Daily Archives: February 21, 2015

I’ve been worrying about this much longer than it deserves. The same could be said about many of the parts on Escape Velocity, it’s just that some seem to rankle more than others. It turns out that I’ve been chasing an elegant, inexpensive solution to the problem for more than three years, really ever since the previous owner (PO) said look, don’t buy Volvo Penta anything, their prices are insane and they don’t make anything, they just rebadge everything. As an example he showed me a just purchased Volvo air filter inside a black plastic box. The catch is that the box is sealed and one simply buys a whole new black plastic box which conveniently has a new five dollar air filter glued into it. He looked up at me and after a dramatic pause for effect he said, “that five dollar air filter costs $100, and you’ll need two.”

I was gobsmacked. I mean really shocked. You must be joking. That’s when he planted the seed of discontent in my life. It seems the PO just discovered that a certain motorcycle manufacturer actually makes the air filter and can be had for one third the price that Volvo charges. Well, I felt better already. Cutting Volvo Penta out of the equation would become my new hobby, as if Volvo hadn’t already thought of this.

The good news is that I run a clean engine compartment so I figured they ought to last quite a while but eventually a solution would need to be found. The bad news is that Volvo are world class obfuscaters. How they can keep our particular engines out of all the online cross reference sites is beyond me. I’ve been chasing this phantom motorcycle air filter for years now and I’ll admit it’s gotten under my skin.

On our recent US trip I had a “miracle list” featuring things that might be considered if our needed list turned out to be cheaper than the
amount budgeted. Yeah I know, we can dream can’t we? Near the bottom of this list I’d reluctantly entered 2 Volvo #3809924 air filters. After all, a clogged air filter could be causing some of the port engine’s RPM problems and I’ve grown weary of asking for a universal clamp-on air filter that would fit. Having said that, just writing it down still stings like defeat.

Santos, mi nuevo amigo that I recently met at the chicken bus stop, listened attentively to my sad tale, smiled and said no problema, let’s all go up to San Salvador tomorrow and he knows a guy. We started by cutting the front off of the black plastic box revealing a very dirty filter but no elegant solution to the problem. I asked Santos if he knew the saying “let’s not reinvent the wheel.” He said no, he did not know this saying but he liked it. It was time for plan C which had its miracle moment when we’d find a universal clamp on filter of approximately the same size as the Volvo intake. After a half dozen repuesto stops all over San Salvador we gave up and reluctantly bought two cheap can filters trading a “reinventing the wheel” problem for a plumbing problem. So it was back to the machine shop where Juan would machine a block of aluminum to my specs, or rather Volvo’s, and it’ll be done…wait for it…mañana.

So, as I was saying, I might have been better served just spending the $200 at every change but with any luck at all we will have cut Volvo out from this cash cow.

Now, about those $20 Volvo oil filters! Yes $20, it’s nautical robbery.

We went back to the drawing board on the watermaker. The feed pump side has been completely disassembled and once we acquire some valves and a bit of new hose we can reassemble it outside the annoying enclosed manifold — in fact discarding the manifold completely — and we should be up and running again. Both feed pumps have been cleaned, inspected and tested and we fully expect a functioning watermaker in a few days.

Meanwhile, the few critical parts we need to install the new 500-series Racor fuel filters will be arriving by private mule in a couple of days and we’ll be able to scratch that one off the list too. And what that means is that we can drop the mooring and motor around the estuary for a couple of hours to test the port engine and see if we still have our diminishing RPM problem. The other cruisers here in Bahia del Sol have offered to accompany us so I think we will have a floating picnic some time next week. I’d better start tidying up.

On Wednesday, local expat Lou offered us a ride up to San Salvador where we tried (and failed) to get some hose and valves.

But we did make a stop at PriceSmart, the local version of Costco, and I put a dent in my provisioning list. Loading up the boat for a Pacific crossing is challenging no matter where you are, but I’m finding it especially difficult here. There are no cheeses to speak of except the ubiquitous Central American queso fresco. It’s possible to find small pieces of imported aged cheeses but they are prohibitively expensive. Other items that I like to have on hand — for example tofu, tahini, heavy cream for cooking, dried fruit beyond raisins, frozen vegetables — are hard to find and require store to store searches, tough to do without a car.

I’m resigning myself to buying just whatever happens to be here and making the best of it. We won’t starve, that’s for sure. We just may have some more creative meals. Central America will have its hooks in us long after we sail away because our diet will consist of variations on rice and beans for a couple of months, or at least until we arrive in Tahiti. And that’s not a bad thing; it’s just that we like a little more variety in our meals.

When our shopping was done, Lou stopped at his favorite pupuseria for lunch.

Not related to the delicious pupusas, but I’ve been fighting intestinal distress ever since we got to El Salvador. Whether it’s from water or food who knows, but the consensus among the cruisers and locals is that it’s parasites. In fact the complaint is so common here on the west coast of Central America that most people keep a stock of their favorite antiparasitic meds on board. Jeff and Judy from Island Mistress gave me a course of nitazoxanida and after three days I’m doing much better.

Note the cartoon parasites on the box. It’s the friendly complaint! What cracks us up is that in every other cruising ground the talk among boaters centers around electrical and plumbing projects, equipment repairs and weather. Here the conversation almost always gets around to nausea, cramping and diarrhea. Cruisers have no pride.