So a few days ago, I got the email I had been anticipating all along; essentially, the owner of the marina is now 93, and there is some squabbling with his heirs. Anyway, everyone at the marina is vacating, as supposedly his son (who is (supposedly) not in the will) got his father (who is now in an assisted care facility) to sign something saying that he was in charge. Hawk, the one guy that was a fixture at the marina, has been run off. Police have been involved on several occasions.

Unfortunately, as a result of all this, I’m going to have to move my boat; that’s not a bad thing, as the marina has literally been crumbling while I’ve been here- I take my life into my hands every time I walk along the decrepit dock. (see picture) The unfortunate part is that I will no longer be a bit player in the drama that takes place here. Oh well....

So I flew up here today (Saturday) on a last minute trip; I’ve schedule the boat to be hauled soon in fishing bay, and I have until Tuesday to get her over there.

I arrived around 14:00 local. There is now a gate at the front (see picture), and after identifying myself, it was opened for me. Upon getting to the boat, I found the batteries completely flat; this isn’t a good thing, as batteries can only do that a few times in their lives. Since these are only about a year old, I was pretty miffed. I traced the problem to a melted wire near the fuse box (did I mention decrepit? instead of a continuous piece of wire from the fuse box to the boat, there was a break in the line that had been spliced together. Not a deal killer, except it was below high water line, and the splice wasn’t water tight. As usual, I fixed it myself, as trying to get it “fixed” could have been problematic.

Now that the batteries are charging, I unpacked, replaced one of the lenses on the Hella cabin lights (unfortunately it’s clear, and the others were white, but beggars can’t be choosers- they don’t make white anymore, and they don’t sell lenses only- I had to buy an entire fixture). Replaced a few light bulbs, found that the VHF didn’t work; traced it to a fuse and sorted that out. Pumped the bilge (which was high, since the pump wasn’t working with flat batteries- I always get a fair bit of water down the mast, since it’s in mast furling). And of course, a front is moving through tomorrow, so tomorrow is 20-25 on the nose, with gusts to 35. Should be past by Monday morning though, when the wind will clock around and be favorable; hopefully the weather stays predictable!

More as it happens...

UPS has been going overtime. This is the list of things I'm hauling to the boat:

1. O Rings for my Oil Cooler
2. Bronze plug for same
3. A new 5 1/2" 7/16 Fine Thread bolt, for the oil cooler
4. Replacement deck shower nozzle
5. Jerry's Refrigeration Pump (he shipped it to me)
6. LED Stern Light (My Goiot fresnel lens broke on the last crossing, and I can't source another one)
7. 12v inline fuel pump (for priming and for the generator)
8. A big Rivet Tool
9. Assorted Rivets
10. A thread sert tool (very cool- like rivets, but for inserting threads)
12. New 160A Fuse that I blew last time
13. New Aquis towels (to replace the ones I took off the boat so long ago)
14. A new Furuno GP32 (to replace my GP30, which has gotten snooty and isn't talking to the other instruments)
15. 30' of 3/4" ID Raw water hose, to replace the line from the oil cooler to the tranmission cooler, and to the exhaust elbow. (And new All stainless hose clamps!)
16. New material (and slides) for curtains
17. New sunbrella and eisenglass for dodgers (and the old ones for patterns)
18. New vinyl tablecloth
19. My rebuilt Lewmar 25, to put back on the mizzen mast
20. New stainless steel bolts for the winch
21. Sandblaster attachment, for cleaning the mizzen mast
22. Miscellaneous zincs
23. A surprise present for Karen & Jerry
24. 2 new impellers for the generator
25. New speaker boxes and speakers to mount in the bridgedeck coaming
26. Replacement 1/4 FPT valve, for draining the muffler
27. A drill pump and attachments for cleaning out the siphon break with acid

Thankfully, I can check two bags for free, since I'm now a Gold AAdvantage member!

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