April 12th: Back to Marathon

 

When I left 3 weeks earlier, I told Mychael to stay on my boat with his girlfriend. His sailboat was still anchored out and there were numerous systems issues. He wasn't particularly bothered because as he said, "I leave for work in the morning and just come back to sleep!" I knew Adriana would much prefer my boat. They stayed on my boat and upon my return Adriana had thoroughly cleaned everything. 

The day I returned Mychael was finally able to get a slip for his sailboat. The next day I helped him retrieve the three anchors holding his boat. It took quite a while because the wind and currents spin the boat around so all three chains were wound together. I drove the boat forward while he hauled them up a little at a time. His windlass wasn't working so it was all by hand. He finally got everything secured and was ready for the 4 hour sail around to the ocean side and then up the coast to get to his dock. It was pretty windy and getting late but it is a sailboat and he planned to sail all the way. I took my dinghy back to my boat and he and Adriana headed out. 

I called him a couple hours later and he had just crossed under the bridge to the ocean side, but his mainsail had ripped! It was an old sail. That meant he was going to have to motor at 3mph instead of sailing at 7mph. In addition, there were 5 foot waves. The boat is 41 feet and can handle that but it is not fun. He finally arrived at his dock at 1:00  AM! Exhausted but happy to finally be at a dock.

Mychael and Adriana at their new slip

Reflection, Hospodor's boat

Boats always have issues. My friends George and Pat Hospodor asked me to come along on their boat for a test run before heading out for the season. It's always fun to be on the water so of course I said "Sure". We did not go very far before the port engine was overheating. We limped back in and George decided to change the impellers in both engines. The impellers drive ocean water through the engines to cool them. When he looked at the old ones they looked worn and tired. Probably what caused the overheating. 

Another test cruise. Port engine still overheating.  Mechanic said it was most likely the heat exchanger. Salt water runs through a heat exchanger that allows the engine anti freeze to be cooled without getting salt water in the engine. When sitting, the salt water in the heat exchanger can grow bad things and get clogged. So George had the mechanic come to clean the heat exchangers. While he was there he inspected the water pump and told George it was on it's last legs. He wouldn't recommend going very far. So, $700 later George had a new water pump. It's no wonder people say BOAT means break out another thousand.

When I returned to Marathon my focus was on preparing the boat for the Rahn's visit from San Juan Capistrano. Mychael came over to adjust the idle speed of the engine. We had noticed it was not running quite right. Fortunately, Mychael is a good mechanic and he adjusted the throttle cable. He also noticed that the valves were knocking a little. He said he could adjust them. Great! I also wanted to check the torque on the head bolts as preventative maintenance. Both tasks required removing the valve cover. When we do that the valve cover gasket needs to be replaced. Fortunately, we always carried a spare. All went well. I was hoping for some calm weather so Mychael and I could take the boat out for a test run after the repairs.

House Bank Batteries

Next I decided to test the inverter. The inverter powers the 110 volt system while we're not on shore power. It converts DC power to AC power. I unplugged the shore power and tried the inverter. It didn't work. After investigating, I discovered the 4 batteries for the house power bank were worn out. Not surprising, it had been 4 years since they were replaced. They are quite heavy and difficult to remove and replace. Two of the batteries are under a shelf so very little space to work. I had done the previous installation but I was thinking that perhaps it was not a good idea to strain myself. Once again, Mychael to the rescue. He is 33 years old, relatively small so he fits in tight spaces and he's quite strong. He agreed that it was not a good idea for me to do it. I told him I'd get the batteries and he could take it from there. I picked up the new batteries and put them on the boat. That I could safely handle. 

Adriana detailing my Nissan

While we were working on the batteries, Adriana, Mychael's girlfriend and Detailing assistant, said she could get some grease off of the back seat of my car. I didn't want Craig or Karen to sit in it and knew Mychael would have a good grease remover.    After spending several hours with Mychael working on the engine, we walked out to the parking lot. Adriana was doing a complete detailing of my car, inside and out. 

Excellent Detail job

I never knew it could look so good!

I picked the Rahns up in Key West Saturday afternoon. It was great to see them again. We basically relaxed the first day. Time for recuperating from travelling. 

The  days later Mychael came and swapped out the batteries. Watching him struggle assured me I made a smart decision. The house battery bank was now functioning properly, but the inverter still wasn't working. Not a big deal as we weren't going to be spending a lot of time without shore power.

We had started watching The Mandalorian when I was at the Rahns' home before I left so we resumed watching the series. We made plans for the rest of the week.