can see the boats on the canal here:
http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html
On Sunday when we got here, I ordered diesel for the boat. They have to bring it in, and said it would be here on Monday. On Monday
they said Tuesday. On Tuesday they said Wednesday (today) noon. If we ever get diesel, we plan to take off for the San Blas islands
for a 3-4 days.
On the way from St. Petersburg to Mexico, Mike was cooking. He said he smelled something burning. I thought this was redundant. The
Steven and Fullerton said they smelled smoke too. So there I was, on the boat with three hallucinating people.
On the way from the Caymans to Panama, I noticed the left engine wasn't charging the batteries. This didn't surprise me a lot,
because that engine had overcharged or undercharged since we got it. The warranty repair people never did fix it.
Here in Panama yesterday, I decided to take a look at the engine and alternator and stuff. I noticed a thick cable that was burned
9/10 of the way through, touching the alternator mount. When I pulled it away from the mount, there were sparks. I guess that might
explain why it seemed like the house batteries didn't seem to hold their charge as long as they used to. I assume it hadn't been
charging ever since Mike smelled smoke in the Gulf of Mexico.
I spent some time splicing the cable with wire ties and duct tape. Now the left engine charges the batteries. The splice didn't even
get hot when I made a test run.
The "zinc" is a sacrificial anode that is attached to a prop, boat hull, etc. It's a piece of zinc that corrodes faster than steel
or brass, so it corrodes instead of the prop and other metal parts on the bottom of the boat.
Since the left engine had been +24v, thanks to the burned wire, I was afraid the zinc might be gone. So I went under the boat and
looked. The left zinc had more missing zinc than the right one, but it should still be good for a while.
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