Captain’s Log: Back to the USA!!!

Oct 13-25

Hi All,

Yep, got that tune in my head…..and the other one….Leaving on a jet plane……..ok…..now that I put those tunes in your head keep singing along with me!!!

We are leaving today, Wed, Oct 25 at 8pm tonight and we get into SFO at 10pm the same day……just love crossing the date line going east…..a 17 hour flight on Cathay Pacific through Hong Kong…..of course that’s like 7am our KK time….going to be a rough jet lag period!!!!

So what have we been doing since getting back from Wakatobi….hmmm…….work, work some R&R and one day of play!!!!!!

John-boy: 44 items on my list……got most done but still have quite a bit of engine maintenance to do when we get back early January. And….another huge, and I mean huge operator error…..that is 2 this year and well……how stupid can stupid be…..so what did I do???? Well, I had the Balmar alternator and Cummins starter serviced that crapped out in the Anambas islands……the Balmar needed to be rewired to 12volt and the starter needed a new solenoid. Ok…..found a great repair shop and made instant friends with the owner!! Got both units back and installed…….I had the battery disconnect switch off and while we were watching a movie Kathy asks if I want it turned back on…..sure….then about an hour later we smell electrical……make a long story short I had reversed the Neg and Pos cables on the starter…..to this day I can’t explain it…..I even took pictures to make sure I got it right…..the only explanation is that on the alternator both cables had a red terminal guard instead of a black and red one……I thought it was the same for the starter…..I had already ordered new cable guards to get the colors correct but won’t get them until back in USA……to keep from making this mistake….ugh and arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

So, what happened…..burnt up the starter solenoid, plus the stop solenoid and the Balmar regulator as all these units are tied into the start circuit……so, I got to spend more time at the repair shop getting the stop solenoid rewound and then a few days to install and reprogram the new regulator…..probably cost me 3 days of time to get it all sorted……oweeeee!!!!!

The next huge item to get working was the Kabola diesel heater…..and we have success!!!! After almost 2 years of off/on working on the unit we have a working diesel heater!!!! Only would a boat owner run the Kabola and Air-Con at the same time:)))))

First the 2 pressure gauges we had Stacey bring back last summer did not work…different connectors…ugh!!! I showed the gauge we need to a boat neighbor and they knew of a shop in town that might have one…..and sure enough….I bought two!!! I installed the gauge and it read zero…..as in no pressure. We added water from the marina but the pressure only increased to 0.7 bars……would not go higher….we need 1-2 bars……so I thought we had a blockage somewhere….. I bled everything I know but no go. I changed the glycol filter….still nothing. I then switched the water hose to Mystic’s fresh water pump which I know is 50 psi or 3 bars…..and sure enough we got pressure up to 1.8 bars when I shut it off…..go figure the marina water pressure was so low….took me 3 hours to figure that out…ugh!!!! We started the boiler and it lit right away……all was good….until the water pressure safety valve started to leak…ugh. I played with it and used a plug and it stopped leaking. The pressure had built to 2 bars but with the leak decreased to 1.5 bars.

We ran the Kabola until all the units came on and we ran for about 10 minutes!!!! We both had beers in celebration!!! This is a big, big deal…..Kathy just read a blog where a sailboat’s diesel heater did not work……they were miserable in 41*F waters in Alaska…yikes!!!

The other big item was a new Cummins start battery…….outrageously expensive but we needed it……found a Delco battery that will work but has different charging parameters so had to take it off the boat’s charging system…..of course it did not have the blade terminals I needed so took a day to source some converter terminal plugs that are just temporary….will get the right ones in USA!!!

Kathy: clean, clean, wash, clean, inventory, checked all safety gear……the interior is so clean I can only go certain places with hands in my pockets:)))) She also inventoried a lot and got rid of a lot of stuff……yes, we got in a lot of hot yoga and were pretty beat come late afternoon…both have been on the wine/scotch and advil treatment:))))!!!

Our one play day: we took the Borneo Steam Train Tour…..”North Borneo Railway is the oldest running steam train in Sabah and Borneo. The nostalgic romance of an old steam train relives memories of a bygone era. Passing through villages and coastal towns, paddy fields, rainforests and plantations of rubber and coffee, a ride on North Borneo Railway is truly a journey of rediscovery into the heart of Borneo.”

It was a lot of fun…..complete with a light breakfast and a scrumptious lunch…..but, the train was several hours late…..when asked why, the head engineer just said they wanted to give us the true British experience….oh oweeeee…..sorry to our Brit friends:)))) Actually the old steam engine did break down and we had to be “rescued”….they sent a modern day diesel engine to tow us and the old steam engine back!!!!

So that is it……9 months since we have seen family and friends……we have upcoming a ZN/Tulane reunion, a Selene reunion, some cruiser friends coming for a visit/wine country and of course lots of time with our family and granddaughters!!

See you in 2018 for the exciting and ever challenging 7500nm run to Alaska!!

Hope all is well!!

John
Mystic Moon
Kota Kinabalu Malaysia on Borneo
nothing goes to weather like a 747:))))