Blog Post 21 by Jon Sanders: I am on my way to Tahiti
I am on my way to Tahiti
Panama is in The Doldrums – weather wise that is.
Seems to be going well otherwise. (As long as you don’t stroll into the wrong localities).
On departure there was no wind, none at all. Flat calm. Calm as calm.
Lots of flotsam and jetsam in the water (to bang into).
My engine is a Yanmar 4JH4AE – does that make sense? Nup, me neither.
In other words, 50hp (at 3000 RPM). When asked I usually say 40hp. More reliable. More than adequate. Installed 2008 (9 years back) by Neil Rock. (Hi Neil).
Now June 2017 it has chalked up 5460 hrs. It has never missed a beat. Starts instantly and never stops. Excepts when one pushes the stop button, of course.
I have had an air leak in the new in-line fuel filter; I couldn’t fix it. Took it off. Connected fuel line to each other and rely only on the fuel filter attached to the engine. Yanmar has two sizes fuel filter that fit. I use the large size.
All my refuelling is done by jerry cans (‘Jerry jugs’ BJ Caldwell calls them), I can then see if there is any dirt. (Never refuel from the fueling barge at Benoa Marina Bali. That nonsense has been going on for years).
I stick to service per manual, i.e.: Oil change and new oil filter every 250hrs, clean exhaust mixing elbow every 250hrs, go in neutral from slow to flat out 5 times in succession before turning the engine off, etc., etc. per manual.
The Panama Canal is an engine reliability canal, trust me.
Panama City, towns, roads, rivers, and canal are all built inside a rain forest – some debris ends up in the Gulf of Panama. Every several years Perie Banou II and Jon Sanders likewise. With the Yanma churning at 1500 RPM, I do 6 knots in a flat sea. Change course a little here, a little there to avoid city-made litter, or a sodden tree trunk, or foliage monkeys once climbed.
Into the night. I can’t see nothing! On and on…
What did I bang into?…
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