The Dashews check out some cool gear on the neighboring boats in Balboa.
We’ve had our first tropical downpour in three years, and we like this form of rain more than what we have been used to in the colder cruising grounds.
It caught Linda a quarter of a mile from the boat loaded with produce. But it is warm, and what’s a little rain when you’re needing refreshment?
Once you have eaten fresh tropical fruit, it is hard to go back to what ends up in the temperate climate markets.
Meanwhile, our short list of projects is complete:
- Change the engine oil.
- Tighten a Murphy Switchgauge fitting on the port engine.
- Replace a PAR bilge pump with a cracked bellows and tired motor.
- Wipe down and inspect the engine room.
- Check bolts on the newly installed CV axles (now with 350 hours of use).
Arrange to have new seals installed in the port engine raw water pump (which currently is fitted with the spare).
The above represents a pair of two-hour stints in the engine room. Not bad after 3000 miles.
Panama is one of the cruising crossroads, and there are a variety of large (as in mega) and small yachts to peruse.
We’re guessing that this clean-lined sloop is about 130 feet. Now, test your powers of observation. What is abnormal here for a mega yacht these days?
If you answered a real mainsail and hanked on staysail you would win the prize. These guys must be seriously into their sailing (they even have twin rudders).
How’s this for chafe protection? A Kevlar laminate, molded to deck edge which fits over the cleat.
And a very clean radar mast.
This looks to be about a 45-pound Bruce copy, not nearly enough anchor for a 30-footer, let alone this 47-foot cruiser. That bow roller would not last long in an exposed anchorage either.
And an 80-pound ROCNA on this 50-foot cat. We are seeing these anchors all over now,and everyone loves them.
Drying out. When we started cruising we’d almost always have one leak on each passage, and on the rougher trips our scene at the dock would look much like this. Which is why we are so anal about building dry boats.
One of the benefits of coming to the dock: It makes it easier to meet other cruisers.
We’re scheduled to do the Canal on Sunday.
Posted by Steve Dashew (May 1, 2008)
