The end of the Kluges -- I hope.

Feels like a Saturday -- ohh it is Saturday!! Ahh just rubbing it in.

Today was a work day. The dinghy has a dual hull and there is water trapped between them. I finally found a plug on the rear transom that will allow me to drain the water. The problem is it is so corroded it will take work to remove and I need a new one to replace it. I actually believed it was a barnacle for a long time!! Hopefully this is the last of the kluges to correct/repair on this boat. The boat was in excellent condition when we bought it and the survey was very good but there has just been a whole host of nickel and dime kluges that were done that when taken together has been -- frustrating. The worst being the nylon washers shimmed up the forward head toilet seat that came loose the first time some one used it in a seaway -- correction $20 for a new seat. Then the broken fuel fitting on the fuel tank for the outboard that was tied on because the clip was broken -- fixed for $3.49 but lost $5 worth of gas and the accompanying mess. There were many more -- just time and money but should have been repaired properly the first time.


I had to strip the dinghy of motor and fuel and then lift it with the davits onto the swim platform to get access to the old bug. Actually it was so deteriorated that it came out easily. I then re-suspended the dinghy and drained the water. Boy there was a LOT trapped in there. I suspect it is going to run better now that it will not have that unnecessary weight in the rear.

Once it was back together I hauled a couple of hundred pounds of water to the boat. Then I visited Wayne and Jill on ‘Born to cruise’ to view his 1000 watts of solar panel. Very impressive and a very neat installation. The controllers he has set up give you the true state of the charge at a glance. While viewing the controller at 11:15am he was charging with 30 AMPS!! That’s huge.

We went off on the noon bus to get some Pizza at a Pizza Hut near the Publix Grocery – once again disappointed. It is a delivery/carryout only!! I thought Chinese but no we went to a Deli Restaurant for Deli sandwiches. It was fine but not Pizza or Chinese.

Picked up a few groceries then beat it back to the boat. The bus service ends at 3pm on Saturdays.

Just relaxed for awhile then I took a bike ride to the top of the high rise bridge which overlooks the marina/mooring field here and took the cool pictures here tonight.

Back on Temptation I remembered I missed a sked with Jim Thompson to connect via SSB on the ham bands. I called Jim and apologized for missing and we tried it immediately. We could not connect on 20 meters but were able to connect on 40 meters – pretty good with just an occasional fade.

Quiet evening planned tonight – leftovers for dinner and maybe a game of pickup sticks. Hey it’s more difficult then you would think on a moving boat.