Thursday, 30 November - I loaned out my refrigeration vacuum pump today and am already regretting it. I expected it to be returned this afternoon and it wasn't. It was like new and I wonder what its condition will be when it returns.
                    I had planned on replacing a 15 foot section of 2/0 ground wire today, but after spending about an hour down inside the starboard lazarette trying to figure how to run the wire, I determined that I'm going to have to drill another hole in the battery compartment, which means I'll have to remove some of the batteries. They are bolted in with a bar across the top of all of them and that will take considerable time and effort. More than I wanted to spend today because I had other things to do, too. One of those was to repair the base for the dinghy's all-around light and the other was to remove the port alternator so I can take it in to be tested tomorrow when I take Steve to shore. I did get both of those projects completed and hoped to work on a leak in the dinghy where water is coming in at the rubber/metal joint on the port side, but quickly realized that I'm going to have to have the dinghy out of the water so I can deflate it to do the repair. Shortly after I got the alternator out, cleaned up a bit, and tools put away, Steve called to have me come get him on shore.
                    One of the barge cranes came by this afternoon with four more boats they are removing. I read today that they have removed 1400 boats in the Keys alone since Irma hit.

Friday, 1 December - Already! What's happened to the year? Steve gave me a ride to the local NAPA Auto Store this morning so I could have the boat's 130 amp alternator bench tested, but either the technician? that ran the test doesn't know how to use the machine or he was trying to pull the wool over my eyes. When he ran the test, the alternator didn't rotate when the test machine said "Spin", so it failed the test. but the armature in it spins freely, so I am sure the test machine's drive belt wasn't hooked up properly or tight enough. The trip was a total waste of my time. The rest of the day was spent trying to find out more about that alternator. It has absolutely no identifying markings on it and photos on the internet only show one angle of each unit, which isn't enough to positively identify which alternator it is. It takes about three views to know for sure. There are lots of variables: size, number of sheaves, size of the sheaves, mount locations and sizes, and wiring terminal arrangement to name a few.
                    The alternator is vibrating, so I also repaired the worn mount on the alternator with JB Weld and will let it harden overnight before remounting it.

Saturday, 2 December - The vacuum pump was returned today. They couldn't use it because they didn't have the hoses to go with it. I had those, but they didn't ask for them. That's what happens when a third party gets involved. It got overlooked.
                    I also reinstalled the port alternator and ran some tests on it. The vibration seems to be gone, at least for the moment. It seems ok, with the exception of a tiny bit of AC being produced along with the DC. I don't know if it is a significant amount, but will call the manufacturer of the $300 voltage regulator before I install that. I certainly don't want to burn up an absolutely new one.

Sunday, 3 December - This morning I stopped by the trash heap at the marina and cut some large pieces of hypalon, the material that my dinghy is made of, off of one of the trashed dinghies there. I'll use it as patch material on mine.

Monday, 4 December - Today was another harbor cleanup. Last week we set a record for the amount that we hauled out of the mangroves and I'm sure we beat that today. The harbor is looking a lot better, and although there are still sunken boats and others still in the mangroves and still others in people's yards, most of them have been cleared up.
                    This afternoon called the manufacturer of my voltage regulator, discussed the results of the tests I ran, and am convinced that it is working fine. I must admit, because of the way it was wired up, I'm a bit surprised. Tomorrow I'll replace the regulator.

Tuesday, 5 December - I, once again, called Balmar with more questions to verify the results of testing on my voltage regulator, and, once again, their technician told me that the results I got from the testing I did are just fine and it should be okay to reinstall the unit, so I did, but haven't started the engine to test it yet.

Wednesday, 6 December - On the way back from taking Steve to shore, I found another kayak recently washed into the mangroves and towed it back to Island Time. Part of it had been submerged for quite some time and was thickly covered in some kind of sea growth, but it was easy to scrape off. I spent a couple of hours cleaning it up, then took it for a spin. I really don't like these sea kayaks. Since they are sit-on kayaks, their center of gravity is way too high, they don't have any back support, and they are way too heavy. That's not all I don't like about them, but this is not a review so I'll leave it at that. This one is the nicest of its type that I have found however, and in good condition.
                    Later in the afternoon, I decided I had enough time to install the last remaining missing drive belt in the engine room that drives the cold plate refrigeration. It should take about 30 minutes. Three hours later, I realized that there was no way, even after removing the compressor for the water maker, that I was going to get the new belt on the sheaves, so I called Steve and asked him to stop by the NAPA auto store and buy one an inch longer. They had to order one and it should be here maybe Friday.
                    After cleaning up the work area, I met Steve at the marina and we went to the library and watched a movie.

Thursday Morning, 7 December - Pearl Harbor Day - It's 11:30am, 82°F and light breezes and it only got down to about 77°F last night. A beautiful day here in Boot Key Harbor. I went ashore this morning and put gravel in a 6 gallon water jug that I found in the mangroves the other day, shook it vigorously to remove anything attached to the insides of it, emptied out the rocks, brought it back to the boat and rinsed it out, filled it with seawater from the harbor, added about a half cup of Clorox to disinfect it, and am now agitating it by letting it set in the dinghy for several hours. That ought to make it as good as new.

Now I guess I'd better get this posted. I've included photos of a cute little critter here in the marina and some of the last boats being hauled out. The harbor is starting to look pretty normal, if you don't look too close, especially in the side channels which are still totally trashed out. The residents that line them don't seem to care, or, perhaps they are still focusing on repairs and recovery. There are still quite a few iguanas around, but not nearly as many as there were before Irma, maybe a quarter as many. I guess they got washed out to sea.