Up next in 10
Trouble in Paradise, is Sailboat Life Worth it? | Ep 81 #svaguaazul #travel
Aug 8, 2025
Join us aboard SV Agua Azul as we navigate mooring line failures, fix broken toilets and fans, battle tick infestations, and explore island life. Enjoy behind-the-scenes sailing repairs, local adventures, and real moments from life on the water. Chapters 0:00 Introduction 1:15 Mooring line break incident 3:45 Toilet repairs and wiring fixes 7:30 Fan motor repair 9:45 Food and motorcycle show highlights 12:00 Tick treatment for our dog 14:30 Inverter problems and storm arrival 17:15 Grocery shopping and moto taxi ride 20:00 Final thoughts and wrap-up Life on a sailboat is full of unexpected challenges and joyful moments. Recently aboard SV Agua Azul, we faced several trials—from mooring line breakages to necessary DIY repairs—all while enjoying the vibrant island life around us. Here’s a friendly, detailed look at what daily sailing life really looks like. Blog Post: https://www.chrisdoeswhat.com/trouble-in-paradise-sailboat-life/ Get content early by becoming our YouTube member https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUMOZBmn0CZW578hpt4ImB3CRA Follow our boat on NOFOREIGNLAND:
View Video Transcript
0:00
Okay guys,
0:02
we are a victim of popo's moorings
0:06
again.
0:08
They seem to have a lot of mooring
0:10
breakage. So that boat
0:12
Yeah, it was No, it was the same moing
0:15
twice.
0:16
Twice. And uh both times, well, one uh
0:20
they almost hit our boat. I caught them
0:22
before they did. the other one. I'm like
0:25
I thought this guy was sailing in a
0:27
weird direction in front of our boat and
0:29
come there was nobody on the boat. He
0:31
was just sailing away and uh I couldn't
0:33
we couldn't get to it before uh actually
0:35
I was at the first to the boat. There
0:37
was a few of us running towards it but
0:39
uh yeah he he impacted another boat here
0:42
but uh he's uh tied in and stuff. He's
0:46
uh that boat right over there Canadian
0:49
flag
0:51
up over there.
0:54
Making sure he's good and tight
0:58
in the VR.
1:02
[Music]
1:07
Yeah.
1:09
[Music]
1:16
[Music]
1:19
Okay. Heck of a motorcycle pile up over
1:23
there.
1:25
Still got motorcycles over there.
1:28
But we have a good time at the north
1:30
here. Well, everybody's looking at the
1:32
motorcycles right now.
1:34
Oh, look at these. That's the burrito,
1:37
the nachos.
1:40
My baby's going to get the taco.
1:43
And then the bike show.
1:45
And yeah, the bike show is insane.
1:49
These
1:54
are our host.
1:57
Okay, today has been a lot of fun. So,
2:02
both toilets having problems. One was
2:06
the uh is the uh merator. The other is
2:10
the vacuum pump. So, I swapped them out
2:14
and I worked on the uh the vacuum pump
2:16
for one and I got working. But this is
2:20
what we're left with here. Okay, this is
2:23
project house. So that's what that looks
2:25
like. Had to do some rewiring.
2:30
Under here
2:32
is uh the one vacuum pump.
2:36
So that one's working. Pumps up.
2:38
Pressurees up. It's good to go.
2:42
Also under here,
2:46
we had uh our um
2:50
wire line,
2:52
our cold wire broke. And fixing that,
2:55
finding that, I found the hot wire line
2:57
that broke that I had to have fixed
2:59
during a sale. I just blocked it off
3:02
over at the the under the salon. So,
3:05
this whole side of the boat doesn't have
3:07
hot wire, but uh I'm gonna fix that. I
3:09
just have to get some uh PEX fittings
3:12
and they're always fun to deal with. On
3:15
the hope note, we did have a mango with
3:18
lunch. Look at the size of these
3:20
mangoes. Reminds me of Honduras.
3:23
Oh, I I remember I ate like seven of
3:26
them things. And I Oh, I got had some
3:29
bathroom experience. Really neat. The
3:31
bathrooms work after that.
