So. There we were in 57 feet of water in Bahia Agua Verde, with a busted anchor windlass. GB believed after some serious testing* that the problem lay in the electric windlass motor. Which, fortunately, was heavy but portable when next we were at a port with some repair opportunities.
GB manfully raised the 66-lb. anchor and 175 feet of chain from Agua Verde’s watery depths by hand and got such a good workout that I thought his bully-boy anchor-raising method would be an excellent substitute for a gym membership. GB congratulated me on my thoughtfulness but asked me to please locate an anchorage with a shallower bottom or head for Puerto Escondido where we might get lucky and find a mechanic.
We opted for Puerto Escondido, snagged a mooring buoy in the inner bay and dinghied ashore to do settle up with the Singlar staff. At the Singlar dock we got reacquainted with a couple on a wooden Monk motor yacht we had last seen in Punta Pequena traveling down the Pacific side of Baja. They happened to have a car with them in Puerto Escondido and kindly took us into Loreto the next day to meet the electrical mechanic that another expat, “Sealover,” had told us about on the VHF cruisers’ net.**
Looking down the driveway into the center of the mechanic’s outdoor shop, we knew we’d come to the right place: there were about a dozen vehicles waiting for repairs, and dozens of dust-covered alternators and motors on tables and on the ground. There was also the biggest Rottweiler I‘ve seen in a while – very well-fed for Mexico and a true junkyard dog – chained to a truck’s axle near the front of the business. The Rottweiler did a good job of barking and lunging at any movement he saw. I couldn’t tell if he was jumping and smiling because he wanted to play, or was baring his teeth in anticipation of his next serving of meat. I would not wish to come to this business after hours when Bitey the Wonder Dog was no doubt let loose from the truck.
This mechanic’s business was booming. During the hour we were there he worked not only on our motor problem, but he and his apprentice repaired at least 2 vehicles local customers brought in. Long story short: with me gamely trying to explain our mechanical problems in Spanish (“el molinete del ancla tiene un cortocircuito,” “fusibles fundidos,” “la maquina no va” and more embarrassing phrases), and with GB and me looking with dismay at the fine soot that poured out of the motor as the mechanic pulled it apart, the mechanic unseated the copper brushes, ran the whole thing through a few electrical tests, and pronounced it…
Just fine.
It performed just fine. OK; so maybe by giving it a bit of a knock the mechanic had loosened whatever grit had caused the alleged short circuit. Or, we had a bigger problem in the part of the anchor windlass that was still sitting on the boat. While we pushed that scenario to the back of our minds, I showed the mechanic the blown 125-amp fuse from the anchor windlass and asked him if he knew of any place in town where we could get replacements. He shook his head sadly and told me no; nothing like that in town…but how about I solder that one back together for you, lady? What the hey, I said in broken Spanish, knock yourself out.
Five minutes later we had a soldered fuse and a working windlass motor. The mechanic charged us 200 pesos – about US $20. Awesome. Thanking him profusely I took his picture and he and his apprentice (the larger gentleman in the photo wearing the non-soot-covered shirt) were already on to the next job.
Once back at the boat GB put the whole windlass assembly back together, inserted the professionally-soldered fuse…and the windlass works with no problems. So all is well. GB says the lesson on how to solder a blown fuse was alone worth the 200 pesos. Although he’s going to need a lot more soldering practice before he can do the professional-level work in this Loreto mechanic’s shop.
I figured I’d find out the mechanic’s name later from some of the long-term PE denizens. What folly. Sure; they know what work he does, they know where to find him, have done business with him many times…but in the decades (yes, decades) that some expats have lived in PE, no gringo knows his name.
Not to worry: I saved the directions for how to get to his business. So if you ever need electrical work when you’re in PE or Loreto, give me a holler – or hail “Sealover” on the PE cruisers’ net.
* involving the destruction of 125-amp and 110-amp fuses.
** “Well, you drive down Juarez until you get to Misioneros and take a left. Keep driving until you pass the Corona distributor and Serape’s market on your right. Look for the metal-roofed palapa on you left about a half block further…”
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