August 3, 2024
The weather gods smiled on us, instead of the normal SE trades (the direction we were headed), we had a north wind. With provisioning to get done it was still a motorsail giving us a very nice 7.5 knot average. The anchor was no more than set before Roxy and I headed to the dinghy dock to grab a cab…
August 2, 2024
Friday was the Yasawa group rugby playoffs, with our local village (Yasawairara) playing at 8am – it was much too early for us, but Carl and I made the paddleboard/two mile hike into a nearby village. The tournament was a fun format with 10 minute halves for the teams of 7. Being close to the action it was unexpected how…
August 1, 2024
After a quickly breakfast everyone headed to shore separately. Adrian and I had plans to help Mon fix his solar/battery issue. After doing research overnight we both came to the conclusion that the panel wiring was exceeding the solar controller maximum voltage. In a divide and conquer, Adrian took on rewiring the panels while I cleaned up the dirty connections…
July 31, 2024
Coffee complete and we headed north. It was blowing 20ish knots and we started with Reef 1 in the main sail giving up 7.6 knots of speed. Very nice. It wasn’t too rough so I headed down to make my breakfast. There was a gap in between islands coming up so Carl and I put in the second reef and…
July 30, 2024
A great, restful night’s sleep felt so good, sunrising at 6:30am felt strange however since it was 4:15am in Alaska the past three weeks. No complaints, the scenery and temperatures are perfect. Carl put me to grinding the coffee beans and soon enough it was a “To the day!” cheer. After some breakfast, Roxy and I piled into the dinghy…
July 29, 2024
Getting nearly halfway around the world is not without some effort. My trip from Anchorage to Nadi, Fiji started with a flight to Honolulu where I had a two hour layover. What a cool airport, open air walkways with individual buildings for each gate and a very nice garden in the middle. Exploring the Japanese, Chinese, and Hawaiian gardens kept…
July 2, 2024
With not much time before leaving for Alaska and Fiji, I really wanted to get in a backpacking trip. I wish there had been more time but alas only a single night could be squeezed into my schedule. A massive bonus was that I was the first one on the trail for the year. Well maybe not a massive bonus…
June 26, 2024
The back right cylinders on Lycoming engines are always the hottest on Van’s RV planes. I’ve not had any major issues (with CHT temperatures) on cylinder 5 until recently. Departing Las Vegas at 6:45am in 90+ degree temperatures it took a lot of playing with my climb rate and oil cooler dampener to keep the CHTs in line, and even…
May 29, 2024
After a number of questions on VansAirforce.net about my rudder trim system, I decided it was to for a post to help others who may be interested in a similar system. I wanted a system that would move the entire rudder and could be adjusted via a switch on the panel. Originally I purchased the Aerosport Products Rudder trim but…
May 29, 2024
Each Condition inspection I have battled the reinstallation of the Matco brakes. The issue is that there is almost no room to get the inside brake pad lined up and start the bolt. I’ve spent upwards of 40 minutes getting one bolt started, frustrating and a total waste of time. I’m embarrassed it took me this long but I finally…
May 21, 2024
While looking around for a breakdown of what KTM legend Chris Birch carries for tools, I found a video he published back in 2020. This is a list generated from that video with links to the manufacturer specific items.
May 10, 2024
With a requirement to be off the dock by 7:00am there was movement on the boat a bit after six. Scott and I bought four more bags of ice and packed the cooler. I did some final prep work to see Gato Loco off. Some coffee worked to wake everyone up and soon we were joined by Eddie and Marcia…