3:34
We're sitting here and this lovely lady
3:39
back here has cooked us some great food.
3:42
We have um I guess they're beef dogs.
3:46
The unburg
3:51
but yeah, we have beef dogs. Unber. And
3:55
then this lovely lady down here. She got
3:58
served first.
4:01
Ladies first.
4:02
Yeah, of course. Of course.
4:03
But we're going to dig into this.
4:07
Okay, so I had to recently vacuum out
4:10
our build because I turned off the
4:13
shower sumps and uh they filled up with
4:15
water. But in doing that and I was
4:18
vacuuming out each shower sump just to
4:20
clean them just because it's been like a
4:22
year. Um I uh noticed that one of my
4:26
shower sumps isn't working.
4:29
So, if you can see here, this shower
4:31
sump is full. And this cable, it came
4:36
undone. So, it pro it looks like it
4:40
actually corroded through cuz it's
4:42
green. So, I'm going to go ahead and
4:45
hook that back up. Make sure this s
4:48
shower sump is working.
4:50
And then I'll clean it after after it
4:53
sucks out most of the water.
4:56
But this shower sump is mostly u our AC.
4:58
We and it works the front shower. We
5:01
don't use the front shower. So most
5:04
basically the AC is all that drains in
5:06
there. So you can tell we've been I
5:08
guess running too much AC.
5:12
Okay. I'm going with a uh these heat
5:14
shrink butt connectors, but I took and I
5:17
cut off a little bit of the wire cuz uh
5:20
I noticed there was a little green in
5:22
there. So, I don't know if you can see
5:24
that on camera, but yeah, I had uh some
5:26
corrosion in there. So, cut that off.
5:29
And when I stripped this off, I had no
5:31
grain. So, and now I can just Let's see
5:34
if uh it'll power up.
5:38
And that's it.
5:41
So, I'm going to get this uh uh clamped
5:44
on and I'm going to heat shrink it so I
5:46
don't get water in there.
5:49
Okay. So, I got that heat shrunk and I
5:52
put it back in the the thingy there. And
5:56
now I'm going turn on the sump.
6:00
So, here's our sump, shower sump. It's
6:04
like having two extra BGES on the boat.
6:09
If the water ever got that high, which
6:11
that would be bad, but look at that.
6:12
It's going down. Yeah, it's working.
6:16
And that's why I have to vacuum the
6:18
water out.
6:20
Okay, guys. Got the boat closed up. Got
6:24
bucket and brush in hand. And I'm going
6:27
to clean our dog's uh yard.
6:32
This is what our dog does. She makes a
6:34
mess. Let me go wide screen down the sl.
6:41
Yeah.
6:44
So, just got to scrub all that off.
6:48
Okay, the deck looks a lot better. And
6:52
uh using of course that now I have to do
6:55
is come out here and get rust off, but
6:57
I'll do that later.
7:00
Right now, me and my bucket are going to
7:02
go enjoy the AC with my babe.
7:05
Okay, so my babe is heading to town.
7:07
Going to try and make some oriental
7:09
food.
7:11
I don't know.
7:12
That's what I want. I don't know if I'm
7:15
going to be able to find anything for
7:16
it, though.
7:17
The ingredients here are probably going
7:19
to be hard to find. I think she can find
7:22
soy sauce, but
7:25
we'll see. Maybe something else. I slip
7:29
pankets on the boat right now.
7:31
But first, we have to pick up uh some
7:34
pumps I ordered. And that's going to be
7:37
expensive to pick up. 2,200 pesos.
7:42
in shipping.
7:44
$30.
7:45
Yeah, just in shipping.
7:50
Okay, this is our break from the heat
7:52
going to Box Pack. This one little trail
7:55
goes in between the two roads and it's
7:58
always like feels 10° cooler down here.
8:14
What? It's a chicken, babe.
8:16
Oh god, I thought it was.
8:21
Okay, we're at Boxback and boy, I'm
8:24
sweating. It is hot today. But
8:26
it's hot everywhere.
8:27
There's our pumps. Got two of them.
