Position: 2º 53.142′ S 36º 44.07′ W
Our last 24 hours have done its level best to tip our fun to suck ratio, and failed.
We have discovered a hole in our heat exchanger, which has rendered our fresh water cooled engine into a raw water cooled version.
We thought we had run out of water, a problem which was potentially exacerbated by low power and an inability to charge from the engine (18Ah from our 100Ah alternator). We found that the engine wouldn’t stop (morse cable first, then at all) and had to suffocate it. The secondary problem is solved, but I think the morse cable is corroded from the overflowing fresh water reservoir. Add to all of that a mysterious electrical failure when the boat lists heavily to starboard, and you may have reason to panic.
I am happy to report that, after another mid-ocean major electrical refit, we are now pumping 60+Ah into the batteries, and have a fully functional electrical system. I have one little related project to complete in Martinique, but that should be easy with the right parts.
On the water side, it seems we have a vacuum compression on the intake side of the pump, that is causing our trouble. That can also be fixed in Martinique. So, as it stands, we are all set, and safe, and the sailing is blissful. Our friends on Eva are shadowing us, just in case, and we are headed to another paradise.
In other news, we had pizza for dinner, except really the only typical ingredient was mozzerella. Sauce was some left over arribetta, crust was super thin corn bread. The corn bread was made with egg substitute instead of eggs, GF flour instead of normal flour, pap instead of cornmeal, and powdered milk and vinegar instead of buttermilk. We called it pizza anyway and it was a win! We’re staring down the end of the “fresh” vegetables now but are happily digging into stashes of sauces and pickles and little treats in jars (sun dried tomatoes!).