Wednesday Evening, 17 January, 2018 - Oops, I just sent off last week's update, then realize today was the third anniversary of my leaving to go on this journey from Salt Lake City. It's really hard to believe it's been that long. It's also hard to believe that most of the sailing I've done was to outrun a hurricane. I've gotta get out on the water more.
                    It's a rather blustery night and I just went up on deck to look for a can of WD-40 that I'll need tomorrow to lubricate the cables on my bicycle and I looked off the starboard side of my boat and saw about a 55 to 60 foot ketch backing rather quickly between my boat and another. They must have come into the harbor after dark. At first I wasn't totally sure they weren't just taking up the slack in their anchor, so I started shining a spotlight on their boat to see if I could tell what was going on. My light must have gotten their attention because they came on deck, realized they were dragging their anchor, started their motor, raised their anchor and moved across the channel to reset their anchor. I don't know where they had dropped anchor in the first place, but I may not be out of danger yet. They are now almost directly upwind from me. That won't encourage me to sleep well tonight. There's still a chance they could drag their anchor again, although I have to think they would take measures to make sure they don't.

Thursday, 18 January - I put the last coat of white, bottom, epoxy paint on the dinghy today, then while waiting for it to dry, I took my 8hp Evinrude outboard motor off Steve's dinghy and took it into the project room to try to determine why and from where it is leaking gasoline. It's not leaking much, but even a little is too much. It appears that a gasket may be leaking and a solution may be as simple as tightening up the bolts retaining it. But, of course, it may not be, too. Only taking it apart and tightening the bolts will tell, and since I needed to get back to the boat in the dinghy, there wasn't time to fix it before closing time for the marina today. I might have time tomorrow. I didn't have any tools with me today anyway. I don't think I'll need many; probably just a 1/4" metric socket set and screw drivers. When the paint was dry on the dinghy, I started redrawing the design on the bow that has now been painted over and needs to be repainted, a bright red background for the pearly white teeth of a shark.

Friday, 19 January - Ugh! Today was one of those days that nothing goes right. I had intended do go to the marina to repaint the graphics on my dinghy, but never made it ashore. Robert Dahmer invited me to breakfast on his boat to discuss the usage of his radar, but we couldn't get it to scan, or display the scans, we don't know which. My Evinrude engine on Steve's dinghy started giving me troubles as I arrived and after many tries to start it to get back to my boat after breakfast, it finally got me there, but not to shore. I worked on it all day and almost wore a blister between two fingers pulling the starter cord. In fact, I wore the cord out and had to replace it. That engine has been leaking gas so I attempted to figure out from where, but still can't. I removed the carburetor and discovered that the seven screws on the bottom of the float bowl were a little loose, so I tightened those and reassembled and remounted the carburetor, assuming, wrongly, that that would stop the leak. It didn't and it still won't start. Finally, late this afternoon, I took that engine off the dinghy and replaced it with the Yamaha 15hp engine, which is too big for that dinghy, but is the only alternative I have. I'm afraid that if I gave the Yamaha full throttle, it would break off the transom and sink me. I'll go to shore tomorrow with it. I'll sure b/Users/RichardDaleMcClain/Documents/Boat Insurancee glad when I get the larger AB dinghy finished. It carries more, is more stable, and is a much drier ride.
                    One thing funny happened this morning. I was onboard Bob's boat when the Cruiser's net took place and we listened to it there. During the "Ship's Chandlery" section of the net, or "Buy, Sell, Trade, or Give Away", I didn't announce my sail for sale, but was totally surprised near the end of the section when someone announced themselves as "Island Time" and repeated my usual advertisement, giving the sail dimensions, how many battens, reefing points, my contact information and location, etc., virtually word for word. Not only that, but people were having a hard time hearing that fellows radio transmission, so someone else came on and repeated the whole thing again! I didn't realize people were so addicted to my voice coming on to advertise that sail everyday for the last year that they would fill in for me when I miss a day. Since is was broadcast twice in one day, maybe I'm better off letting them do it for me!

Saturday, 20 January - I went to shore about 10:45 this morning and it took until about 3 o'clock to get the masking on the dinghy right and completed. Painting only took about 30 minutes and I'd hope to paint another coat on a couple of hours later and be finished. At least that was the plan until I read the label on the paint. It says I have to wait 16 hours before applying a second coat....mañana, I suppose.
                    The mooring field here in the the harbor is once again full. Boats have really been coming, four or five each day, in from up north, getting away from the cold. The anchorage is nearing capacity, too. I'm afraid when I go sailing in the next few weeks that when I return, someone will have taken my spot and I won't have a place to anchor.