8:32
They ain't cheap.
8:34
They ain't cheap.
8:38
Well, my baby having good luck uh
8:39
finding her oral stuff. I thought we
8:43
were going to go to the other place.
8:44
We are
8:48
Where are these?
8:49
Where are these right here? Let's see.
8:52
That's
8:59
foam makes the eyes look much bigger
9:02
than what they are.
9:05
[Music]
9:09
You're looking for oriental
9:11
Asian.
9:27
So, my babe didn't find any food, any
9:30
oriental food. So, I'm just going to get
9:32
some food in general.
9:36
We need to make it to the big store. I'm
9:38
getting so bored with these small
9:42
like just tiny options.
9:47
Like I need to expand my pallet.
9:49
Yeah.
9:50
Really bad.
9:51
Probably have to go back to the other
9:52
other store.
9:55
Okay. So, we couldn't find a uh uh Asian
10:00
uh delights here, so we
10:03
have soy sauce.
10:05
We had we got uh fish and some fries and
10:10
some other things.
10:13
Yeah, just kind of bored with the with
10:17
uh we need to we need to go to the big
10:19
town. We haven't been there in over a
10:22
month. So,
10:24
our uh Our
10:26
stock of meat
10:28
has depleted.
10:29
Yeah, it's gone.
10:30
So,
10:33
back to the boat.
10:37
Okay, so Wer fan stopped working. It's
10:40
this one right here. And I've taken the
10:43
whole thing apart. Let me show you. It's
10:45
really easy to get this thing apart. Let
10:46
me show you how you do it.
10:49
First off, you just have this little uh
10:52
you know, the mount that comes off. And
10:54
then you have on this you have two bow
10:58
holes on either side on on front and
11:00
back and they're covered by these little
11:04
covers which I I got to find one. I lost
11:07
it. But uh I'm going through here and
11:10
this is a very simple just a little
11:12
electric motor with a little 12vt
11:14
switch. So I imagine you could probably
11:18
find little 12volt mowers like this. I
11:20
don't know. But uh um I used to see
11:24
these in uh the RC cars that we used to
11:28
do.
11:30
Okay. When you're putting this back
11:31
together, I got the screws back in. It's
11:33
got a little clip, but this you don't
11:36
worry about putting in until you're uh
11:38
you know, ready to cuz it'll clip back
11:40
in place. And then
11:44
I'm hoping that this thing uh I just
11:47
cleaned the graphite. It's a sealed uh
11:49
electric motor. just clean the graphite
11:51
out. Hopefully, it's uh works a lot
11:53
better.
11:56
Now, I'm just going to I got it in the
11:57
mount. Just tighten it back up here.
12:02
It's not too tight where I pull it away
12:04
from the wall.
12:06
That's
12:07
that probably needs to be remounted.
12:11
And then this fan, these just pull off
12:15
on there.
12:17
There's nothing spectacular. You just
12:21
push them on, push them off, pull them
12:24
off. That's it. Let's see if we work
12:26
now.
12:30
Oh yeah. And that sounds a lot better.
12:34
Oh yeah. Now my wife can get cool.
12:38
So yeah, you see it in the background
12:40
there. Working pretty good. Getting all
12:42
nice and cool in here. Uh, I got the AC
12:45
running just uh just to dry out the boat
12:47
a little bit. Um, it's
12:51
uh probably going to be a hot day like
12:54
it was yesterday, but I'm not going to
12:56
run all day. But uh yeah, we uh cooked
13:00
in the oven. We're down to about 40%
13:02
battery. So, just thought I'd top it up
13:04
even though I probably didn't need to.
13:07
But uh the batteries are holding up
13:10
good. I need to do a recap on how I do
13:13
the electrical system in here and how I
13:15
run the AC's. I I can run the ACs off
13:18
the battery, but uh I uh usually don't
13:22
because it like today it would only run
13:25
for 5 hours even with full solar.
13:30
Like I don't even know. Guys, we left
13:32
Captain's Table over at Las Vegas and we
13:36
decided to come here for pizza
13:38
and they have really good pizza here and
13:41
it's like party central here.
