Friday, 3 July 2020 - Tom Krueger on S/V Malaya has been wanting to get some new 3/4" twisted nylon line to tie up to the mangroves if, or rather, when there is another hurricane headed this way. He wanted 400 feet but could get a better deal from West Marine by buying a full 600 foot reel. He offered me 200 feet at the same price he was paying in order to get the discount and I accepted the offer. He had gotten it in a couple of days ago and had it in his car. I thought today would be a good day to measure and cut my 200 feet from the roll. I met him at the dock and we measured it out. However, when we looked at the reel again we realized there seemed to be no way that what was left was twice as much as we had measured out. We marked the spot we'd need to cut it, then pulled the rest off the reel. There was only 200 feet left. 200 feet short. He immediately called West Marine and we rolled all the line back onto the reel and took it back. Thank goodness we hadn't cut it. And thank goodness we realized the shortage. If he hadn't offered me part of it, he'd have stored it until a hurricane was imminent, then headed to the mangroves and been way short of rope. By then, too, there would not have been any more rope to buy. The stores would have been all out. That happens every time. It worked out after all. West Marine believed us, cut 200 feet off another reel and sent us on our way. We were all convinced that the supplier is probably shorting them on those reels. I'm sure not many people buy a whole reel and measure it like we did. They usually sell one or two hundred feet at a time, or, if someone does buy a whole reel, they probably use a bit at a time and don't ever realize they've been shorted, at least until it's months too late.

Saturday, 4 July - Susie tried to warm up the BBQ for pork chops this evening and the propane tank ran out of fuel so I switched the tank out with one from her patio heater/fireplace. When she turned the new tank on, it spewed gas out of the valve so I had to switch the regulators and lines, too. The pork chops turned out great. There were no fireworks at Sombrero Beach, but other places shot off a few. We watched them from Susie's back porch on the canal.

Sunday, 5 July - I couldn't believe the propane regulator had really gone bad. I thought perhaps I just didn't get the unit seated properly before I tightened the nut, so I switched the lines on the two propane units out again. Nope, the connector really was leaking. I could make it stop by pushing on it a certain direction, but there would be to guarantee that it would stay that way, so that's not safe. Time for a new regulator and line.

Monday, 6 July - When I went on deck this evening to loosen the cap on the deck plate for the pump-out boat tomorrow, I discovered it stuck very tight. I spent about an hour trying to loosen it and in the process bent one spanner wrench, broke another, broke a rasp that fit the slot in the cap and couldn't even get it open using a punch and mallet. I quit at dark and will let the WD40 soak on the seal overnight.

Tuesday, 7 July - In order to get the cap off the waste outlet before the pump-out boat arrives, I started a little early this morning. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of any more tools to try, so I started going through tool boxes, drawers with hardware in them, and lazarettes. I had tried to use a 27" screwdriver fitted into the slot and torqued with a wrench yesterday, but the sides of the tip on the flat screwdriver were sloped, so it just twisted out. I couldn't find a piece of steel plate that would fit into the slot, so I tried the tip of a 30" crowbar. No luck there, either. Next, I came across another 27" screwdriver with straight sides at the tip. Finally, that did the trick, using a 10" adjustable wrench to turn it with. Due to a misunderstanding or my ignorance and both of us being very bull headed, the driver of the pump-out boat and I have not been on good terms since shortly after I arrived. It's hard to believe he would do this, but it's hard to believe that anything other than a dab of sealant or glue would have caused those threads to bind that tight, especially since I remember leaving the cap about a quarter turn looser last week than usual so it wouldn't be so tight this week. I'll probably never know what caused it. In the process of finding the right tool to extricate the screw-on cap, I discovered that I'd never inventoried the forward lazarette and entered the items into my database so I spent a couple of hours doing that.

