SV Blue Sky

It was indeed the oil pressure sensor. With a new one, the genset works like a charm – what a relief. If it hadn’t been the sensor then it might have been the control board – $1,200 or worse yet actual low oil pressure which could mean big bucks. So I don’t feel so bad spending $100 for the sensor and a manual oil pressure gauge (to confirm the sensor) and another $100 on brokerage and expediting fees. Unable to get a clear answer online or from Onan (buy our part number xxx), I took a chance on a generic from Budget Marine which they had to send from St. Martin. All has come up roses for now. So we are once again flush 🙁 with water.

The making of water on Blue Sky consists of running the generator while the water maker is running. We opted to save a few thousand dollars on the water maker and utilize the large generator on the boat rather than have it sit idol. So we’ve been running it every 4-5 days since December 24th when the water maker became fully functional. The generator has been good for the most part. It has had days when it would shut down after 25 minutes or so with an error code that states ‘low oil pressure’, but would always restart and run another 25 or more minutes following that. We could live with that. In fact, it even improved over time. Then just last week it ran the 25 minutes, stopped and would not restart for any length of time. This means no making water beyond 25 minutes. Problem solving is in order.

Paul got out his trusty meter reader and watched the generator closely. He changed the oil with no improvement. We can’t get a new oil filter, but the oil appears clean. So we’re down to figuring out if it’s a faulty sensor, a faulty control board, or a serious engine problem. So the next step was to order a new sensor. Paul did that two days ago and we are crossing our fingers that it will arrive later today.  So we wait here in Jolly Harbour, Antigua hoping for a quick resolve of the generator issue. If the sensor replacement doesn’t work it looks like we’ll be seeking an engine mechanic for help. We can’t go without making water or risk ruining a very expensive asset on the boat.

So I’m not washing clothes and we’re being water misers again.  We hope to depart Antigua at the end of the week, with luck that we can fix the generator before we leave. I’m ready for a change of scenery and ready for another passage. So I’m putting it out there to my angels to guide us in solving the generator problem so we can sail off to another destination.

So what happens on those days where something “writable” isn’t happening. Well, let’s see. Yesterday we traveled from Barbuda to Deep Bay, Antigua. 15 knot winds close hauled sending us to Nevis (west of where we wanted to be) but with patience and a small prayer, the winds veered to the east then even northeast as we approached Antigua and we were able to spin back to south then southeast and sailed into Deep Bay, close reach all the way averaging 6.5 knots. A beautiful 4.5 hour sail soaking up some sun and some z’s (for part of the crew). Of course the weather turned overcast on arrival with rain (not forecast) at night and more rain today – a lot more. Actually we were happy about that since we have had little rain in the last 2 months and it gave the boat a good wash down (desalting). So ordinary life kicked in with a scrub of the boat (topsides and snorkel/diving the bottom – not minor, a couple hours here by G & P encouraging the bad guys to detach from the boat), two trips ashore with Charlie, bread making (refining the art of baking bread in a pressure cooker – much lower energy consumption – is excellent bread), yogurt making (didya know it is easy with powdered milk and a thermos?), a little work on taxes (ugh) and the web site (still learning) – you know, the routine stuff, just on a boat. Ending the day with G’s fabulous curried cauliflower and chick peas. Yum! For a change, a lousy sunset scrubbed out by the clouds. And the generator which has been on its best behavior now refuses to run for more than 25 minutes making water making difficult. So now we will have to finally sort out what the intermittent, now seemingly not so intermittent problem is. Boat = Sherlock challenge. Never ending. But loving it. Oh, and spotted a turtle a couple times – and I have a mascot here, twin to the one in Barbuda – a little fish, maybe 3 inches long that has attached itself to me when snorkeling. Freaks you out a little bit because he loves to nibble at your ear then swim around to have a look at you straight in the eye about 6 inches in front of your face then back to your vision’s periphery. Just hangs there. I have gotten used to him and him to me, I am sure. Kinda feels like a buddy. Swirls around my toes when I get out of the water – like he is saying “where are you going? Can I come too?”. Or maybe I have had too much sun now that the fish are clearly communicating?

So now, time to sleep, perchance to dream. Okay, too dramatic. But it is somewhat soothing to get ready for bed with the showers sprinkling by outside, highly reminiscent of our beloved Vancouver, with a small difference – a temp of 26 (79F) inviting us to a peaceful slumber. We shall see what the dawn brings.

March 22nd we sailed over to Barbuda from Antigua (3 hours and 45 minutes) on a nice beam reach. We arrived near noon to an expansive landscape of 11 miles of beach. The sand appears pink in certain locations due to broken down pink shells.

There is quite the large surge here so landing the SUP on the beach is a bit of a challenge. Charlie nearly got run over by it on our first landing. We’ve improved since by learning to ride the wave in and then quickly hopping off and grabbing the SUP out of the water before the wave takes it back out.

Charlie loves this beach, but it’s got too much of a surge for him to swim. The undertow would sweep him in to deep water, so he settles for running along the sand. Yesterday he decided to wander into some bushes. This followed with a squeal and he couldn’t move. Paul discovered he’d found a patch of what the locals call ‘prickles’. His fur is like Velcro for these things. Paul couldn’t even pick him up as his belly and legs were completely covered. He sat down on the spot and began to pick them out of Charlie’s fur. I noticed this from shore and opted to swim in to help out. It took both of us about 45 minutes to get the prickles out. Believe me, it’s not fun as you get pricked by every one. Now when we go ashore, we yell ‘prickles’ to Charlie and he happily stays on the sand. No exploring the bushes of Barbuda.

Yesterday, we met a couple from the boat ‘Over Budget’. They sailed in the Salty Dawg Rally with us in November. It was decided that we’d have a happy hour on board Blue Sky in the early evening. They also invited people they knew from Echo. JW & Jenny (Over Budget) and Mary & Jeff (Echo) along with us all enjoyed a delightful evening of salty tales. We feel so lucky to have the opportunity to be a part of this sailing community.