On The Road

This has been a tough week, and I can say that now, as my head cold is on the way out, my stress levels are down and our van, the redoubtable GANNET2 is whole once more. All three things are undoubtably related and made worse by our ferry deadline Monday.  We are ready to go with 24 hours to spare. This is the hero of this story:

Konstantin - “I am not an electrician” - but who has the mind of an investigative logical scientist figured out how to repair our second alternator, the one that charges our house batteries.

His father maintained the electric tram fleet in what was then Leningrad and he has learned how to deal with electro mechanics from a good teacher apparently. His hometown changed names with the new political era and became St Petersburg once again but he and his wife, a Microsoft employee emigrated to Seattle. Lucky for me they did.  

It happened three weeks ago that I noticed our engine was no longer charging our house batteries, those are the ones we use to run our living quarters in the van, the ones we use for lighting cooking and heating or cooling. At first I mistakenly though it was an inverter/ charger problem but an investigation by a camper manufacturer in Puerto Montt revealed the alternator had blown its regulator. 

We ordered a replacement from the very helpful folk at Nation’s in Missouri and Layne flew to Key West to pick up the tiny part. We also ordered a second one again a future breakage.

Adam, owner of Nation’s Starters and Alternator put together a package of new parts for us to refresh the installation and all I had to do was go back to the mechanic to do the installation. 

That was where the wheels came off. We had an appointment Friday and when I  showed up the shop was closed. Friday as the last day we could cancel the ferry and only lose $1,000 of the three thousand dollar boat tickets…after that we either ride or forfeit the entire fee. Decisions, decisions and I said we go for it. At worst we can get the alert alternator repaired in Punta Arenas after the ferry ride. The van runs fine without the second alternator but we can only charge the house batteries with solar or by plugging in to an outlet. 

It was a long frustrating rigmarole but I got the alternator back by Friday afternoon from the electricians shop where the imbecile mechanic had forgotten to pick it up despite our so called appointment to install it. I had everything we needed except the know how to install it. What to do? 

I had a stroke of genius at that point, or possibly in an act of desperation I asked Konstantin if he could help. He’s one of those overlanders who built his own van buys parts and installs them himself and has the sort of mechs I am self reliance that is outside the grasp of a thinker like myself. We drive over to his campground on the edge of a lake on a sunny Friday afternoon. 

He got stuck in while I watched coughing and sniffling. Julia came to help her spouse who issued terse instructions in expletive laden (apparently) Russian. 

He couldn’t finish the job Friday and we got together again Saturday when he finally figured out the problem. I shall skip the long story of  a lot of trial and error and testing and puzzling the problem; it turned out that when the regulator broke a fuse also blew to protect the circuit so after tracing the wiring and using Nation’s very helpful online troubleshooting guide Konstantin figured it out. We have amps! 

It’s possible I suppose a dedicated local electrician could have figured it out and if it happens again I would be a much more useful guide but Konstantin’s attention to detail gives me confidence that we will travel with plenty of electricity from here. 

I will say that Patagonia Campers Chile who build RVs in Puerto Montt gave us some useful help when their electrical guy explained the shortcomings of our battery bank using mixed battery sizes. Our 100amp battery was suppressing our two 250 amp batteries so he removed it and our storage capacity seems to have jumped. Our solar panels are charging more strongly we have paradoxically increased our capacity with 100 fewer amps. So that was one good outcome. 

I carried a spare water pump as I know they give out and ours started to show signs of failing as it kept losing small amounts of pressure. I got it replaced and my neighbor Christoph showed me his trucks for setting the pressure for best performance. I learned something else. And all this while we were waiting for the ferry do we have not actually lost any time.

Konstantin and Christoph enjoying the moments after technical job well done while Julia and Layne menu plan for our last meal together Sunday before we get on the boat and the Russians go south on the highway and the Germans get their missing part back from customs hopefully next week. 

