So with all that went on in the past few weeks, i have worked two days of the past 20. So this has given us a bunch of time to get things in order down below. Some major projects have come up to the top of the list.
The first on my personal list was the rear bilge pump float switch. When i got the yacht, there was one there, that was already disconnected. i took it out months ago, and have been draining the bilge manually with the switch. It was time to install the Johnson float switch. ($17). It took me 3 weeks to get one as they were on national back order, so the ship store was told. I laid down on the floor, took a good look, and started cleaning a spot on the side of the bilge. Then i realized this was too high, and decided to mount this on the bottom of the hull. As i started to clean off a spot, i noticed the entire bilge was covered in dirt, and debris. This was not going to fly on my ship. So i attacked it with paper towels for about 30 min, and got it 90% cleaner. I decided to mount the switch foot with 5200 quick set. Even with water coming from the shaft seal, it still stuck. Next step, connect up the wires. Before i did that i decided to test them. Stripping the end off the wires i felt they were quite thin, and this was conformed when i nearly burnt my hand while holding them together. SIGH. Again, more rigging, less done right. I got ready to run a new line to the switch. After getting the floor up in that area i started, and followed it 12" before it came to a heavier wire..... I simply removed the short portion, and connected the heavy wire direct to the pump wires with crimps and liquid electrical tape. Bilge pump switch, check!
Next came the batteries. I had not touched them since we got the boat, so i decided to get some distilled water, a new funnel, and top them off. Was i surprised. Between two size 4D batteries it took nearly an entire gallon. When was the last time these were maintained???? I keep cursing the previous owner, do you think he feels it?
Dana's first major job on the boat was our bedroom. it has been looking run down. All of the wall paper was nasty, and falling off, and the mattresses were junk. Step one, remove the old wallpaper. Here she is on day one, she spend most of the day sanding by hand as we thought this would be quite easy.
Well, it was not easy.
By day two she was ready to go jihad.
Then our work was interrupted i had gone out to work, and only a few hundred miles down the road the main truck decided to drop and injector. Dana came down to save me, and then the second truck broke. I had truck two fixed in a few hours. It was still a long trip, and not profitable after all that. However on the up side we stopped in to visit my uncle for the first time since the wedding.
Right now we are priming.
This is our first headliner, primed.... This will brighten things up for sure.
On a side note, we have also started to provision for the trip south. We tried our first freeze dried food,
Spaghetti with meat sauce, from Mountain House. they are $6.50 each, and don't really taste that bad. Dana liked it. We plan to carry a 30 day supply of freeze dried food in the lazarette. this will be an emergency backup to our canned foods, all told i want to have over 90 days of food, and 6 months of rice on board. I figure this covers the worst case, being adrift with no masts. In 9 months, your bound to hit land somewhere.
