13

As we're entering our 4th month on the hard in the boatyard, life has taken on a rather hum drum rhythm....we wake up aboard (yee-hah!!!.....a great improvement as we moved back aboard from our camper van a week ago, as there is no more work going on in the aft stateroom), head into the yard's office kitchen for breakfast and coffee (they have refrigerators, sink, and microwave for hauled out boaties to use), and then start the day's projects.  We typically work till 6 or so, shower, have a beer or 3, make dinner in the office, watch a bit of awful tv on the bigscreen there, before the saunter back to Bravo for bed.  7 days / week, with little change save one or two welcome evenings out of the boatyard with friends!

Sunrise view looking over our stern as the boatyard comes to life.

Dockland 5 Boatyard has become a sort of mini maritime United Nations.  Owners of boats from New Zealand, Australia, Russia, France, Vanuatu, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, England, Hong Kong, Italy, Norway, and the U.S.  are hard at work, sanding, painting, rigging, and welding.  The pace has picked up dramatically, with winter approaching and many boats getting ready for the annual voyage north to the tropics or west to Asia and Australia.  Nights are increasingly chilly, and the days are getting much shorter.....

We're definitely in the homestretch of this refit.  A good thing, as we must leave New Zealand by early June due to our visa expiration.  Here's the status......

Fuel tanks:  DONE!  All of the cabinetry is rebuilt, so the tanks are hidden once again, and holding fuel without leaks.  This was a huge job, one that we never want to repeat.

Port side tank behind new bulkhead and shelves in the equipment pantry.  All have now been finished and painted, and the freezer and watermaker equipment are nearly installed on the shelves.

Starboard side.  Tanks are behind the teak panel. Compartment above awaits the re-installation of the generator.

Generator:  The crane delivered the rebuilt beast, and it's now back in it's compartment.  Mechanics Glen and Jeff did a fantastic job shoe horning the 375 lb rascal into place, without a scratch to the woodwork.  Kiwi ingenuity coupled with steel cajones, these guys!  We'll hook it all back up when we're back in the water.

What could possibly go wrong???!!!

Smile of success!

Genset finally rests in compartment awaiting hookup

Rigging:  DONE!  Just waiting on one broken part of the genoa furler, but otherwise all of the spar welding, and new standing rigging is completed.

Freezer:  DONE!  We finished the construction and painting of the new box and lid, and install of the new equipment.  (An Isotherm water cooled unit.  Compressor cooling is somewhat of an experiment, as we're running the cooling piping to and from one of our fresh water tanks instead of the more typical seawater outside the hull.  So far so good, with no appreciable warming of the water in the tank.  Nice not to need more seawater flowing into the boat, and a side benefit is that we can run the unit when the boat is out of the water)  It's running beautifully, and seems to use just around 35 amp hours / day, compared to 140 a.h. for the old, poorly insulated box.  This is a major success, and will hopefully allow us to rely solely on our solar panels for electricity, without running our generator daily.

The "Sugar Shack".  Our shipping container varnishing, fiberglassing, and painting room.  Nice!

Freezer lid and frame ready for fiberglass and paint

Freezer installed, now on "fridge" setting....and used for its highest and best purpose!!!

 Galley rebuild:  This is the biggie at the moment.  Since we needed to rip out the freezer box to redo it, the main galley counter had to come out as well.  We're getting a new one made of solid surface material like Corian, and decided to do all of the other counters at the same time.  Has become a fairly big project, and the counters will not be fabricated for about 2 more weeks.

Cindi works with shipwright Steve Erlich on plans for the new galley.  This pattern then went to the shop for fabrication.

Current use of the galley.....our workbench!

Wood refinishing:  Now completing coat 9, just one to go for all of the exterior varnishing.  Nearly there!  We'll then be able to reinstall the dodger and bimini frames, removed 3 months ago to allow the crane to hoist out the generator.

In the meantime, of course, there's been no shortage of smaller but time consuming little jobs.....servicing winches and anchor windlass, installing deck hardware, welding repairs to solar panel arch and genoa cheek blocks, installing new genoa tracks, headliner repairs, etc.  But it really does look like we're getting close as another project gets crossed off the list nearly every day.  As soon as the galley counters are installed, we should be back in the water, and BRAVO's 30 year birthday refit will be complete!  

Adios, Puntarenas

Well, the past 2-1/2 weeks have indeed been a marathon of boat projects.  Remember that refrigeration hassle???   We never heard back from literally the one source of parts for the system in THE WORLD, who's now traveling in Portugal.  After waiting for several days, we decided to vacuum out the brand new R22 refrigerant we'd just put in, and order and replace with the original refrigerant, HFC 404a.  Didn't know if it would help, but we thought at least it would have us back to factory spec, so that we could decide whether or not to replace the entire system.  (Even though an ex-factory tech told us that the R22 would work fine as a replacement)  Several days had been spent speculating, deliberating, and navel gazing across 3 continents.  You ask 10 techs what the problem is, and it's a guarantee you'll get at least 11 opinions!!!

