Position 19:30.99N 20:39.97W
PASSEPARTOUT
Christopher & Nirit Slaney
Wed 15 Dec 2010 16:07
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Ocean life observed during the previous twenty four
hours:
We hooked an eel which we didn't know how to
cook.
A dolphin playing in our bow wave had a newborn with her
which seemed to still be connected to its mother by an umbilical
cord.
This morning we found a whale who was either sleeping or
sunbathing on the surface. We came quite close before he turned shy and
returned to the depths.
Diesel, the elixir of life.
Passepartout has two diesel tanks, a big one with four
hundred liters capacity and a smaller one holding one hundred and eighty
liters. The main engine at 1,800 RPM burns three liters each hour and the
generator consumes between 0.7 liters and 1.4 liters an hour depending on how
much electrical current (load) we draw. The figure for the main engine is
accurate as checked by dividing diesel missing from the tank by engine
hours at each refuel. For the generator consumption I have only the
manufacturers data to go on, but they are Germans and we can reasonably
expect them to get it right.
Since leaving Las Palmas we have run the engine 52 hours
and the generator 8.7 hours. I wish I could write that we haven't used the
engine at all but the wind has pretty much died and we have a rendezvous to
keep at Ilha do Sal where there is no dockside
fuel.
My plan was to use only diesel from the small tank
between Las Palmas and Mindelo; our last port of call before the long trans
Atlantic leg. I read in the blogs of a few yachts who made the same trip one
month ago that they suffered from contaminated diesel after refueling in
Mindelo. Diesel contamination is most often caused by bacteria that thrive
in a less than full tank. They multiply in the moisture created by diurnal
temperature change and high humidity, descend to the bottom of the tank, turn
into a jelly-like substance which clogs filters bringing the engine to a
stop. It's not certain that fuel from Mindelo was the source of the trouble
for these yachts, maybe they took it on board some place else and it only
became apparent when they sailed south into a warmer climate and the bacteria
got to work. However, it happened and it's a worry.
Anyhow, back to my dilemma. If everything had gone to
plan I could be expecting to arrive in Mindelo with my four hundred liter
tank still untouched, and to top up only the small tank. Should the diesel
in the small tank be contaminated, no big deal, I have a bottle of biocide with
which to treat it and the big tank would still be fine. This was my way of
thinking. But now it's certain that we will use the engine for an additional 40
hours to make Ihla do Sal, we'll need generator power whilst at anchor in
Sal, and therefore my calculations show we will have to dip into the main
tank long before reaching Mindelo.
Plan B. We'll refuel only the small tank in Mindelo
and use the biocide directly just in case. If the main tank is less than
full, so be it, I wont risk mixing it with dodgy diesel. I have made sure
the crew understand that on the trans Atlantic leg, if there's no wind
there's also no engine. We'll wait for the wind Gods to turn the fans
back on. We'll have plenty of diesel to run the generator for the two
or three hours each day needed to keep the freezer cold,
the navigation systems running, desalination, auto pilot and more. Mid
ocean vacuum cleaning is not out if the
question.
An interesting observation about the diesel we already
have on board. I can see the colour of the fuel from each tank as it passes
through the glass part of a clever filter called a Racor. Diesel from
Gibraltar still in the smaller tank has the colour of honey. Diesel in the main
tank which was loaded in Las Palmas is of a hue which would cause a
vet to note, "This horse definitely has diabetes."
Tel +870 773 156 537 Follow us at http://blog.mailasail.com/psp2
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