2012-02-18 16:04:39
Visit to Marina de La Paz

John Meyer / Sunny
imgp4096_scale.jpg
After changing the primary fuel filter and bleeding the engine we still had problems. In the meantime, we had the fuel guy Carlos over on Tuesday to look at our tank and agreed to move the boat to the Marina La Paz on Thursday Morning for a couple of nights so he could clean the fuel tank and filter (polish) the fuel that was in the tank. Wednesday afternoon, Luis arrived and worked with me for a couple of hours to see if we could fix the fuel problem. We checked the entire fuel line system and it turned out to be a partial air lock in the fuel line between the fuel pump and the engine; something that was not cleared even after doing a standard fuel line purge. After we got rid of it, the engine ran and sounded fine.

We motored down to Marina de La Paz from Marina Costa Baja on Thursday morning and both Carlos and Luis came over to work on the boat. Carlos brought his large fuel pump and filter unit which we attached to the fuel tank on Hilbre circulating the fuel at least 8 times as well as cleaning the tank. The fuel was somewhat cloudy so I did pick up some bad fuel either in Turtle Bay or Cabo. So now we have nice clean fuel as well as a clean fuel tank. We also took the opportunity to fix the fuel gauge sender unit which is inside the fuel tank so now we have a working fuel gauge once again. This was not really a problem as I know how much fuel we use in an hour and can figure the remaining fuel in the tank from tracking the engine hours. Still it is nice to have it working and not just sitting on empty which it has done since we were in LA.

Luis also came over and installed a fuel pump by-pass switch which allows us to turn on the fuel pump without turning on the ignition switch and purge the fuel lines without running the engine or using tools to bleed the fuel system. This is especially useful when changing filters as it allows us to fill the filters with fuel using the pump before starting the engine. It is nice to know that there are really good technicians here in La Paz that do good work. Both Carlos and Luis spoke good English and Carlos especially was full of great stories and information.

We arrived back in the Marina Costa Baja this morning and took some pictures on the way back, some of which I will post on the Blog. While we were in the Marina La Paz we connected with a couple (Ralph and Angie) we had met in Ensenada. We had dinner with them on Thursday night at a BBQ place and they took us shopping in their car on Friday so we were able to get lots of groceries and stock up the boat while we had transportation. We also took a walk along the Malecon Thursday evening and many of the vendors were already setting up their stalls ready for Carnival. On Friday night, we could hear the bands along the Malecon from the Marina but not loud enough to be a nuisance. However, the boats anchored out in the bay must get the full brunt of the sound which keeps going until at least 1 or 2 am.

Still, we are happy to be back in our usual marina as the slip we had at the La Paz Marina was affected strongly by the tidal current and wind, so we rocked about quite a bit. It was quite a challenge to get onto the pier against the strong current. On the way into our marina we passed one of the National Geographic Explorer small cruise boats fueling up at the marina dock.

The weather is still delightful, sunny and warm in the high 70’s or low 80’s. Wind has been light to moderate and we are preparing to head out from La Paz for more exploration of the Sea of Cortez.