Livin' the Boatyard Life - Marina Seca, San Carlos, Mexico

San Carlos Marina and Hotel Marina Terra on the right.

 

The wind is howling and its raining off and on today. The boat is shuddering on its stands and Cinnamon is hiding under the covers. Looks like a good day to write while Greg is away in Guaymas.

We arrived on Sunday and our boat wasn't moving from storage to the work yard till Tuesday afternoon. We parked Amby by our friends', Robert and Rose, motor home.

 



 

The marina office is surrounding with beautiful flowers soaking up the sunshine.

 

The only one I can identify is a hollyhock.

 

These pictures are for my friends that say all they see in my blog is pictures of rocks and desert.

 

 

 

Our first mornings were pretty laid back. Greg enjoyed some early morning conversations with Robert and Pinto. Alejandro, the local shrimp and Mexican food peddler, happened to stop by on our first day so we feasted on chile rellenos that night. To our surprise, Pinto enjoyed chile rellenos too!



Pinto was really into chasing cars and while we were gone he was struck by one. His hip was dislocated and now he hops around on three legs. He's a boatyard dog and no one felt like taking him to a vet. Rose and Robert would have, and so would I, but they arrived after the bone had set and not much could be done. This was very sad since Pinto isn't very old. He does however, find it difficult to chase cars now.

One evening we were in Robert's motor home and we noticed a flat of eggs. He told us that they weren't for cooking, they were for the dogs. Everyday he mixes up some kind of raw egg soup for them. I don't know how they are going to cope when Robert and Rose head  back to the South Pacific next spring for three years. I know I'm going to really miss them.

Alejandro is a character, to be sure, but I really like him. Like a lot of Mexicans, he works really hard and makes very little. His truck looks pretty sad from the outside. One day he tried to sell me some shrimp and snapper but I didn't have any money and couldn't get to the bank (Amby was inoperable once again). He said "Here. I trust you (something he says frequently). When I come back in a couple hours I'll take you to the bank." Great. I didn't give it a second thought. When he returned I opened the door to get in his truck but had to wait while he moved a large bag of aluminum cans. Then it hit me. I was taking my life in my hands. His poor truck was a total wreck and seemed to be running on a prayer. I commented on the lack of a muffler and he said something about a little more money next week and maybe it would get fixed. Then he told me that most people would never think of getting in his truck with him. I told him "I trust you."

 

Gitana got moved into the yard without incident and Greg got right to work but found time to reacquaint himself with friends from last year and meet many new people. Brian was probably the most interesting this season.

 

Brian is a very good looking young guy except for his choice of dreadlocks.

 He told us that he had married into money and when his wife just wanted to work their farm he couldn't stand it and they divorced. He got a nice settlement and decided to buy a boat. Not just any boat, but a very unusual one-of-a-kind catamaran called  a Cat2Fold. When we met him he was busy putting some interesting decals on it. This boat is 24 feet wide when expanded, with a sold platform spanning the middle. The flush sides make it especially interesting.

 

I never realized how useful kids could be until this season in the yard.  Apparently kids that spend a lot of time on boats don't have second thoughts about going up the mast, and actually seem to enjoy it!
 

A family of four was busy preparing it for launch. What initially brought my attention to this boat

 was hearing a very young voice coming out of the sky. They had sent their youngest up the mast. Apparently going up wasn't too difficult but coming back down was proving to be a challenge. The parents where providing lots of suggestions from below. The mother suggested wrapping a line around the child's neck (I didn't hear this but it was mentioned later) while the father said that wasn't a good idea. The child replied "I'm not that stupid". As far as I could see the child was the smartest one in the bunch. The decent was eventually safely completed.



The folks on Puddle Pirate used the same tactic, pulling their daughter up the mast. Both mom and pop are kinda portly so I can see the logic.

We've made some great new friends this season. Once we get out of the boatyard we will be heading to Bahia Conception and hope to meet up with our new friends on Cada Dia Mas ("more every day" is how I think that translates), Bill and Elli, also from Washington.

 

 

Gorda, the real watch dog, is waiting for the next call to action.

 

 

 

 



 

Cal 34 Maintenance Projects - #1 Hull Blisters

 

We arrived with a list of projects, just like everyone else, I'm sure. Greg was determined that we were only going to be in the yard for thirty days, unlike last season when we were here for three months. We never expected to spend four weeks just doing blister repair. When we bought Gitana she had been out of the water for at least two years and the hull had dried out. Consequently, the hull inspection didn't reveal blisters. However, once she was back in the water, the water began to seep back in. When we hauled her out last spring Greg started to find blisters.

