A Big Mess

The offending fuel tank port with home made rubber gasket - hope it holds!

Yesterday was spent mostly cleaning. When we awoke we noticed diesel fuel on the floor of the aft cabin. One of our fuel tanks is under that bunk. It was leaking from the top of the tank where the fuel gauge goes in. The gasket needs replacing. Rob has a big rubber cone in the opening at the moment. He improvised a replacement but in the high seas we have now as soon as he took the plug out the fuel splashed out. It will have to wait until we are at anchor. We have sopped up a good gallon of diesel out of various lockers as well as what is being pumped out of the bilge. Various items like life jackets, spare parts, bathroom supplies, clothing, and a carpet are drenched. We'll be traveling with big garbage bags now. Everything needed to come out of that cabin including the mattresses so you can imagine what the main cabin will look like for the rest of the trip. We'll be "hot bunking" it now though the bow berth was pretty bumpy last night.

Other than that the sailing has been good. Now that the winds are 15 to 20 Maggie can really move. We had her up to 9 knots before reefing for the night. Now with both sails reefed we're doing about 8 knots. We are north of Columbia now (almost 72 longitude) and the winds should increase until we are at 76. There is a gale developing in the Gulf of Mexico that is expected to reach the western Caribbean by the end of the weekend. We'll have to keep an eye out for that on the forecasts.

Today Rob wants to try the internet on the sat phone. Also he is still trying to assess the power sources and usage. I have gone five days now without spending any money, a first. Our son, Mike, is spending his first day in his own townhouse. Lauren will be on her own watching our place. Hope all goes well.

I incorrectly typed the link to the tracking site previously. It should be
http://cornellsailing.com/blue-planet-odyssey/track-the-boats/