To no one's surprise, this coastal desert is really hot in the middle of the summer. I know the rest of the world has been suffering extreme temperatures too, but here the sun is brutal, with no shade, and very dry air.
We've had a few days at 107f (42c), with absolutely no wind, not a cloud in the sky and just scorching sun. Luckily the boat has very good air conditioning, something I really wanted when I was looking to buy our boat.
Enfin has 3 powerful units: the salon and cabin units have 16K BTU capacity each, with the pilothouse unit being a slightly smaller 12K BTU. In the middle of the afternoon they work hard to keep the boat comfortable.
Like many systems on board, they are working harder in the heat, so more maintenance is needed.
It all started when the local waters starting heating up, and the growth on our hull started becoming significant. Locals here say we need to brush the bottom every month, and so far, that's about what I'm seeing. I bought a hookah back in Ensenada, anticipating it would be useful and would pay for itself. I'm so glad to have it: I don't need to book expensive divers to take care of the simple tasks of brushing my hull, making sure our keel cooler is clean and all water inlets are free and unobstructed.
It took me about 6 days the first time brushing Enfin's hull: 40 feet is a small boat until you're underneath with a toothbrush sized copper brush and a small paint scraper, scraping and brushing away all the creatures, shells and algae that find our bottom paint an ideal environment to grow.
Now, I make sure not to let it go so far, so a couple of long dives allows me to catch up and have clean propellers, rudder, inlets, keel cooler and thruster while keeping the growth on the hull in check too.
Next, on the way from La Paz my routine engine checks showed a small coolant leak at the main engine coolant pump. I kept it under surveillance: I knew we had a full spare on board that I had bought 6 years ago in Bellingham, WA, so wasn't concerned about having to find it here.
It's actually nice to see my planning of 6 years ago, stocking up on ocean going main engine spares is paying off!
The pump's tiny leak wasn't serious enough to warrant immediate replacement, but I kept a very close eye on engine temps on the way up. It stayed at its usual 180f all along, and never moved.
At over 5,300 hours, it's completely normal to need to change the coolant pump, and it's not a difficult process. Once you get to the pump by removing the belt protector and belt, you drain the coolant using a drain port on the coolant loop, then have full access to the pump's bolts.
They are 10mm bolts, so care must be exerted when undoing but especially tightening them back up: Being too brutal could easily snap them off. Applying the correct -manufacturer recommended torque- is therefore vital.
The new pump went in without any major problem, and I ran the engine for a good length of time to circulate the newly added coolant and check for leaks. None that I could detect.
I decided we'd take the boat out on a short local cruise to test it further, and the engine test was entirely successful. At all speeds, the engine stayed within normal temps and there were no coolant leaks.
We did however get a nasty surprise when unplugging the boat from shore power. The AC shore inlet connection, whose role is to supply electricity to the 3 AC units was burnt, and badly damaged. We'd need to replace it as soon as possible and wouldn't be able to plug our ACs back in to shore power until that was done.
I started working on it at sea, hoping I could identify the problem and dig through my spares to correct it.
I was hoping to find a solution in my spares: These inlets are modular, but unfortunately I didn't have anything compatible. Now I was looking at not being able to connect the AC to the shore power.
That meant either staying at anchor and running the generator a lot to keep the boat cool when needed or getting back to the marina and plugging in the house power only, which could provide enough power for one AC unit only. We'd obviously run the cabin AC at nights awaiting spare parts.
Another option was returning to the marina, using shore house power but the generator for AC power. I've never done it, but a quick check of the electrical distribution line drawing confirmed it could be done.
Not giving up on finding a spare shore inlet or its internal components I went online, searching Amazon Mexico -they'd be the fastest to deliver if they had it- to no avail.
Amazon US gave me choices, but wouldn't deliver to Mexico so I'd have to send it through our forwarder in San Diego. At least 10 days wait. Add another week if next Sunday delivery is missed since his packages arrive each Sunday here.
I could also rent a car and drive to the nearest ship chandler, about one and a half hour away, with no idea if they'd have the part I needed. Pushing another hour and a half down to La Paz would absolutely get me what I needed. I was not looking forward to driving 6 hours, but then the idea of not having AC wasn't appealing either.
In a last "Hail Mary" I decided to send a quick message to our Nordhavn friends Lyle and Diana, asking if by any chance they had the necessary spares on their boat?
We've been in touch with them since Ensenada, and like us they have their boat in Marina Puerto Escondido for the summer. Unlike us, they decided to go back to cooler climates for the hotter months.
I had offered to keep an eye on their boat, and Lyle took me up on my offer: So I had access to their boat, boarding regularly to check everything, starting the 3 engines as needed.
Amazingly, Lyle told me to just disconnect their shore inlet and replace it when I got my spare. Then, shortly thereafter said I could keep it, since he was planning to install a different type of plug anyway, a "SmartPlug".
I was very thankful, and immediately offered to pay for his inlet. Very gracefully Lyle simply asked instead that I install his SmartPlug when it arrived at the marina. Deal!
With a solution in hand we headed back to the marina. I arrived on Lyle's boat carrying my big tool bag, and immediately set to take out his AC shore inlet.
It's amazing what one man walking around confidently with a tool bag can do! No one questioned why I was taking bits off this boat. I even said hi to the neighbors, and no one batted an eyelid. I was wearing my Nordhavn T-Shirt, so that might have helped?!
With my loot in hand, I got back to Enfin, rewired the inlet and soon cool AC was again blowing throughout the boat. Saved! All on Enfin are eternally grateful for the kind assistance.
Almost a month later Lyle's SmartPlug arrived and I reconnected it as needed, and connected his boat to AC shore power.
That'll allow me to run their AC for 24 hours before they get back here.
Last, I ordered 3 new shore cordsets to replace our old ones and have a brand new spare.
I will also switch our AC inlet to a SmartPlug, for additional safety. Added to an extra spare house shore inlet as well, with brand new plugs on our old cords, we now have full spares for our shore connections. From the shore pedestal to the boat, both for the house and the AC sides: Lesson learned! This is not the place to be without power.
Not all here suffer in the heat. Recently the local plants started flowering and the spots of bright colors emerging from the sand were really beautiful.
Little Princess is finding her origins again. She was born in hot Texas and spent a lot of time outside before we adopted her. She asks to go out and lay in the shade to watch the fish and the rays while keeping the birds away from her home.
I make sure to ask her often if she wants to come in, popping my head out about every 15 minutes, and she often refuses, pretending she can't hear me at all!
Eventually, she accepts my offer to get back in, finds a cool spot far down in the boat, until she's ready for more and the cycle starts again.
As for us humans, we tend to hide in the boat during the heavy afternoon heat, only coming back out once the sun starts setting behind the mountains.
We're like Dracula, only coming out at night. We walk around, often going to the entrance jetty where the rays have a last go at fishing before all light is gone.
Regularly we treat ourselves to the well named restaurant "La Brisa" where a gentle breeze often blows and where we can enjoy the setting sun with a burger, a pizza or a fresh local dish meal, in the cool night air.
It's amazing to think that 2 years ago we were in Alaska, and how we've gone from one extreme to the other.
The problems are different, but overall Enfin continues to be our comfortable and safe home throughout.
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