Sunday, 21 January - Very little needed to be done to the dinghy today, just one more coat of red boot top paint to the graphics on the bow and the outside of the transom, so went in late and returned fairly early. However, on the way back to the boat, I stopped by S/V Lodestar, who had offered a little bit of adhesive to plug the leak in at the hull joint on the dinghy, and we ended up visiting over cheese, crackers, and pink lemonade for a couple of hours.

Monday, 22 January - Holy Mackerel! Can I spend almost all day getting almost nothing accomplished or what? I thought I'd spend about an hour turning the dinghy over in the shop, cleaning the spot to be repaired up, and applying the adhesive, then go to the library and print out a few legal documents my brother needs, then go back and launch the dinghy. I did the first part, turn the dinghy over with the help of three pirates on a boat adjacent to the project room at the marina. They were getting an early start on getting prepared for Pirate Trivia this evening at the Hurricane Bar and Grill and invite me to come tonight. Then I read the fine print on the adhesive and discovered that it might take up to 72 hours to set up. That's way too long, so I headed to Home Depot to find a different adhesive. They must have a hundred in the paint isle alone; Gorilla, 3M, JB, Lock Tite, etc., etc., and etc. I spent about an hour reading the instructions on many of them, but couldn't find any that I thought would work for this project, so I started calling the customer support phone numbers. None of the ones I reached had a glue that would stick to hypalon. A store associate suggested flashing adhesive like is used on roofing. I thought that might actually work, but I know from experience that it takes forever to set up, and the packaging included no customer support number. Then, in the same isle, I spotted cans of Rust-oleum Flexible Sealant. That has to be similar to the FLexSeal that you see advertised on TV where they shoot holes in the bottom of a boat with a canon and repair it. I've already tried that and it didn't work, although another sailor says it's been working on his boat for over a year. I wish I'd asked him if his boat is hypalon or PVC. Maybe his is PVC and mine is hypalon. The instructions on the can of Rust-oleum made it sound good, so I called their customer support. They said it should work fine for this, so I bought it. By the way, FlexSeal has no customer support number either on the product of their one-page website.
                    Tomorrow will tell the tale. I arrived back at the marina at four o'clock and sprayed a couple of coats into the crevasse where the leak is and tomorrow I'll add several more. At least it dries quickly; about 20 minutes between coats. I'll build it up a bit at a time then pump the tubes up again, praying all the while.
                    After a quick shower, I met Robert Dahmer for pizza, beer, and a Pirate Trivia contest at the Hurricane Restaurant. We didn't get any of the questions correct until the last session, then we got them all and came in...last, probably. But, hey, we missed the first round, so we trailed significantly before we started. It was fun anyway.

Tuesday, 23 January - Finally! Today I relaunched the newly painted shark toothed dinghy! I added a couple of more layers of spray paint to the previously leaking area at the hull/tube joint, then went over to the library to print out some paperwork, then back to the marina to launch the dinghy. That went well but the Yamaha engine developed fuel problems on the way back to Island Time and I had to be towed back. I have recently switched tanks, replaced tank connectors, engine connectors, and the priming bulb, but still can't isolate the problem. It's very frustrating and annoying. Upon arrival back at the boat, I started putting items I'd removed or switched out on the two dinghies back to normal. I quit about eight this evening to get something to eat, but still have a ways to go.

Wednesday, 24 January - Much of today was spent putting things away from the dinghy project. This evening was absolutely beautiful; dead calm, mirror like water, and since the harbor is once again full of boats, all the masthead anchor lights twinkled in the twilight and it was so quiet that all the happy voices of newly arrived visitors and old friend's conversations carried across the waters.

Thursday, 25 January - It's been a warm but blustery day and the only thing of consequence that I did today was going to get 25 gallons of water at the marina and a short trip via bicycle to Home Depot for a plunger to unplug the galley sink. I think it's had too much grease poured down it lately. Actually, the next several days are predicted to be very windy, too. Thank goodness it's warmed up since last week.

            Until next time.

                        "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S. Thompson

                                          Rick