Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy Independence Day

Cheers!

"Ship Shape" in the Abacos

Is a relative term.
When in the islands you do with what you have, not what you want.
Been working on that wing engine problem and did put a patch on a hose and it's holding... cross fingers... Tried to find one in the states and it must be made of Unicorn Horn or something, no one can seem to find it. James Knight at Yachtech has been patiently working with me and I sent pictures and specs, but it seems to be a mystery hose. Oh well, let's just bet that patch holds.
I called the folks at Marsh Harbour Boat Yard and they seemed concerned, but never showed or called me back. It's de ilands Mon!
So after the patch job, I go down with salt remover and spray down the whole engine room. Sounds like a good idea, Huh? Well a few minutes later Mel alerts me the wing engine Oil and Volt alarms are going off in the Pilot House. I look around and see a wiring harness with sparks coming out of it. Yikes!! So again, I call James at Yachtech and he suggests I kill the battery to the engine. That stops the sparks, but now I can't use the generator. I need to stop the harness from arcing. Luckily I found some contact cleaner, separate the harness, and clean off the corrosion. It works!! Yay!!
So now we're a complete boat again. Ship Shape Island Style.

Now back to why we're here. Relaxation.

First took the dogs to the beach to let them run off some energy.

It was a little breezy and neither dog wanted to play in the waves.
But they enjoyed running around and getting dirty anyway.

So after such a hard day there's only one way to wind it down. Happy Hour!
A video I shared with my Mobli friends from all over the world. They seem to enjoy these little glimpses of our travels.





We're excited to be having company coming over. Our friends from Sunset Bay, Bob and Mary are bringing a boat over and staying for a week. This wasn't planned, but it worked out nicely. Bob drove down to Palm Beach and picked up some spare parts I need from James Knight. This will help out tremendously.
On the 10th our friend Peter from Baltimore is coming over to stay till we head back, then help us crew Istaboa back to Stuart.

The Abacos has been fun. The place hasn't changed too much, though they do have a great grocery store now. Maxwell's is like walking into a Publix or Kroger and the prices are not bad at all.

So the next week will be a social one.

For now...

Happy 4th of July, America.

Adios,

Istaboa