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Melissa & Dave - Adventures at Sea

Saltydog gets a new Amp Hour Meter

While Saltydog was sitting in the marina in Quepos Costa Rica over the summer, their Amp Meter died.  The Amp Meter is important becuase it lets you understand the health of your batteries, and how much power you are using.  Which isn't a big deal when you are plugged into shore power, but becomes a bigger deal when you are at anchor and eeking everything you can out of the electrical system and recharging via solar.  Steve had purchased a new meter and attempted to have someone in Quepos install it.  Alas after 4 hours of work, the guy got nowhere on being able to make the new meter work, and hadn't done any of the work to cut the pannel to fit the new unit.  You know where this is going... Took Dave two hours start to cut the new hole, and get the unit installed and functioning.  Here is what the new unit looks like:

This might cost us money though because the new pannel has a ton of features that Apsaras' pannel does not. 

Meanwhile, Melissa started the sewing projects to create a big sun shade for the whole boat.  Wanuskewin let her borrow their industrial sewing machine for the project.  The largest piece is 15 feet by 18 feet.  Made from Sunbrella fabric, the pannel weighs a ton.  A single seam would use up a whole bobin's worth of thread.  Holly came and helped Melissa feed the fabric through the machine because it was so unweildy.  Near the end of the day, the thread got totally twisted around the motor belt of the machine and created a huge snarl.  Holly and Melissa decided that was a sign that it needed to be happy hour time.

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