Prepping for San Blas Islands

Taking a little bit each day, we are nearing completion of a list of tasks to ready Memory Rose for more sailing adventures.


In 2009, we spent a total of 20 days here in Panama, aboard the boat; 10 upon arrival and 10 in June. The rest of the time, other than the passage from Guatemala to here in Feb. March, was spent in the U.S..

On the trip south from San Andres Island of Columbia, we lost a small part from our main sails Luff Slide system(Tide's Marine). I picked up a replacement in the U.S. from Mack Sails and will install it today.



I decided to change out our stuffing box T-Bolts as they often sit wet, due to the required leakage from the seal. The T-bolt design is much stronger than the normal cheapo's so it's a good place to upgrade for security and I change these out every year or so and always have spares on hand.

The engine has been scrutinized and appears just fine and runs smooth. Yesterday, we opened up the intake strainer and cleaned it and the incoming hose of sea growth.

What is interesting here, is the distance from the external scupper outside the hull, to the strainer inside is about 3 feet.  I was surprised for the 4th or 5th time, how far up and into a line these creatures can grow.  Beyond the strainer, in the line to the seachest, there were a few very smll barnacles and a touch of slime only.  It seems that barnacles, muscles, candy coral and other hard creatures can grow well up an intake line-3 feet at least and some up to 6 feet in.  This is a surprise to me because I would have thought the lack of sunlight, stagnant water(the boat has been sitting for months) would have prohibited growth in the first place or killed it after it's start.  No such luck.  This should be a 'heads up' to mariners not using strainers inside their water intake systems and also for short water intake runs before major equipment, such as the propulsion engine.

We found a small but surprising number of muscles this time, not the usual candy coral and barnacles.



When finished, I added a couple of cups of Clorox bleach to the Strainer then topped off with water. Ran some of this through the Sea Chest and into the lines for heads and Air conditioner. Just long enough to kill any growth in the lines, then flushed with clean seawater.

Also have had to regroup and get computers aboard with updated with the Windows and anti-virus requirements. Time has been spent refreshing my working ability with navigational software and fixing the few glitches I'm finding there with programs in computers and peripheral equipment.

Anyway, all is going well. Had one of the marina's young men dive and clean the bottom of the boat and dove myself to assist and check the condition. Was very surprised to see the anti-fouling paint still doing a good job after 4.5 years. Using Interlux Micron Extra with Biolux).

We ordered 160 portions of meat and fish to be vacuum packed individually and frozen prior to placing it in our freezer. Speaking of, I replace seals on the Freezer lid yesterday. It's nice and 'air tight' now...No Air Leaks. Will go into town later today and tomorrow and start loading up on all the other things we will need for 2-3 months of uninterrupted cruising. Getting close :)