Wear and tear
8 Jun 2009
Well, firstly we must apologise for the lack of update. We don't mean to keep our fan base hanging in suspense, but we've been having some problems which have kept us busy!
After serious scientific testing (licking our top lip) we can confirm that the Indian ocean is far saltier than the Atlantic, and the grueling conditions here is giving our poor boat a battering.
Firstly numerous bearings on the seats rusted away and had to be changed. We were then in yet another bad weather system, and found it impossible to get enough sun to power our solar panels (let alone hope for a tan). Even when there was sun beaming briefly through the clouds it didn't charge the batteries as it should do.
We had initially set off with four gel batteries and a fuel cell ran on methanol. In the first week however, when we were battered by the waves, many of our hatches were flooded. Unable to dry out the fuelcell hatch this quickly packed up and has been out of action since. Salt water had even made it to hatch in the stern cabin where all the batteries are stored. With this all the connections had become rusty.
We hoped that drying them out and not using any power for a few days would sort it out. The batteries seem to be permanently damaged from the charge dropping too low.
Luckily, e-go solutions who kindly gave us our sat phone for the trip also gave us a roll out solar panel, and now that we've had sun again for a couple of days we are now able to charge our sat phone and laptop.For all our other equipment we continue to run them in battery saving mode while we try to get the batteries back up.
Due to the low power and the fact that the bracket for the auto-helm was ripped off in bad weather we've been having to rely on hand steering. This means that the rower in stern position constantly needs to stop rowing in order to do adjustments. Having also lost our dagger board in the first week whenever we are in rough seas we are finding it difficult to hold course - which is why our course may take a zig-zag approach at times, and not be as accurate as we would like. For the observant viewers amongst you however, our current course heading north is a conscious decision to try to make the most of favorable weather up this way - but thank you for your messages of concern!
You'd think that with all these problems that we'd have a broken wing or two! But fear not, we're still high in spirit and fighting on towards land. Your messages of support mean to much to us, so please keep them coming - they are certainly the key to keep four Angels flying!