 

Greg jumped on the blister problem as soon as the boat was on the stands.

 

There are two schools of thought on blisters in fiberglass: those who think there isn't anything to 

worry about (the smallest group) and those who think that they will undermine the integrity of the hull (which is how Greg thinks). When the gelcoat is breached and water enters it interacts with the bonding material in the mat (it doesn't affect the roving) forming an acid. The acid creates more osmotic pressure, causing more water to be drawn in. This creates more pressure on the gelcoat leading to more damage.

 

A few blisters turned into hundreds. All the bottom paint needed to be removed and every blister identified and ground out. Greg found patches on patches and poorly completed work. He ground day after day for weeks. Everyone in the yard new about the guy doing such a thorough job on his hull, and most stopped by to talk about it (adding to how long it took to finish - so if you plan to do this be sure to add this to your time frame). There is a tool called a "hull peeler" but unfortunately not down here with us.

 Down to the gelcoat.

 

  Gitana is ready for her blisters to be filled with epoxy. 

 

 

 

 

We had some keel damage from a close encounter with a rock last year so Greg needed to do some fiberglass work on the keel. The solid red area on the keel is last year's repair that didn't need to be redone.

 

 

Gitana is 34 feet and it took 3 gallons of epoxy to fill the blisters (epoxy and fairing filler) and create at new barrier coat. Greg put three layers of epoxy with barrier additive. This was intensive since the coats went on one right after the other. Finally bottom paint was applied while the barrier coat was gelling to ensure good adhesion.

 Note the shininess of the hull from the wet epoxy.

The finished product. People who were looking for us walked right on by because they were looking for the spotted hull. They were really surprised because the transformation was so quick after weeks of looking like a leper. The project took four weeks +. The stands have been moved and the spots repaired but they still need the barrier/bottom paint treatment. 

 Gumby takes a break. Greg had initially insisted that we were only going to work on the boat for 30 days and that was it! We were going sailing. Now after spending four weeks just on the bottom, he has decided that he can't stand having all these uncompleted projects so we are staying for an undetermined amount of time. This isn't too terribly bad since we will be able to celebrate Christmas day with out friends, Rose and Robert (Rose is making a BBQ turkey with a bottle of wine in the stuffing - sans bottle), and be here around January 10th when our other friends return from WA with our mail. I hope at that point we are ready to go though because I am getting tired of living in a dirty tree house.

 

 

Now I have not spent all my time sitting around "playing" with my computer and sipping wine. I consider being the galley slave a significant job but I have tackled a few projects myself. No. 1, since I am the official toilet mechanic on this boat, I rebuilt the toilet pump assembly with the new kit we purchased (last year was more of an emergency repair). I'm getting much better at getting at the impossibly located nuts on the base and although I got very hot and sweaty while working on it, I was never tempted to smash the damned thing. Now I just have to wait to get some water under us to see if I did a good job. Note the dainty little girl tools.

 





 

 

My second major project is creating a new V berth mattress from a foam Walmart mattress-in-a-box.

Greg did this several years ago for Comocean. That project turned out very well. This time its turning out to be a bit more difficult. I don't mean to complain (much) but he had a nice big table that was smooth to work on. That foam mattress was all one piece. I'm working in Amby which is a bit tight for a queen size mattress and the plywood is very rough. I discovered, too late, that the steel box tubing stands like to tear the foam too. My biggest problem, and take note if you plan to do this too, is that the mattress has egg-crate topped with a separate thermal foam glued to the high spots.  I did not see that important feature on Walmart's website. I had planned to cut the mattress on a diagonal and flip one over. Can't do that. I have to try and glue a corner on the inverted piece to create the mirror image of the other side. I'm using a heavy duty spray adhesive which is curing as I write this. We'll see how it turns out. I'm hoping that once its in the cover, all will be fine.



 

My other major project was a "wana do". Gitana's former owner was very fond of having lots of stuff

on the walls (Robert corrected me "bulkheads") - either screwed or stuck on with industrial strength sticky Velcro. He also was addicted to 110 power and power strips which he screwed into the bulkheads (I like "walls" better). To run the big, fat plugs around he cut lots of 2" holes in the bulkheads. The result is a horrible mess!  Rose had shown me last year how to use the heat gun to strip varnish and I couldn't wait to start. Last year we found a great heat gun at the Home Depot here in Guaymas. I've waited all summer to get my hands on that thing. Now its my new best friend. I keep finding more and more stuff that I want to strip - to the point that Greg has demanded that I stop.

