6/20/00 | Fixing stuff and installing stuff

such a deale

It's hard to believe we're in a slip at oh-so-plush Herrington Harbour North. This is one of the fanciest marinas we've ever been in, and thanks to our friend who works at the brokerage here we're paying less than what we paid in some real dumps. Nice docks, nice showers, even a swimming pool, and a West Marine store right on premises. Best of all, we know lots of people here, so it's been hard to actually get things done in the middle of all the socializing we're doing.

The big things we want to get and install are radar and a whisker pole. For the radar, we decided on the Furuno M841 MK2. It runs 4kW of power and has all sorts of interesting bells and whistles, including a built-in barometer. After consulting with a rigger here, we decided to get a telescoping aluminum whisker pole which will store on a track on the mast when not in use. This means that we will only need to mess with one end when setting it, which should make it easy to handle.

fixing our boat

Not a whole lot broke on Windom during our time in the Bahamas. But there are a few things to take care of before heading north:

Alternator regulator

During our passage back from the Bahamas, the alternator alarm light started flashing, and the voltage seemed to not be held steady. Britt tested things and decided the regulator was failing, so in Beaufort he called Balmar, and they sent a brand new regulator (for free) to us in Hampton. The new regulator also tripped the alarm, but it was a newer version with a better display with more information about problems, and through it we discovered that the alternator temperature sensor was telling the regulator that the temperature was too high (even though it really wasn't). Balmar sent a new temperature sensor, which solved the problem.

Watermaker

Our watermaker membrane has always leaked a little water. We called Spectra when we were in Beaufort, and they told us that if we sent it back, they'd either fix or replace it. We spent a busy morning removing the darn thing, since we'd fit all the pieces together such that the membrane couldnn't be removed without also removing several other components. We also need to get fans to cool the feed pumps so we can run both pumps at once without it overheating. At some point, too, we need to replumb the fill line. Right now the water goes into the vent hose for the larger tank, but it would be nice to be able to make it go into either of our two water tanks. Plus, when we're heeled on starboard tack, the water only goes in for about an hour before the back pressure forces it to run right back out the vent line. (We have been opening the inside tank fill, but it's a pain, and it might slop water across the cabin sole if things get boisterous.) We're not going to recommission the watermaker until we leave the US again, so this is a relatively low-priority task.

Bimini stitching

Our bimini top is starting to come apart in a few places. We need to take it down and sew up those spots before they get much worse.

Head seals

The forward head has started to have difficulty flushing. It still works, it's just not quite working right, but we'd rather fix it before it becomes a critical problem.

Bottom paint

All the scrubbing we did in the Bahamas to get the soft growth off the bottom has probably reduced the effectiveness of our bottom paint, so we'll get hauled and painted while we're here. We're going to try Trinidad SR this time, which is supposed to keep the grass off as well as the barnacles. We also need to get a survey for our insurance, and we'd like to check that hitting all the submerged logs and things in the ICW didn't damage anything below.

Administrivia

It's not exactly a repair job, but we have to do something about our shipboard organization. The problem with living aboard is that finding any one item usually seems to involve tearing the boat apart. We've started making a detailed inventory of all our ship's stores. We're using Microsoft Excel since we can sort and filter the list on our computers to do things like make a list of everything under the aft berth, or find all the spare light bulbs. The other big administrative task we just finished was our taxes. We'd filed for an extension since we'd be in the Bahamas on Tax Day. Our refunds will just about pay for the bottom job plus a dinner out.

fixing other people's boats

Last summer, when we were living aboard in Annapolis, we'd invited a couple we knew in the area onto our boat a few times. It must have made an impression, because they bought a boat about a month ago and got a slip in another part of the Herrington Harbour marina complex. It's an older boat that hadn't been used for six years before they bought it. The engine started once for the survey and once for the sea trial and hasn't started since.

Britt likes a challenge. Paul and Erin showed up on Saturday morning, and he worked on their boat for much of the weekend. He ripped out all the corroded tangles of wiring and replaced them with neat bundles of marine-grade connections, then ran meters across every bit of the engine's electrics like a doctor with a stethoscope. So far he's found that the battery selector switch is corroded, that the starter isn't working right, and that the solenoid relay is having problems. Every time he discovers a problem we all get excited, thinking, "This is it! Now it will start!" But then the engine still doesn't start, and he finds something else. At least it's a good education for us on diesel repair. And maybe, eventually, their boat's engine will start.

fixing bodies

When we were up in Annapolis I did a little research into trying to find a doctor who'd see me about my allergies now as opposed to in two weeks, and ended up just going to the hospital and being seen in the emergency room, since they weren't too busy at the time. A PA looked up my nose, told me I had rhinitis, and brought me a prescription for a steroid inhaler.

The good news is that after a week of using the inhaler, my sniffles are almost completely gone. I'm supposed to keep using it, but slowly cut back from using it twice a day to however little I can get away with and still be able to breathe. The bad news is that the inhaler thingy cost $68! Back when we were working and had real health insurance rather than the emergencies-only variety that we have now (which costs a lot and doesn't cover anything much short of cancer or multiple broken bones) I never noticed how much prescription drugs cost. They always cost $5, our insurance co-pay, and I guess I always thought we were saving lots of money -- like maybe $10 or even $15. Now the news stories about the rising cost of prescription drugs that the elderly need but can't afford are hitting home. We're lucky -- we're young.

It also feels strange to be one of the people for whom the emergency room is the place to go for routine care. I felt bad about it, even though the nurses assured me they weren't very busy and it was entirely appropriate for them to treat me there. But I always felt that emergency rooms should be for emergencies. Unfortunately, the system just isn't set up for people who can't make an appointment for next week because they're going to be a hundred miles away the next week.

We try to be as self-sufficient as possible for medical matters, just as in everything else. We have a pretty good medical kit and some reference books aboard, and we can take care of routine stuff on our own.