13:43
We're never off our boat at this time.
13:46
We're literally back at our boat.
13:48
This is the pizza joint we're at. And uh
13:50
yeah, we got the uh Hawaiian pizza. So
13:53
yeah, they have the Hawaiian
13:55
pineapple. I know y'all guys there's a
13:57
lot of y'all that are pineapple haters.
13:59
There's haters and there's lovers. My
14:01
lovers,
14:02
but I'm going to have pineapple pizza
14:04
and rum. So,
14:06
it is loud though.
14:07
Yeah, it is very loud here.
14:08
I'm literally like, "Okay, bake my pizza
14:11
and then I'm going to go back to my boat
14:12
because it's a lot quieter."
14:14
Yeah, there's a lot a lot of activity
14:16
out there. See out there.
14:20
I don't even know. It's Thursday.
14:22
I have no idea. There's not really
14:24
anything going on.
14:26
No. But yeah, uh, Captain's Table, you
14:29
know, we actually met people that
14:31
actually watch our our our our asses on
14:34
YouTube. That was weird.
14:36
That was so weird. But it was so fun.
14:40
Oh my god.
14:41
So yeah, and we were talking about
14:44
different places. Of course, they have a
14:46
sailboat, so they've been through a lot
14:47
of the places, but it was just weird.
14:52
[Music]
14:54
So, we got our pizza in hand and now
14:57
we're taking a
14:59
moto. What?
15:00
It's not recording.
15:01
It is recording.
15:03
Yeah, it is recording. I'll just put it
15:05
outside. But yeah, we're heading back to
15:07
the boat and we're in a Moto taxi.
15:11
So, uh 100 pesos.
15:18
Okay, guys. We've been battling ticks.
15:21
We just picked up Next Guard here in uh
15:24
the DR for $20. No prescription
15:29
required.
15:31
And uh yeah, it's uh yeah,
15:36
I think it's in Spanish, but uh I'll get
15:40
over that for $20 and no uh no uh visit.
15:45
But yeah, uh
15:46
she's not allowed to go to the beach
15:47
anymore. Yeah, we got maybe after this
15:49
she could go to the beach, but uh
15:51
yeah,
15:52
she got hit pretty hard by ticks,
15:56
but I
15:57
been spraying the the house is full of
16:00
poison right now. Just full of poison
16:02
because I ain't going to have ticks
16:03
running around.
16:04
No ticks in this boat.
16:06
But we're going to I'm going to show you
16:08
what this dog looks like after I shaved
16:10
her hard. I'm like, no guard shaved.
16:15
Poor B. She just
16:18
All right. This is what our dog looks
16:20
like right now. And look at the tick
16:24
covered tail. Show me your tail. Pull
16:26
the tail up there. Come on.
16:29
Pull the tail up. There's the tail.
16:32
She's embarrassed of the tail. Yeah,
16:34
it's embarrassing tail. But we're going
16:36
to give her this next guard. And uh
16:39
yeah, it's just one. And see how it
16:41
works.
16:45
Okay, Bella. We picked you up a treat
16:47
while we were in town. Oh, what are you
16:49
doing? Bella. Bella.
16:53
So,
16:55
here. Let's see. Did she like it? Oh,
16:58
yeah.
17:03
Oh, yeah. And uh hopefully them ticks
17:06
just fall off.
17:12
That's the hope.
17:14
Don't really want her in the house when
17:16
they start doing it though.
17:17
No.
17:17
Well, they're supposed to fall and be
17:19
dead.
17:20
Yes. That's kill them.
17:21
Hoping they're dead,
17:23
right? We want dead ticks, fella.
17:26
Dead ticks.
17:30
So, we gave her that stuff and she has
17:32
ticks just crawling off one right there.
17:35
Yeah, they're just crawling off of it
17:36
right there.
17:37
Yeah.
17:38
So, yeah, it just it really took care of
17:41
that stuff.
17:43
So, my wife is all
17:47
I can't stand bugs. I cannot stand bugs
17:51
in my house. Fleas. Nothing.