 

After a couple days the stripped wall was starting to look a little better. Robert and Rose have shown me how to make plugs on their drill press and loaned me a set Forstner bits to prep the holes for the plugs. With all my new skills I may have to start a new profession.

 

Before and after. 

 Cinnamon tried to help but hot heat guns and wet varnish didn't seem like things he should mess with so he pretty much just tried to stay out of the way in his "tent"

 



 

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Kris Eggle Visitor Center at Organ Pipe Catus Nat. Monument
























The Organ Pipe Nat. Monument is in southern Arizona and is contiguous with the US Mexican border. It showcases the Sonoran Desert and its many plants and animals. It is "green desert" with vast expanses of Mesquite and Palo Verde. 

 

It also contains its name sake, the Organ Pipe cactus, Saguaro cactus and lots of Cholla. The Teddybear cholla made look cuddly from a distance but its definitely not!

 

The area supports abundant wildlife including the endangered Sonora pronghorned antelope (only 100 remain in the US and about 650 in Mexico), gila monster (a 2 foot slow moving lizard which is the only venomous lizard native to the US), the javelina or peccary which is a wild pig and the desert tortoise.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any animals.

 

In the 1930's concerned citizens that wanted to protect the area took actions to persuade President Franklin D. Roosevelt to use his executive powers to create Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. He did so in 1937. The monument preserves one of Earth's major ecosystems. The United Nations, recognizing its significance, designated the monument as an International Biosphere Reserve in 1976.

 

After visiting the visitor center we had lunch in a little picnic area across from the parking lot.

 

There are several hiking trails and a 21-mile, mostly unpaved, loop trail within the monument. We decided to take the loop trail and then hike the Arch Canyon Trail. Memory tends to blur things like the pain of childbirth and prior hikes so I was looking forward to the hike. It was a beautiful day and the temperature was very pleasant.

 

 

The mountains and valleys of the area were formed about 25 million years ago when large blocks of the earth's crust were thrust up and over areas sank. 

There are two major types of rock which are visible in the striated rock formations: rhyolite and tuff.

 

The trail, described as "easy-moderate" was more on the moderate side to my way of thinking. Desert plants have to protect themselves from the hungry animals and we had to protect ourselves from the plants! The end of the trail reveled a beautiful view of the rugged mountain and was well worth the effort.

After our hike we headed over to the main campground. The campground is a beautiful facility with concrete pads tucked into the brush, complete with a bbq and picnic table, and several restrooms that were equipped with solar-powered showers (how cool is that!) all for only $8 per night. Cinnamon found the place to his liking.

The next morning we had breakfast utilizing the wonderful little hotplate that our friends had given us while we enjoyed the lovely quiet desert morning. I made a quick walk into the desert to listen to the birds and then we were on our way to Mexico. Hopefully, on our return north we will be able to visit Organ Pipe again and see all the cacti and desert marigold in bloom.

 



Driving a Retired Ambulance to San Carlos, Mexico

For years we had been punishing my poor Subaru with heavy loads of boating gear as we traveled back and forth from California to Washington. After 13 years and several wheel bearings we began to worry about the Subaru's ability to make our now annual round trip to Mexico. Last spring when we we broke down in Portland, Oregon the handwriting was clearly on the wall.

Greg saw a vehicle in Blaine that set his brain to work. This vehicle was tough, reliable, roomy and a former ambulance. He thought that this would be the perfect vehicle - nothing would have to be left behind. Now we are the proud owners of a 1990 E350 Ford diesel truck (retired ambulance).

All the emergency and medical equipment had been removed; the wires were cut and just left hangin'. Greg spent a month going over our new truck. The electrical system was the biggest problem, followed by the brakes. The front brakes had been completely rebuilt but the vehicle had been left sitting unused in a wet Washington field for at least a year and rust took over. Greg discovered just how hard it would be to change a flat if we should have one. He needed to remove the front wheels to check the brakes but couldn't get the wheels off - they seemed to be welded on. After loosening the nuts and driving around the block a bit they finally loosened enough to be removed. He cleaned up the moving parts and all looked good to go.

We left Blaine for Guaymas on Friday November 1. We planned to join our friends, Ken and Rita, in the Portland, Or area for dinner. Beginning our first trip south in Amby was more of a challenge then we expected. We didn't leave Semiahmoo until after 2pm - still time to make it to dinner.

