Monday, October 23, 2006

Progress this week: 3 outboards, 4 closets and (maybe) the autopilot.

Dave enlisted our friend Wes Whitley's electronic expertise and Wes thinks he may have solved the CPT autopilot 'runaway left' problem. We also received the new relays in the mail Saturday, so we'll put them in too, and maybe, just maybe, the darned thing will work reliably.

After last weekend's cruise, Dave has done maintenance on all 3 outboard motors... the old 15hp is ready to sell. The 'new' 15hp, which we found to not work at high speed, has had the fuel system cleaned and it's working well now. The 5hp, our 'close around the harbor' motor just needed some TLC.

The closets... ugh. Dave made me promise to stay home this weekend and 'clean out the closets'. I have done 4 of them. The 'sell at the flea market' pile is getting so big we can hardly get around in the living room any more. We took a lot of stuff out to the trash. More stuff is in my car to donate to the MYC Junior Sailing Progam. I have a box for my ex-husband Lenny. So progress is being made (but it sure woulda been a great weekend to sail in the MYC Small Boat Regatta).

Thursday, October 12, 2006

This post is specifically for my cousin Bryan, who's been complaining that we haven't posted in some time.

Well the truth is, we've been REALLY BUSY.

Between all the social and sailing events that Sherry is involved in, and the work on the boat, there's not been much time to spend on the computer. And, of course, getting Soggy Paws ready for our April 1 departure is my first priority.

Some of the boat things we've accomplished this month... retrieved the spare engine head from someone I loaned it to this summer and sent it off to get the crack repaired... pulled off the injectors and injection pump and had them rebuilt... repaired the CPT autopilot... repaired the fishfinder... repaired the old Tohatsu motor (now ready to sell)... removed and overhauled the old Monitor wind vane (now ready to sell).

We found that the canal behind Sherry's condo gets a little shallow at times. Soggy Paws was hard aground for awhile. The water levels here in the Indian River estuary are not generally tide based, but more related to what the wind and rainfall are doing. With a change in the wind direction last weekend, the water level came back up again, and she finally floated free. I have now rigged a 2x4 as a gentle pusher to help keep her far enough off the dock to stay in the deeper water toward the center of the canal.

The weather's cooling off here in Central Florida... it's actually almost Fall-like here. We're going to take a weekend off from boat and house chores and racing events and actually go cruising this weekend. We're headed out for a 2 day cruise to 'Boy Scout Island' with the East Coast Sailing Association. (actually, the primary purpose is to check out the repairs to the autopilot, fishfinder, outboard motor, and to do a little bottom scrubbing before the weather gets too cold).