Part The First Done

We met with Denir the mechanic yesterday and got some good news.

Yesterday started with other plans, a museum visit and a grocery shop until we got a text from Denir. Thanks to Google Translate his WhatsApp message told us the mechanical work on GANNET2 was done and he was in his shop until noon. We called Uber. 

Denir charged us US$565 for his labor, installing our brace new $700 alternator while adapting these plate to protect it. He also gave us an alignment, an engine oil change and a replacement windshield. All of which was needed after our thousand mile detour in terrible roads to the Guyanas.

Interestingly Denir located a small leak from a radiator hose while he was installing our new second alternator and he fixed that. I had noticed a slight drop in radiator fluid but I was wondering if it was evaporation from the heat. Apparently not but he saw it and fixed it. Our new windshield looks great after driving since about September with an irritating crack across the passenger’s view.  The thing about the Promaster is that it shares chassis components with the wildly popular Fiat Ducato sold around the world. That means getting chassis parts for the Promaster is usually very easy and not excessively expensive. 

So now GANNET2 is good to go; however she spends the weekend in Denir’s huge shop…

…so Monday morning Alessandro our Christmas host will come over and drive our home to his shop 50 yards up the street so he can start installing our new electrical parts.

The center piece for the roof will first be our new Dometic 12 volt air conditioner. Then Alessandro will measure the remaining space to add our Starlink receiver which we have at last decided to install on the roof. The idea is to be able to turn it on at the flick of a switch and even use it while driving.

The disadvantage is it won’t be portable if we want superior internet on an apartment when we rent, or our signal may be weak if we park under trees. Overall it will be useful move in South America. After all that we will know how much space is left for new more powerful solar panels.

After that we are converting our fridge to 12 volts, adding a sink drain jug so we don’t put gray water directly on the ground. We used to have a large underbody tank to collection water but we took it out as it hung too low. Alessandro is figuring he should be finished by 20th January.  We have leased our apartment till 23rd and our permit to stay in Brazil expires February 8th. By then we hope to be in Paraguay. Here’s hoping…

A headless pigeon in our apartment complex. 

We have loud busy green parakeets in the tree outside our 3rd floor apartment. They aren’t easy to spot.