We didn't make it though because we lost all the lights on the box in Everette. Greg managed to find the problem and we were under way after an hour and a half, arriving at our friends' house after bed time. Ken had waited up for us to make sure we were comfortably situated in his "5 Star" driveway (which conveniently has a PortaPotty next to it since their house is under construction).

We inflated our 20 year-old air mattress on the heavy-duty mattress platform that the prior owner had built. We were pretty comfy for a little more than an hour when we realized that the mattress was going flat rather quickly. Nothing quite as uncomfortable as sleeping on a sheet of plywood - except maybe a bed of cactus needles and rocks!

Despite this, the next day we had an enjoyable day helping our friends work on their home construction - Greg helped Ken with wiring and I learned to install pocket doors (the last time I visited, I learned how to install decorative rock siding). Rita treated me to a trip to Bob's Red Mill Store which is based in Portland. Now I have a nice selection of gluten free products to take to Mexico.

Ken and Greg patched up the mattress and we settled down for much needed sleep. Within minutes the mattress was flat again! Nothing would stop the leak and we gave up and resigned ourselves to another almost sleepless night. We left Portland on a rainy Sunday morning and hoped to make it to Sacramento by Monday afternoon. No such luck!

Amby's engine died on Hwy 5 just south of Corning, CA. Since the fuel gauge doesn't work we assumed that we had miscalculated and ran out of fuel. AAA responded promptly with a can of diesel but Amby still wouldn't start.

One of the problems we have discovered with being the proud owners of a retired ambulance is that many essential service providers don't know what to do with you. No one would insure our new "RV". A search of vin numbers came up blank when I described the vehicle as a ford truck. Only when I reluctantly mentioned that it was former ambulance did they say "Oh, well we can't insure that!". Well why not, I asked. "There isn't a box to check that says 'retired ambulance'". We ended up getting "broad form" auto insurance which covers us as individuals and not the vehicle (it was only about twice the price of ordinary insurance). When I contacted AAA to renew and add the truck, I was informed that they wouldn't tow it. Now they will tow a motor home or a one-ton truck, but there isn't any little box to tick off that says 'retired ambulance'. So, after the nice tow truck driver gave us the fuel he towed us all of six miles to Orland (a town so small that I never noticed it in all the years of driving back and forth to Washington) for the tidy sum of $300.

The up side of this was that there was a great diesel mechanic in Orland. Two days, and over a $1,100 later, we were on our way again. Now we have a new fuel injection pump and throttle sensor. BUT - we didn't have enough fuel to make it to the fuel station (inoperative fuel gauge) and we broke down again. This time however, Greg got to the right lane, took an off ramp, kinda ran a stop sign and swung into a fuel station. All that weight has the benefit of lots of momentum. This time we really were out of fuel. Okay, now maybe we can get going!

Nope, not so fast. Amby won't start. Cranking away to no avail it becomes obvious that the injectors have to be bled after running on empty before the engine will start again. Fortunately for us another troubled traveler was detained long enough in front of us for me to ask him if he would help push our truck from in front of the pump (since station operators aren't too fond of people doing repairs at their fuel islands). He willingly, but with quite a bit of effort, pushed it with his jeep. Fortunately once again, Greg had the necessary tools and in almost no time (comparatively speaking) had the job done and the engine running.

As we neared  Greg's son's home in the Sacramento area I started to smell burning brakes and I assumed it was us. Sure 'nough people started waiving at us. There was so much smoke that I asked if we had a fire extinguisher. We found a shopping center and after lunch at Subway Greg took the front wheels off again. By then the brakes had freed themselves up and all was good to go once agian.

We finally arrived at the "kids" house and sent some time with them and Greg's mother. The grand kids got a kick out of the grandparents driving an ambulance.

Next stop on our journey south was our former community of Columbia in California's gold country

where our sailing buddies and part-time Mulege residents, Ann and Mel, live. We traded our sleeping quarters in the truck for our friends living room futon. We enjoyed our stay so much that when Marina Seca in San Carlos told us that they couldn't move our boat Gitana into the work yard until Tuesday afternoon the 19th, we decided to extend our stay to five days. While there, we did some sightseeing, saw Gravity (which I highly recommend) and dined with our other Columbia boating friends and part-time Mulege residents, Rod and Nita. The mornings were unusually nice for November and we enjoyed our morning coffee outside looking out over the canyon while the various birds enjoyed their morning treats.

