Our onboard box that charges the house batteries has stopped working so we can only charge them using 400 watts of solar panels on the roof.
We chose to have the van be propane free because it’s complicated finding compatible refilling systems outside North America and we bought the van and had it converted with South America as our goal. That means we rely on plugging in to shorepower sometimes and on our two alternators when driving to keep our large battery bank charged. So this inverter/charger breakdown was a problem needing to be solved.
First step: rent an air b and b at $46 a night. Ours naturally was in a fourth floor walk up which is no big deal except that to create full access to our electrical system under our bed I had to carry lots of glorious stuff upstairs for safekeeping. Good exercise.
The apartment complex in Puerto Montt is efficient and comfortable but not heartwarming or cheerful or engaging. Rusty likes it.
It was a struggle and we got lots of “nos” as we searched around town for a suitable electrician. But we may have struck the motherlode thanks to persistence.
Facundo, a lanky cheerful bearded Argentine didn’t freak out when I mentioned our inverter. He wants to upgrade our battery system which he says is not a great installation. They can order parts from Santiago to rebuild our inverter/charger layout. He seems confident and capable. It’ll take two days he said or a few more if we need to order parts from Santiago. I hope for the best. We have 16 days until the ferry leaves Puerto Montt for Puerto Natales. We got a memo from our travel agents.
Meanwhile our landlady said the apartment rental couldn’t be extended so we drove back to the complex and carried down all our crap back to GANNET2 and drive it fifteen minutes across town to a new place, a cabin in the woods with a wood stove and lots of grass for Rusty to roll in. How Layne found it on short order was an act of brilliance on her part. Explanations to follow later. We keep tottering along on a tightrope between being bummed out and relieved. So far so good. We shall see. Hope for the best. Insert cliché here:
It’s a voyage of discovery and I feel alive.
3 comments:
I hope your electrician can get everything worked out, waiting for pictures of your cabin in the woods!
Wilson
Amazing stories...reminds me when we were cruising and every day was a potential somethinng (positive or negative).
It’s very much like sailing inasmuch as problem solving is always part of the daily job.
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