LORD'S PRAYER LOG, Part 08:
February 3, 2000
0300 At long last the wind veers into the NW. I readjust the course so that she is before the wind. I drop the staysail jib, secure it on deck and I spread the wings of the dual jib on the whisker poles. The mainsail I drop and stow. The relative wind is only about 6 kts going down wind and this is too light for the Monitor Wind Vane to hold the course, so I give it a rest and hand the job over to the Robertson AP20 autopilot.
0551 Sunrise.
0700 I start the engine to charge the batteries. The batteries were lower than expected this morning; the analog DC voltmeter was fairly deep in the red. The digital Link 20 Battery Monitor appeared to have actually shut itself down, as it would not respond in any way. This is something I have not observed in the Link 20 before. As soon as charging began, the Link 20 was once again available. There is a separate engine starting battery to prevent a situation where there is not enough juice to start the engine.
0800 The motion of the boat is gentle this morning. I take this opportunity to transfer 12 gallons of diesel fuel from 2 of the 6 deck jugs into the main tank. In a week I have used about 20 gallons from the 38-gallon main tank (this is between 2 and 3 gallons per day). Mostly this has been for charging the batteries but each time I have run the engine, I have put it in forward to assure that there was a proper load on it. I am led to understand that running a diesel engine without a proper load can contribute to carbon buildup inside the engine.
1025 The wind has come around to the east. It is light 9-10 kts. I have stowed the whisker poles and now have the boat on a port beam reach heading south. The effects of that front were not long-lived.
1200 It looks like it is going to be a good drying day. I open up the hatches and the portholes to let air through the boat. It feels good. Seawater temperature and air temperature are both 75. I wash some clothes in the galley sink - first with laundry soap in salt water - then 2 or 3 salt water rinses followed by a final fresh water rinse. After a good squeeze I hang the wash about the boat to dry. The wind is out of the east but is staying under 10 kts.
1330 I cut the eye-splices off the braided jib sheets and whipped the ends of the lines. Several days ago the jaws of one of the whisker pole had jammed over one of the splices. To prevent that from recurring I end-for-ended the sheets at that time and secured them to the jib clews with a bowline. This was the first decent opportunity I have had to clean up the hauling ends.
1400 I spend the afternoon reading guidebooks to the Caribbean in the cockpit.
1653 Sunset. Dinner is served in the cockpit in observance of a very fine sunset..
2025 Position: 25-15N 061-44W. This is the same latitude as Key Largo -1000 NM east.
END OF LORD'S PRAYER LOG, Part 08


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