Sunday Morning Puttering

Today, I puttered about, wrapping up some loose ends. Rewiring the carbon monoxide detector was just about the last interior project, now it is just the hull and underwater body to go! I did manage to bleed the generator's fuel line. The air intruding into the generator's fuel line has been a long-term problem, one which has hopefully been fixed by replacing the hoses and rebuilding the Racor filters. I think that the air was entering via the stripping valve at the bottom of the engine's Racor.

Jeff and Pat who have the Tartan 4100 next door were there today washing down their hull. They are great folks that are willing to pass along helpful hints without being preachy. We exchanged keys so that we can share ladders, hoses, etc, which I thought was nice of them.

Once back home I watched the end of the Bahrain F1 race while putting a coat of varnish on Alana's duck boards.

Where's the Water?

I drove up to Gloucester early this morning to make sure I could lay my hands on a precious water connection before they were all taken. Surprisingly (probably shouldn't have been) I found that the water has not yet been turned on out in the boat yard. With temperatures in the 80s I don't think freezing was a concern...............just the latest in a long string of frustrations.

I found enough little projects to stay busy until lunch, but it was disappointing not to have been able to clean Alana's hull. I also discovered that my iPod Nano, contrary to what Jensen claimed, will not charge when plugged into the MSR7007 stereo. I had hoped to store all my music on the iPod mounted behind the electronics panel, but it it will not charge, that plan may require revision.

Batteries

Today I humped Alana's 5 batteries up a ladder and into the boat. This was probably the closest I have come to killing myself in a while. It didn't help that my ladder was apparently damaged by a forklift at some point and threatend to buckle under the combined load the batteries and myself, but in the end there were no injuries. The Lifeline AGM batteries seem to have done very well over the winter, having lost virtually none of their charge since they were removed from the boat back in October. I beefed up the manner in which they were secured. I probably overdid it, but that's how Alana likes it. At least now I know Alana can roll 360 degrees without her batteries coming loose. It would be a shame to lose one's Dread Zeppelin just because of a roll-over. I also hooked up the new carbon monoxide detector Jessica gave me for my recent birthday, reducing the chances of dying in my sleep

Pulling Cable

Today my brother Mike gave me a hand pulling antenna cables for Alana's radar and Sirius radio. Unfortunately the Sirius cable came up a little short, so I'll need to hunt down a 35-foot version.