17:57
Okay, guys. We're in Amsterdam. We left
18:00
our uh hatches open, so we're washing
18:03
the inside and the outside of our boat,
18:06
but that's what we'll show you what it
18:08
looks like. But yeah,
18:10
never happened.
18:11
No.
18:12
[Music]
18:15
Okay, guys. We just got back. Our boat
18:17
is
18:19
swamped.
18:22
Is the tablets in the way? Did they get
18:24
rained on?
18:25
Oh my god.
18:28
No, it
18:31
is soaked.
18:32
Everything's soaked.
18:33
soaked.
18:37
Okay, last night we had a came back to
18:40
the boat.
18:42
and had an issue with the uh inverter.
18:44
We had an error 24
18:47
and uh right now it's just showing an
18:49
overload, but our inverter is not
18:51
working. We're still charging with uh
18:54
solar cuz that's coming from the charge
18:56
controller. So, all our DC stuff works
18:59
fine, but having to make coffee with the
19:03
generator.
19:05
And uh I got to get this figured out
19:07
because you know I guess the the only
19:09
things I really need to run is the
19:13
cooktop, the coffee maker, and I have a
19:17
little inverter right here that I can
19:20
use for the TV and internet. So good
19:24
there. But yeah, I got to get this
19:26
fixed.
19:28
Okay, guys. We are at Los
19:31
uh doing laundry and eating lunch. Well,
19:34
mostly Greek and beer, but uh
19:36
yeah, that
19:38
say that the laundry service is your
19:42
washing machine sucks.
19:43
Yeah, but uh
19:45
I've had to go in there like three times
19:46
to be like why is it just sitting there
19:48
with water in it? Doesn't look like my
19:51
clothes. I think I could do a better
19:54
probably. But right now, we're having
19:56
power issues on board. So,
19:59
hey
20:00
guys, still get back and work on that.
20:05
Okay, I'm back working on the boat.
20:07
You've heard Dave Davey the Victron guy
20:10
here in Loop Run. You look him up. He's
20:13
a very helpful guy. Um uh he said
20:17
disconnect my shot. So, cuz right now
20:19
I'm getting overload. I'm not getting
20:21
the E24 air, just overload. So, I'm
20:24
going to go ahead and uh uh connect the
20:27
battery up to my Victron uh inverter
20:29
again. And hopefully everything's reset
20:32
and we have uh AC power again.
20:36
Okay, so I got power to my Victron now
20:39
and I'm gonna go ahead and turn it on
20:40
and let's see if we have overload.
20:43
Okay, shunt is off. Turn that on. Still
20:47
have overload. So I'm going to have to
20:50
connect the laptop up to it and see if I
20:52
can do a reset.
20:54
Well, plugged in the computer, did a
20:56
full reset on the the inverter. still
20:59
have overload. Uh I don't think it's
21:03
gonna fix. So, I'm talking with Victron
21:06
and uh they said we can send it off for
21:09
repairs,
21:10
but more than likely we'd have to
21:12
replace it. I don't know if that's just
21:15
them telling me that or what, but on a
21:19
uh sadder note, well, a higher note,
21:22
whatever note, we have a wall cloud
21:24
heading to us and that's going to dump
21:27
bucket size.
21:29
And I think that's what uh that caused
21:31
our inverter problems in the first place
21:33
because uh we were out uh Amsterdam and
21:38
probably should have came back to the
21:39
boat and closed things up cuz uh I there
21:42
was any water on the inverter but uh it
21:45
was so humid in the boat. So I don't
21:47
know if that was uh we'll put the inver
21:53
uh in tune on that storm coming our way
21:56
as well.
21:58
Okay, that wall cloud's getting closer.
22:01
We haven't turned yet. That's looking
22:04
pretty dark over there.
22:08
Okay, guys. So, that's almost upon us
22:12
and we're turning. That's now we're
22:14
facing where it's right there where
22:16
Danielle is. I know the camera doesn't
22:19
do it justice, but it is a lot darker
22:21
out here than what the camera shows.