Monica and Christoph’s Unimog expedition vehicle wrecked its rear drive shaft and a new one has been sent from Germany but getting it out of customs is proving to be a problem. It’s seven feet long and weighs 250 pounds so you can’t smuggle it in as Layne did with our parts…

We all break down from time to time. Everyone has stories and all of them suck. This time we’ve been lucky. I hope our luck holds.

These are the Instagram accounts of our friends and neighbors here. Overlanders use Instagram and WhatsApp to keep in touch in this modern era. 

 Some photos from our recent drives around town:

Llanquihue on the lake:

Puerto Montt:

More Puerto Montt: 

When the sun shines it’s beautiful around here. 

Another typical street in middle class Puerto Montt: 

More ferries to come: 

I’ve spent enough time in Puerto Montt and I’m ready to jump out too. 

Thanksgiving

Yesterday was very odd as we were the only people at Lider shopping for Thanksgiving. Imagine that, no crowds no frenzied pursuit of anything. 

Monica the German overlander had never had marshmallows (“Marva”) so Layne asked and the employee in proper Walmart style led us to them. Today is Black Friday in the US. “El Black” is a new three week tradition in Chile apparently:  

Walmart bought Lider (pronounced “leader”) in 2009 but for a lot of things Layne prefers Jumbo for its selection. However this store is on the edge of town with easy parking.  Rusty took a short walk and unimpressed retreated to the bed. 

Google maps listed this place as aJumbo supermarket so we wasted some time checking it out and I wasted some sending in a correction to Google. 

We were a group of six for dinner, two Russians from Seattle, a German, an Austrian, Layne the Jew and me the mutt. A perfect mix for this holiday.  

Julia, Monica, Christoph, Konstantin and me taking the picture.

The dishes were not necessarily traditional but they did the job. 

He got more chicken than he could eat of course: 

And thanks to Layne’s ingenuity we had a memorable evening. It was what we needed. 

Packing

One thing I don’t much like in this freewheeling life is deadlines. And as curious as I am about the four day ferry journey through the fjords of southern Chile sitting around waiting for the day we load, which is Monday, is proving to be tedious. 

Layne got back Tuesday afternoon from Key West loaded with stuff as always including a collapsible barbecue grill some German Overlanders introduced us to in Peru…

…a couple of fresh SD recording cards  for my digital Panasonic cameras and a new type of compact coffee press called The Final Press.

Solidly built, easy to clean and compact which makes it ideal for van life but will my persnickety wife give up her clumsy Aeropress? This tea drinker watches with eager anticipation and no great hope. 

At the moment my bachelor life has been turned on its head. Clothes are out of the van and in the cabin as Herself organizes her winter wardrobe to face the rigors of Patagonia. Rusty handles the chaos with his usual aplomb. When we were alone I made tea and plowed through my book and he hung out as an old dog should. He still does that as bags of t-shirts and shorts go into the bowels of GANNET2 and long johns and woolen watch caps see the light of day. When we get back up north we will have to swap back as this visit to cold places is purely temporary. Next April we hope to be sunning ourselves on the tropical beaches of Brazil. 

When Layne got back the first thing we did was go food shopping. I saw these frozen sides of lamb hanging in the Jumbo store’s meat section in Puerto Varas. I thought that was unusual enough to photograph. It’s not the raw unrefrigerated street markets of Andean Peru but the sight startled me.  

We will have Monica and Christoph over for Thanksgiving so I’ve been trying to read up on the myths and realities of the holiday but I will say I’ve found another reason to enjoy Thanksgiving as the best holiday. It keeps Christmas at bay. Around here trees and carols and decorations have shown up in stores for weeks already. Last year we did Thanksgiving in Nicaragua I think. It’s the best time to be home for me but oh well. 

Robert was busy gardening and sorting out his house for sale. He went me a wave after Layne came by to see him. We first met sailing in the Bahamas 35 years ago. I wish I had been there but a photo is the next best thing. 

Friday we have an appointment to install the alternator parts Layne brought back from Florida. Then at last we board the ferry on Monday and sail to Puerto Natales 1200 miles south of here. That should be a change.

