A blog
Why?
After moving Magayon II from Iba, Zambales to Subic Bay and planning for some repairs, I posted the idea of joining a Puerto Galera Yacht Club All Souls or Easter Regatta in Puerto Galera again. Several potential crew members expressed interest in joining the trips to and from Puerto Galera, and the Regatta, so here we are, this blog will document the events, which are not without challenges.
Challenges
Since the COVID lockdowns Magayon II had been a bit neglected and many things needed to be fixed. All the major work is done, first in Iba on the beach, and then in the Watercrafts Marina, only some minor issues still need to be addressed.
However, one major challenge remains. We don’t have a gasoline guzzling 8hp outboard motor anymore since our old motor donated to us by M.D. had reached its useful lifetime end and needed to be fixed all the time. I therefore converted it into an electric motor, which is good for weekend or day tours in the Subic area. But the around 5kWh battery capacity is not sufficient for a long, multi day trip. And for installing sufficient solar panels for solar charging the available area on Magayon II is just not sufficient. Currently we have around 200W nominal power installed, taking up most of the available deck area. Our other motor, with 15hp, is almost brand new, but so heavy that the aft cross beam bends worryingly when it is used. So that motor is not an option.
All efforts to either swap the 15hp motor for a smaller one, or for renting a motor, failed. So basically we have the electric motor, which is good for racing anchor, anchoring or port maneuvers, and for short distances at times with no wind, failed. We got one old 5hp Yamaha motor but first, it is totally stalled and second, it has a much shorter shaft than our old one.
We have 5 days to get from Subic to Puerto Galera, the opposite direction and a day trip further to Iba took us 4 days, so on principle there should be enough time.
Options
For now, we have discussed the following options:
- Find another outboard motor (unlikely, nobody wants to rent out his motor, understandable in the context, but a bit disappointing)
- Identify and contact overnight points on the trip to Puerto Galera where there is 220V power supply to re-charge the batteries every night. P. suggested some places and I am in the process of following up on those. With power data gathered when testing the motor and using some of my smart calculations I conclude that at a marching speed of around 3 knots the batteries should last for 7 hours. Or 21 nautical miles. We have not really tested that yet. The assumption is that there will be wind at least during some time each day.
- Getting another boat to tow us. Not very practical, and not needed when there is wind, so coordination might be quite frustrating.
- K. suggested to anchor next to other boats and use their power to re-charge our batteries. All bigger yachts seem to have 220v power. However, this might mean that they would need to run their generator / engines at night if they don’t want to drain their batteries. Not sure whether that is feasible.
- Buying a cheap 1kW generator as “range extender” and using it to charge the batteries while either using the motor or when anchoring. For the regatta it would be brought to land.
- Relying on sails, with the likelihood that we come late.
Potential Overnight points
To be continued.
