Loading Map

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Let there be 120 volts AC!

February 11, 2005
Barra de Navidad, Colima Coast (19o 11' N 104o 40' W, about 90 miles south of Puerto Vallarta)

We checked out of Barra de Navidad today and are planning to spend a few days in Tenacatita on our way back towards Puerto Vallarta. We're looking forward to spending time there, though it sounds like there are a LOT more boats there now than when we were there in December. It will be interesting to see what sort of anchorage politics develop.

On a happy note, we have just purchased an item which we hope will change our lives: a 1000 watt Honda generator! You may recall my writing about trying to get one of these little babies while we were in Zihua but that it seemed impossible to order one. In fact it turns out that we COULD have gotten one in Zihua, it was just our language skills holding us back. The model we thought we wanted was a EU1000i, and the guy at the hardware store could only get us an EU10i. I looked for the EU10i on the web to see what it's specifications were and the only info I found said the EU10i is 240 volts (European voltage). Well, we were taking a tour of Barra with the dinghy the other day and I noticed a big 'Honda Marine' sign. I went in and asked about getting a generator and the owner said 'No problem!' I made sure that it was a 120 volt model and then put half the total cost down. Delivery was in an astounding 5 days. I picked up the generator yesterday afternoon to find that it's a EU10i, but instead of 220 volts it's 120 volts. Exactly what we wanted!

We've been trying it out these last couple of days and at this point it sure seems pretty slick. It's very quiet and doesn't produce much heat, so the boat is cooler than when we run the engine. It generates enough power to run our battery charger so the boat's batteries get charged, also we plug in the computer chargers so the computers get charged, and best of all, our electric tooth brush is plugged in so it gets charged. Clean teeth again, yahoo!