Ship Shape Again

Now that the captain is back, he has been fixing all the little issues that have cropped up on the boat while he was away. Of course the first thing accomplished was getting the electric start on the dinghy working again. Being the good mechanic and diagnostician that he is, he had it repaired in half an hour. Then it was on to things like changing the oil in the generator, fixing the snaps on the sundeck enclosure that blew apart in the storms, replacing the watermaker filter, topping off the batteries with distilled water, and installing a solar panel to help recharge the batteries. Jill, one of our cruising friends, when talking about Dave, summed it up best, "If we ever need to torture Dave, all we would have to do is tie his hands behind his back and place several broken items in his sight."

Here on New Horizon, we are fortunate to have satellite TV. This year we had to replace the receiver, as it didn't even turn on or off. Under normal circumstances changing receivers is a simple procedure, requiring a phone call to Direct TV to change serial numbers and reset. There in lies the problem, making that phone call. What we do, when we have any TV issues is email our friend Rick, on Florida's west coast, and he calls DTV and explains our problems and if we are lucky, suddenly we will have a picture. If not, emails, go back and forth and Rick interprets this to them. He is also instrumental in taking care of any other boating issues and questions that need to be dealt with Stateside. Thanks Mr. Manager!



Our next project is trying to repair the decks on the boat. They have formed cracks over the years and the rain water is starting to seep in. Last night we had more cold front squalls and I chased around after the leaks with my towels. We had so much rain that it filled our dinghy up with water past the floor boards, and the inflatable that I had borrowed while Dave was away, was almost completely filled up with water about 4" from going over the stern. Thankfully we have a portable electric bilge pump to make short work of the draining of the water. It sure was nice having help this time.