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April 20, 2010 – At Sea, 18º 52’N, 104º 25’W
By Dave Logan
There are a lot of different ways you can break down the time frame of 3,000 hours: over 17 weeks, more than four straight months, or a solid 125 days. Last night at midnight, that figure took on new significance aboard Ocean Watch when the hour meter on our continuous duty Lugger diesel engine, which was brand new when we left Seattle last May, flipped over from 2,999 to a nice, round 3,000.
Yes, it’s a significant chunk of time, but when you’re trying to keep to an ambitious, sometimes brutal schedule aboard a yacht – often in headwinds, or no wind, or foul current – you log a lot of hours under a combination of power and sail.
To most sailors, I suppose an engine on a sailboat must seem like the largest pain in the you-know-what aboard the entire vessel. In our case, it’s been the most trouble free, hardest working single item aboard the boat. Aside from some irregular maintenance like changing the oil (admittedly not quite as often as recommended), checking belts once or twice, and changing fuel filters on the rare occasions it coughs or sputters, our Lugger has just kept on running and running.
Aboard Ocean Watch, my job is first mate. In addition to finally giving Herb a day off by writing this, this roughly translates into Mr. Fix-It for all the moving parts and vast systems on the boat…from drinking water to exhaust water (both mechanical and human). I do get a lot of help, ranging from hands-on support from skipper Mark Schrader, who is quite mechanical, to “the bloody forward head is acting up again,” from the other members of the crew.
Speaking of which, if I was asked to choose from all the items of modern convenience aboard Ocean Watch, the one that has been the most troublesome over the last nearly 25,000 nautical miles, my answer without hesitation would be that forward head (Ocean Watch has one forward and one aft). Without going into lengthy olfactory details, anything to do with repairing the forward head stinks. If the crew would let me, we would revert to the old ways (which grandma always said were best): mainly, a simple, no-maintenance bucket.
My other, more satisfying daily chores include keeping the refrigeration and freezer at a low enough temperature to keep all their contents cold. At our current latitude off the coast of Mexico, this means running either the engine-driven reefer compressor or starting the generator and running the 110-volt compressor (like the one on your fridge at home) two or three times a day (depending on the number of times the door was open because a cold beer was required to stave off heat stroke by a member of our hard-working crew).
When the generator is running, I also usually run our water maker to replenish our freshwater tanks. This machine makes about thirty gallons of pure drinking water an hour through a process called reverse osmosis, which basically forces seawater through an extremely fine filter that removes all salt and most impurities. To be on the safe side, though, I only make freshwater when we’re well out to sea.
I’m also continually checking the state of the fuel pre-filters with a vacuum gauge. They can provide an early indication of dirty fuel and usually clog in the middle of the midnight to 0300 (three a.m.) watch when I’m off duty and in my bunk. Because of this, I can now change them without fully waking up.
I also monitor the various pumps aboard, all of which have their own distinctive sound or warning light: shower and sump pumps, bilge pumps, water-pressure pumps, etc. Too much or too little pumping is usually an indication of a leak, clog, or some other hideous problem requiring my attention.
Aside from repairing the occasional electrical switch or related glitch (which I’ll attend to after writing this), this is my job on Ocean Watch while the rest of the crew poses for pictures. These ongoing tasks, and for all of us the love of just sailing the boat, are the real reasons we’re out here, all trying to make the scientific and educational goals of the Around the Americas expedition possible.
-Dave Logan with photographs by David Thoreson
*This crew log submitted by Iridium OpenPort and Stratos
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