Tuesday January 28: Engine Work Today

After a nice night at Horseshoe Key and a lazy, very pleasant morning, it was time to head back to Banana Bay.

The new battery bank worked great and we now have good intel about how long we can run things on the inverter without the need to run the generator.

Of course we still have some issues to iron out but at least we can see progress being made!

The water was very very clear as we made our way back. I saw one turtle swim out from under the boat and then Steve saw another one sitting on the bottom with a remora cleaning the turtle's shell. As good as boating in an aquarium as we'll get!

We made a side trip under the 7-mile bridge to the ocean side as we wanted to check out Molasses Key. It's not very far away from the bridge and as we've driven past it many times it looked like a nice place to spend the day. Quite shallow though but what appears to be an easy passage to some deep water along one side.

Maybe next time .... for now it was definitely time for lunch! Toss out the anchor and dig in: leftover salmon sandwich with a kale salad and rice. Perfect .....

Back in and tied up in time for docktails at 5:00. The sunset (although not over the water until March on this side of the island) was spectacular.

The tree looked like it was on fire. Finally a few nights when sitting on the point was enjoyable. Nice temps and little wind (sorry about the cold in the north :-(  )


Monday was time for defrosting the freezer and getting everything ready for the next project: tightening the head bolts on the engine, adjusting the valve clearances and changing the engine oil/filter.

None of which are difficult of course, just time consuming. (Of course I wasn't the one that had to first loosen the head bolt and then torque them back down to 105 foot/pounds - good thing Steve got weights for Christmas!!)


This 6 cylinder engine has 25 head bolts and 12 valves to adjust. I may see a visit to the hot tub in Steve's future tonight!

Anyway, by end of day: jobs completed!!!

Also completed: resolving the generator and battery charger conflict that has had us stymied for about a month. Steve had been in touch with a fellow MTOA (the trawler group to which we belong) member that is very knowledgeable about DC electric circuits and he has helped us tremendously.

Other boaters here at Banana Bay have also been so generous with their time as Steve has been picking brains since we have arrived! I threatened to ban him from leaving our boat!

Also amazing is the generosity of loaning a car to us. Usually it's not a big deal to bike where we need to go but when we're in the middle of a project and we need just one small thing ... a car is the way to go. What a wonderful group of people ......