With the day off today, we all three slept in. 7:30; I don't know about the other two, but I sure enjoyed the quiet time. We went out for breakfast, then to the store. I know what you're thinking: "Wow! That is exciting!"
But wait - there's more! We fixed the toilet lid. Well, a bracket on the toilet lid. The toilet lid is important in that little room, for more than keeping the cat from sticking her head where it doesn't belong. It is also where we sit when we shower. I'm not trying to paint any mental images here, and there sure as hell won't be any photos... but, we shower while seated on the throne. Just like we did when we had the Leisure Travel campervan.
I need to find new brackets, but the repair should hold for a while.
You may have heard the saying: boat cruising is fixing your boat in exotic locations. Yeah, it's pretty much the same if you're living on your boat. OK, maybe more so.
Our Wallas stove/heater had stopped functioning. I have to give it to the guys at Scan Marine in Seattle - they are a GREAT help when the Wallas needs attention. Some people have had issues with theirs, our Wallas has been a champ. A call to Scan Marine a couple weeks ago helped me diagnose the problem was a non-functioning glow plug. I had them send one out to us. Since we have other back up for cooking and heat, it wasn't a gotta-fix-it-NOW situation. But, that glow plug has been staring at me for a while, so I decided to tackle it today.
Mike from Scan Marine had given me a run down on how to replace it when I ordered the glow plug, but without the part in front of me, it didn't make a lot of sense. I took the cage off the bottom of the unit, looked it over, and gave the nice folks at Scan Marine another call... Mike is on vacation, but my new best friend, Bruce talked me through what to do.
He said, "This may be easier if you remove the unit from the galley countertop..." Yeah, I can see where replacing the glow plug would be easier that way, but there wasn't enough additional wiring and fuel lines to move it all the way out and flip it upside down. So, when he said, "Remove the heat shield from the top," I had to translate that to: find a ridiculously small wrench and remove the heat shield from the bottom, while standing on your head... oh, and try not to drop and lose those small nuts."
There was a good deal of grunting, some minor swearing, some talking to myself ("Got to remember what order those go back in; don't forget to reconnect the power..."), but, other than the tough reach because of the installation, it was reasonably straight-forward. Thanks, of course, to the good guys at Scan Marine.
Joan fired it up while I was putting the cage around the bottom of the unit... it started right up and ran like a champ!
The fun doesn't stop there: we took Wild Blue for a trip... all the way to the middle of the marina, where you will find the pump out station. They have obviously fixed it since last week, 'cause it really sucks... and that's a good thing when you're trying to get the "stuff" out of your poop tank.
On the way back, I took this photo of my Interesting Boat of the Day...
Not so much the sailboat, which looks like a very capable world cruiser, but the fine match with the wood and bottom paint between the boat and the dinghy. Nicely done!
You would think this would be enough excitement for one day, but there's more: we cleaned the slime off the bow and side of the hull under water... well, everything we could reach without going INTO the water. Not bad. A week from now, Wild Blue gets to do some moving... can't have our girl looking like a marina queen.
Other than some picking up around the inside, our day off work day is almost done. Our company's bookkeeper invited us to their place for supper tonight. Last Friday, we went to the yacht club with one of the other captains and his wife. Sunday, we had supper with the previous owners. Yep, our time here is getting short... it's nice to spend some quiet time with our friends.
Now, I'm going to spend some quality time with my new carbon fiber friend. And, little Izzy will sit by me - she likes the music.
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