Waiting

We bought our Promaster on the cusp of evolving  battery technology and since we had GANNET2 outfitted, you may be surprised to learn, electrical systems for RVs have advanced quite a bit further than our four year old layout which relies heavily on 110 volts. I have to say though that we pioneered one idea that manufacturers are now adopting for commercially built campers, principally ditching propane gas. We went all electric in 2020 which raised some eyebrows at the time as lithium batteries were new and very expensive.  

Living with electricity alone for heating cooling cooking and lighting means you need a lot of battery power which used to mean lugging around a generator but our builders, Custom Coach Creations of DeLand Florida went instead with a second alternator to provide faster charging for our batteries. That was great until the second alternator stopped working and a replacement regulator cannot be found in Chile. The factory alternator is doing fine at the moment so we can drive as normal which is nice. We just can’t burn electricity with gay abandon in the living quarters which is a drag. 

Layne is in Key West at the moment picking up the part for our alternator shipped to a friend’s house by Nation’s Starters and Alternators in Missouri.  Indeed she has her hands on it as I write, as well as the spare we decided to order at the same time as a precaution against a future failure. Lovely things the tiny plastic $20 regulators that are critical to engine battery charging:

The problem was we had to get them this week as we are hoping to load ourselves and our van into the Esperanza ferry next Monday for a four day sail to Puerto Natales 1200 miles south of here. Had we decided to have the parts shipped directly to us there was no telling when they might arrive and pass through customs and so on. So Layne flew to Florida where she is seeing friends, going to see a play in Key West, (I’m jealous) while enjoying 60 degree days in a proper Keys winter. Rusty and I are twiddling our thumbs in the cabin outside Puerto Montt.

It’s not a bad place to stay and Rusty loves the absence of competition from other dogs and he loves sunbathing on the gravel (weird dog) and rolling in the grass while ignoring the chickens. It’s a pastoral life.

I spend my days reading and having lunch with our German neighbors Christoph and Monica. They are waiting for a new axle for their Mercedes Unimog expedition vehicle to be sent from Germany. It’s been a month and the part has now arrived in Santiago where it faces scrutiny by the inscrutable customs inspectors and that could take days. As it’s 7 feet long and weighs 250 pounds it’s not something you can fly to Germany to pick up and stuff in your pocket. They may have their truck back in a week. Or not. Sigh. 

I have lunch with them and we talk about travel, families, European and US politics and spare parts shipping. 

Then I read and my plan is to finish off a paperback I picked up at the Rome airport last year, a biography of the conquests of Alexander the Great  who fought his way from Greece to India. Layne wondered why we were hauling around this thick green book and it was  about time I read it. I’m at page 300 of 440 with two days to go so I should get it done and go back to my Kindle.

I generally prefer reading on my ebook  as I get the benefit of reading electronically with a lightweight back-lit library in my hands but without the distraction of the Internet. The book is heavy and the pages flap but it’s great story. And with the state of affairs in Russia it seems as though I may have missed my window to drive the Silk Road so at least I can still read about it.

Meanwhile here we are in Chile, land of unpredictable weather. It’s been sunny and pleasant like a summer day in Seattle and then suddenly with no notice at all it starts slashing rain which either stops equally suddenly or persists all night dropping temperatures to make it fell less like Spring an feel much more like winter. 

Rusty has some idea when the rain is about to start so when he goes indoors I pick up my chair and follow him and sure enough the waterfall begins. He has got used to the rain on the metal roof of the van and he sleeps through the heaviest rains these days where he used to tremble when we started out living life in a van. The heavy rain on the in insulated cabin roof bothers him not at all and the old dog likes his naps. 

Layne gets back Tuesday and then we get the alternator fixed and then we take a drive to check it and then we get on the ferry out of here. 

Meanwhile I’m off back to Central Asia to see if the plot to overthrow Alexander is going to succeed. It’s unlikely as his biography has 140 pages to go…