Wednesday, 8 July - I just took a reading off the ceiling of the cabin in the forepeak. It was a 126.2°F. I think it's time to install the awning over the foredeck and try to cool it down here in the saloon a bit...Ahhh! Yes, that brought the ceiling temperature down over 20deg;F. It won't bring the whole cabin down that much, darn it, but it will certainly help. I had had Mark Brewer of the S/V Born Free do some repairs on the awning and when he finished, he merely stuffed the whole thing back into the bag. It took me awhile to get it all straightened out today, but the repairs look good.

Thursday, 9 July - In the process of trying to save a couple of bucks on a spanner wrench to replace the deck plate key that I broke, I installed what I thought was a discount coupon app or widget for Firefox, my browser, called "BeFrugal". It immediately did all but freeze up the program. It suddenly took two or three minutes to change tabs or windows and 15 to 30 minutes to load a page, if it would at all. It wouldn't let me access my add-ons file to delete it. It took me about 2 hours to track down some text it had added into some of my preferences files and delete them. Wow! I'm glad that's over with.
                    Aha! My "Economic Impact Payment" or "Stimulus Payment" finally arrived today.

Friday, 10 July - I hosted the morning net at 9 this today then put eye splices in both ends of the 200 feet of 3/4" twisted nylon rope that I got last Friday. Now, I can either leave it alone or cut in two and have an eye-splice in both 100 foot ropes. I'll probably do the latter. Yesterday I ordered a deck plate key from one of Mantus's retailers. Today Mantus put them on sale. Isn't that the way it goes?

Saturday, 11 July - Susie had shown some interest in knowing how to read stock charts so we spent a couple of hours together on the computer with me showing hen the basics. Somehow, I don't think she's going to get involved with trading and that's probably for the best. She seems pleased with the broker that is handling her account.

Sunday, 12 July - Today I saw a post on the CSY Owner's Facebook page that was from a local fellow that has ripped out his refrigeration compartments and is replacing the refrigerators. I thought I'd like to see what the project involved, so Susie took me over there to have a look-see. It would be a major project. In fact, I had intended to have mine re-insulated last fall, but the boatyard's workers made it sound too complicated. In two weeks, I have about 3 inches of ice and frost on the condenser in my freezer, but had no idea what was behind the cabinet fronts. At least now I know.

Monday, 13 July - Taxes. I paid my income tax today, way ahead of the due date on Wednesday. Thanks Dan.

Tuesday, 14 July - Today was a good day for me. I received three small items I had ordered in the mail and one large package via UPS. The large one was an 80 lb. Sarca Excel anchor. I got lucky. Knowing that it was supposed to arrive today, but not at what time, and that two of the three other items were already at the marina, I went in to pick up the small ones. The anchor was supposed to require a signature, so I wanted to be there when it arrived, otherwise it would cost me a day. There's no telling what time of day the UPS truck will arrive so I thought I might have to kill a lot of time waiting. I got the key to the Cruiser's storage room in order to stuff flyers in some bags for the new arrivals to the harbor and while doing so, happened to see the UPS truck arrive. I hadn't been there but about 30 minutes. I was on the way back to the dinghy within about ten minutes with the anchor in a wheelbarrow.
                    Back at the boat, I lowered my Bruce anchor down to just touching the water, got in the dinghy and unwrapped the new Sarca, went to the bow of the boat, removed the old anchor and installed the new one. Next, it was back on deck to raise the Sarca. It jammed against the bail of the cat as it came aboard! Oh my God! It's too big. I told myself not to panic. The mock-up that I had made of it a couple of weeks ago had let me know that it would barely fit. I lowered it again and realized that as the windlass pulls it aboard, it pulls down on the shank of the anchor too soon making the last hump on the shank catch on the bail of the bowsprit. By loosening the chain and pulling the shank up, thus raising the anchor another couple of inches, the shank can then clear the bail and come aboard all the way. Whew! I really didn't want to have to repackage and return this anchor at a cost of about $200 and have another shipped to me. It will always involve yanking it aboard manually, but when I raise it, I'm always at the bow anyway. The Bruce anchor had to be treated the same way.

            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