Sampson Boat Covideo
Container Ships and Crocodiles; navigating the perils of Panama on a wooden sailboat!
14 February 2026 · 16 min · 290K views · Panama City
Wooden sailboat sails past container ships near Panama City
What this video covers
Tally Ho, Leo Goolden's 48-foot wooden gaff cutter, sails from Drake Bay, Costa Rica, southeast along the coast and into Panama, bound for the Panama Canal.1:38 Drake Bay gets a brief description: a small jungle village with tourist infrastructure and an airstrip, where two crew members, Patrick and Jake, departed.0:22 Rounding Punta Mala — notorious for north winds, wind-over-tide conditions, and steep seas — Leo times the approach to one hour before slack water and stays close inshore; conditions prove manageable, with short, small waves causing only minor pitching.4:47 Anchored outside the canal entrance in Panama City, Tally Ho contends with large wakes from passing commercial vessels.7:06 Canal transit costs roughly $4,000 all-in with an agent, who handles the substantial paperwork; Leo recommends using one.7:56 While waiting for a transit slot, Leo replaces a failed electric motor in Tally Ho's hybrid propulsion system, drains and refills the coolant loop with a different coolant type requiring a full flush, and services the raw-water heat exchanger — noting the exhaust elbow's heat jacket needs replacement.14:39 He explains the hybrid system's redundancy: a diesel engine always drives the prop regardless of electric-motor status, and the hybrid primarily functions as a combined engine and generator.11:37 Spare belts for single-motor and dual-motor configurations are now stowed on the prop shaft.12:48
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