22:25
Okay, guys. has returned all the way
22:26
around. Looks like that wall cat cloud
22:29
actually disappeared. And it looks like
22:31
we're going to have smooth sailing from
22:32
here. My baby's like she doesn't want to
22:35
repeat of yesterday.
22:37
We weren't even on the boat and now we
22:38
had to replace a big
22:41
motor.
22:43
Oh, it sucks.
22:45
Okay, looks like it's going to hit us a
22:47
little bit. Looks like the dark stuff's
22:49
over there, but that's where we're
22:51
pointing.
22:58
It just went in there.
22:59
That bug.
23:00
Oh,
23:01
it went right into the stalker area and
23:05
Oh, there it is. Got it.
23:11
Got enough problems with things. I don't
23:14
need the bugs in the my little locker
23:16
thingies.
23:16
Yeah.
23:18
Well, that's boat life. Bugs and storms.
23:23
Okay, guys. We got the rain. Was it the
23:25
wall cloud I was thinking? But still
23:27
nice rain.
23:31
I'm just getting rained out on my legs.
23:37
Okay, we're going to Portugal going
23:39
grocery shopping and uh I've got
23:41
everything in the dinghy. Got the dinghy
23:42
down. Got one strap left on it. My foot
23:44
on it hold it and I'm waiting on my wife
23:46
to get out of here. So, get out of here
23:48
and uh we're have another couple we're
23:51
riding with and uh it's almost time to
23:53
get Okay, guys.
23:56
That's the couple uh
23:59
that's uh we're going to town with
24:03
float for the
24:06
for the so get some groceries and stuff
24:09
like that. Can I have a go fast thingy?
24:16
That's fast go.
24:19
Yeah.
24:20
Okay, guys. We're almost to Porter
24:22
Plata. Babe, Tracy, Paul back there. And
24:27
uh he's he's telling us how much the
24:30
Americans have really screwed up the
24:31
English language. So So
24:34
yay us.
24:42
Okay, we're we're getting more. We're
24:44
back at the rum spot in Portolada.
24:47
It's creme de cafe. You like put it in
24:51
like maybe coffee or whatever.
24:53
Okay, so fat.
24:55
No, you don't look fat. But yeah,
24:59
did the room tour last time with her.
25:01
Now we're just here getting rum. And uh
25:04
Oh, this young couple's loaded up.
25:11
Do it again. Say, "Get you drunk."
25:13
Back home. Back home.
25:16
Say, "Get you drunk."
25:20
But yeah, so they picked up a a good bit
25:23
of uh liquor.
25:26
A lot of liquor.
25:28
Variety of them.
25:29
Yeah.
25:31
Actually, no. Well, I have two other
25:33
ones that
25:34
Yes, she got Did you try the coffee one
25:36
before you buy it?
25:38
No, but I'm just going to put in coffee.
25:44
[Laughter]
25:47
Okay. So, they uh they have enough they
25:50
get a chauffeur service out.
25:53
We have our little bag here. So, I have
25:57
to carry mine myself.
26:00
So you come here and get your rum and
26:01
they'll load it up in your carries.
26:06
No food, just rum
26:08
on the top.
26:11
So grocery shopping with friends. A lot
26:14
of fun.
26:16
Uh
26:17
spray shower.
26:20
But here's our haul. So yeah,
26:25
that's what we're looking like. Let me
26:26
zoom out. There you go. all that. Now
26:30
we're going this way. It's splashy.
26:34
[Music]
26:35
Yeah, it's splashy. Oh, I'm going to put
26:38
the phone away before it gets soaked.
26:40
Yeah.
26:42
Okay, so we're back on the boat. Got
26:44
everything in hand and uh almost throw
26:48
everything away.
26:50
My babe got her uh sipping uh liquor
26:52
there.
26:54
And uh
26:56
it's coconut water with rum.
26:58
It's really good.
27:00
That's actually really good.
27:01
So
27:02
over ice though.
27:03
Yeah. Well, we're going to put that in
27:04
the fridge or freezer and get that
27:07
ready.
27:26
[Music]
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