Saturday I was sort of excited. I had new alternator and a new water pump on the main engine and was looking forward to a trial run with any luck.
We just needed a it of tweaking here and there and we'd be off for a boat ride!
It took all day Saturday to figure out that the alternator was missing a diode that was causing voltage to back flow through the ignition system and creating a bit of havoc. Plus the engine shut down alarm quit working at the same time which really messed me up. Thanks to my buddy Steve for some long distance troubleshooting help.
Of course no one in this little village would have the parts but the rum store was open…
Sunday morning Ryan washed all the dog hair off the boat and we found water in the aft bath (head in nautical terms) which meant removing the cabinet I built (see week 1) to find the leak. It turned out some previous owner (PO) had 'fixed' a hole with a minimal amount of caulk which was under a hinge on the deck. The hole and the holes around it got drilled out clean and epoxied correctly.
However now that the cabinetry was all out Shelly decided to go ahead, sand, and start varnishing all the wood.
I am down there cleaning up when we decided we needed to go ahead and fix the counter top while it was open as the PO had let aforesaid leak rot the wood and the counter looked kind of crappy. Of course that turned into a several hour job and required a trip to Savannah today for a full sheet of hardwood plywood to replace the top. It sure will look nice though!
This morning it was a it warm and muggy so Shelly suggested we turn on the AC and just dry the boat out a bit. He sea water cooling pump make such a screech when we turned it on I just hung my head. Here we go again. I got it out ok, but the bolts holding the pump to the motor were so corroded I had to take the whole thing to Savannah and find someone to get the bolts out! It's still there..
So we got back about three with parts for the alternator, oil pressure switch, bilge pump, plywood, new toilet seat, paint for the places we have all open now, epoxy for the holes, a new saw to cut the plywood correctly, and more groceries!
This boat living is expensive so we are open to donations from the rich working friends we used to have!
Hopefully we can start putting stuff back together tomorrow as the weather is changing and we really need to head south.
Ian called today and is announced he passed his tests for Combat Control Selection. We are very proud of him for sticking with something that most won't do. He is planning to fly to Florida over Christmas and visit.
I sure hope we get there!
Posted with Blogsy