 

I thought Cinnamon might enjoy a little ground time so I let him out of the truck. He found that "door back to California" that he has been looking for for the past six years. He must have been imprinted at birth on oak woodland because the moment he touched ground he rolled in the gravelly dirt and set off to explore, his former timidity long forgotten. When it looked like he was headin' off into the woods where he would very likely be eyed as dinner by a coyote or bigger creature, I tried to pick him up. He snarled and hissed, making it abundantly clear that he wanted to stay there. I decided I wasn't ready to be rid of him so it was into the house for the next five days. He wasn't courteous at all to the resident kitty and Ann graciously kept Maddy upstairs.

Mel ponders the situation.

Mel happened to mention that the diesel nozzles in Mexico don't fit into US vehicles so the next day the guys set to work cutting out the fuel filler restriction and while they were at it they cut off a nasty chunk of steel at the head of the bed that had been an accident waiting to happen.

Cinnamon didn't want to leave California but we felt it was time to go and Ann didn't want another cat, especially one that didn't like the one she already had.

 

Thursday Nov. 14th we were on our way to Lukeville, our border crossing destination. Our first night out we slept at the end of a dirt road in Boron, a little community on the western edge of

the Mojave Desert. The following day we stayed in a trailer campground in an even smaller mining town called Ajo (garlic?) The belts on the truck were screaming and Greg noticed that it was getting harder to steer. I had noticed a Napa dealer just before the campground so Greg walked over and managed to purchase one and order another of the belts we needed. That night we dined on chips and salsa, cheese and whatever else we had going bad in our ice chest along with beer and warm wine from the grocery across the road. The next morning he had the belts in hand and once again climbed up to the engine. The belts that were on the truck were not the correct size and the pulleys, just like the brakes, were very rusty and were eating up the belts. That would be another project down the road.

 

Saturday we reached the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument which stretches along the southern border of Arizona. Situated in the Sonoran Desert, Organ Pipe is a "green desert" and showcases a variety of flourishing species adapted to exist in a harsh desert. We decided that since there was no rush we should stop and explore. There is a wonderful interpretive center and a very nice little walk around the center that provides a view of many of the native plants. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that for only $10 we, as seniors, could get a lifetime family pass to national parks as well as a discount on camping. So after driving the 21 mile loop trail and hiking we enjoyed the great facilities at the Twin Peaks campground for only eight bucks! Now this isn't the peak season for Organ Pipe so there were only nine camp sites in use.

Cinnamon was quite interested in what was outside anytime a door was open. He was in and out several times but usually he stayed under the truck. Is this an orange racoon? No - its Cinnamon!







Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument has its own entry following this one.



 

Looking south into Mexico

Sunday morning we crossed the border at Lukeville without a hitch. Never had to show the properly obtained and duly stamped papers permitting us to bring in the repair parts for Gitana. However, we got stopped twice so the guards could look inside. "Es ambulancia?" Si. We could have smuggled in two people, three cases of booze and who knows what else. They stuck their heads in and that was it!

A "Aduana" customs check point.

We are frequently asked if the roads are safe. The road from Lukeville to Santa Ana is supposed to be a little dicey but we have traveled it twice and there is a lot of traffic and no signs of potential danger. There are two toll roads, which are very safe, between Santa Fe and Guaymas.  Last year there was quite a bit of construction on the toll roads. There still is some but not much.


 

We stopped in Santa Ana and had lunch. I couldn't resist taking a picture of the shrimp seller who was dangling a shrimp from a stick for passing motorists.

 

The shrimp man said "WAIT!" and he struck a pose so I could take another picture. So seeeexy. Guys that had been talking to him all got a good laugh.

We wanted to get some pesos and we got directions - twice, in Spanish, and still ended up walking way out of our way. Hey, we needed the exercise.







Mexico is trying to clean up its act - literally. "No tire basura" - don't litter. There are trash cans along the road but I wonder if anyone empties them because they are always overflowing.

 

"A Road clean and very safe."

We pulled in San Carlos at sunset, parking Ambly behind the motor home of our friends from Sidney, BC, Rose and Robert. Ahead of them was this monster motor home that screamed "Kidnap me. I have lots of money!"

Robert and Rose's modest motor home in the background.

We shared a laugh with Robert over it. Definitely NOT the type of vehicle you want to be driving in Mexico. Robert thought Amby was perfect. Tough with a little rust and a broken spotlight. It says "these folks are definitely poor - don't bother kidnapping them". If someone does try to steal it, they will never figure out how to start it.

Even with all the problems I think this will be a great Mexico vehicle. We just have to be patient and give it some TLC.