Refer unit icing up at the suction valve.....not good!!!

Turned out that this new refrigerant did the trick!!!  Our original thought, that the system was just low on refrigerant, was spot on.  Put back the specified amount of the specified gas, and bingo, bango, the system is running as well as the day it was installed.....no icing up, no 3 hour run times to cool the plates.....life is good, as I sip a coldie this evening!!!  It had been low on refrigerant to begin with, and adding the wrong stuff was not the answer!!!


It's now time for us to leave Puntarenas.  Kind of a strange place, really, with it's gritty fishing port atmosphere interspersed with a fairly minor recreational boat population.  Great spot to get boat work done, though.  With the large commercial fishing fleet, it's easy to find parts and technicians to help with mechanical systems and equipment.  (Don't look for a sailmaker here, though!!)  While here we fixed the refrigeration, welded our exhaust system, replaced the hoses on our propane system, and (hopefully) fixed the controls on a finicky diesel generator.  Not bad.  The people at the Costa Rica Yacht Club have been a terrific help, lending assistance whenever possible to make our stay here as pleasant as possible.  Tomorrow we'll be on our way, continuing south to explore more of this interesting country.

Typical chemical barge passing by our mooring in the estuary.....These guys run day and night.

The biggest outboard motors in the world, with their fuel tank sitting between them!

Puntarenas Blues

We're still here in Puntarenas after 10 days...quite a bit longer than expected.  We got the engine exhaust welded in just a day or so...turned out very well...though I thought the beer can patch was kind of classy. 

But we've noticed our refrigeration system has been working much harder than ever to keep our freezer frozen and our fridge cold.  Much longer run times than normal to freeze the holding plates, and even then, we can't get them as low as before....it just runs and runs trying to get colder without effect...translates to enormous battery drain (the system runs 35 amps / hour) AND shorter hold over time before the system needs to run again.  A bad combination.  Coupled with the cloudy days (lower solar output from our panels), we're now running our generator twice/day, for a total of perhaps 3+ hours.  Not good.  And it means we cannot leave the boat unattended for more than the day, as we need the morning and evening genset run.  This is a major issue for us.

So we've been working with our Seattle refrigeration guru, Mark McBride, who installed the system 8 years ago.  He's a whiz, but it's very difficult to troubleshoot a complex system like this remotely, with many variables affecting the performance.  The first thought was low refrigerant level.  We found a local refrigeration mechanic here in Puntarenas to help, but he didn't have the identical refrigerant as the original (HFC-404a), so we needed to vacuum the system, then introduce a new refrigerant, R-22.

That didn't help, the system is still not working well.  The local mechanic thinks it's the compressor.  Unfortunately the company who made this "state of the art" (note the quotation marks!!!), Glacier Bay, got out of the business a few years ago, and the compressors are proprietary.  And the one person in the world who has the compressors available is traveling in Portugal now!!!  And our Seattle mechanic doesn't think it's the compressor anyway, but at this point, is not sure what the problem is.....   Ughhhhhhhhh.......

It's an old cliche that the definition of "cruising" is "getting to fix your boat in exotic places".  Knock on wood, 'Bravo' has been pretty trouble free for the past 2 years, at least for major problems.  This is the first real stumper we've faced.  Will see what today brings.  If we can't at least come up with the cause of the problem, we may need to limp the system along until we get to Ecuador, with the time to work on it some more.  Might mean......(shudder)......shutting down the freezer.  Hard to enjoy a margueritta without ice!!!!!

As we said, we're now firmly in the Central American rainy season.  And with the rains come the bugs.  We're moored not 15 feet from the mangroves on shore, so the "no-see-ums", or "jejenes" in Spanish have been enjoying 'Bravo's crew for breakfast every morning.  Nasty little buggers, they really are so tiny that you can barely see them.  We have screens on all of our ports and hatches, but they laugh their little bug laughs as they fly right through the screens!  Tried repellent sprays at first.  Sort of worked, but we hate being cooped up in the cabin breathing the stuff all the time.

Adam the mummy, reading his Kindle in bed

So we tried head nets with super fine mesh, and had to wrap up in a sheet to protect all the other parts.  (Note that it's been so HOT that we never even think of covering up w/ a sheet, it blocks the air from our fans...but the jejenes took priority).  Also made it kind of tough to sleep, or whatever, with the stupid head nets on!!!

So we found some mesh netting used for bridal veils at a fabric store, and Cindi sewed up a "tent" for our bunk.  Unfortunately, although its really a fine mesh, these bad boys of the insect world can get through it pretty much as their appetites demand, and the battle ain't over!!!!!

Stay for updates on this continuing saga!!!

In the meantime, must be time to head to the pool and noodle the refrigeration problem some more...holding a coldie.......