Daily Report #28

Dear salters.

It was my day again. It started with 'Ton can you come over' I was lying in my bed at that moment with three hours of sleep ahead of me and two behind me.
The emergency tiller bolt was broken. Not really surprising as the whole thing seemed a bit messed up to me. But he had already been on duty for a few days, so who knows, it might work as far as the Netherlands. So vain hope. We took that thing off again and meanwhile continued on the machine. That's fine with the machine. I just hope we don't ever have to sail on it for weeks at a time. It makes things more complicated given the energy management. And even a machine can stop at any time. It's just a device.
Provided the tiller with three new holes to better secure the base plate where the piece of wood is attached to the chunk of aluminum that falls over the end of the rudder stock. That worked wonderfully and with a renewed sense of - it won't break for the time being - everything was mounted again. Three hours later and time for my watch. Just a sandwich, cup of coffee and on again. Read an email, lunch time, empty the bilge, empty the holding tank, pump is (again) stuck. That's the second time. Pump disassembled and same problem as last time; all junk in the blades and the cutting blades causing it to get stuck. Finished an hour later - just wash your hands - why doesn't the water pump turn on? No tension. Everything measured, there is spontaneously a break in the wire somewhere. Removed a piece, measured voltage is present again, mount, done. Another hour further. Well, are we there yet? Three hours, wait over, lie down. When I wake up, my eye falls on the battery meter of the 12 volt system. A solar panel had already failed last week. Just like that, because it's Chinese junk. Now the last panel is also more or less dead. Probably from all the salt those things are exposed to. Can't really stand them, maybe you can only use them in a dry, sunny environment.. It makes me despondent. All that junk that slowly but surely lets you down.
So the navigation equipment converted to the other 12V system. This can be charged with the generator. But why did I take my wind generator out of my suitcase? Not taken to Sydney, which I had planned and had also made preparations for. That thing is fantastic. I know why but still wonder why I don't stick to my own ideas about it. They are almost always correct.
That said, we are still cruising and quite trouble free. The steering is an essential problem, but for the next time something goes wrong with it, I have already come up with a solution. It will be somewhat at the expense of other structures on board, but there are clear priorities.
Now I'm waiting for an e-mail again. Tomorrow I'll probably be bored again a bit more substantially in my break, the blessing of a well-functioning ship. In the meantime, we have not lost any of our progress. It just continues.

Grt T and M