As of yesterday (Friday) we have been tied to a dock. We are adjacent to the dirt and all the dirt side activities. It is nice for a change. I still find myself shutting off lights and conserving energy. No need of the wind generator in the marina. I still use the solar panels just to conserve energy globally.
Our first morning at the dock and we have tackled a few jobs while we are still cool. The refrigerator and the freezer will get a defrosting. I have also replaced the thermostat on our Kuuma water heater. A simple swap out of a very inferior (cheap) unit they had used initially. It is very small and the screws are quite tiny. My gnarly arthritic hands struggle with these small parts.
Finally after the liberal use of a merchant sailor’s vocabulary I get the nuts and tiny screws in place and test the unit successfully. Meanwhile Mary Lynn appears to be drying her hair inside the fridge. I choose not to intervene.
Next on the list, a repair kit installation on the Whale manual emergency bilge pump. Apparently to be working properly it must: A. pump water and B. pump said water out of the boat. When tested ours did A. but only slightly and failed at B. I tried to seal the diaphragm with some 5200 and that only worked for about as long as you think.
This is the first time I tried using Walmart online as a source. I know there are a lot of Walmart haters out there. The price was cheaper and their two day free shipping worked fine. The kit is a Whale original parts one and even comes with all the screws etc., for a complete fix.
It’s hard to hear Mary Lynn what with her head and hair dryer in the fridge, but it sounds like she found an egg for my breakfast! We have let our food supply dwindle because we knew we were coming in to the dirt, and we have guests coming. We have family coming. Our daughter Jeni, her husband Evan and our grandson Oakley will be here on Monday for a few days. They are flying into Fort Myers today and will stay with Mike and Marilyn for a few days at either end of their week. They will come down to Key West on the Key West Express ferry, only three hours from there to here.
On Wednesday, our son Michael and our grandson Harrison will be here for almost a week. We have one day of overlap and we look forward to the family chaos with almost everyone here. We will miss our granddaughter Alex (Alexandra) and her mother Crystal.
At the end of the month our friends and sailors Rick and Louise will join the crew. Not sure what our plans will be from then on but I look forward to them.
More later… on to the pump repair