Thursday, 7 April 2016 - All morning today was, again, spent online and on the phone trying to find a housing for my heat exchanger, without any luck, so I've decided to fix it myself with JB Weld epoxy. files, and elbow grease. At least it is worth a shot. I really don't want to stick around here for six weeks waiting for a part to be manufactured in England and then shipped to me. Of course, if I can't repair it, I'll still have the four to six weeks to wait. I have faith in myself though, and believe I can do this. It won't be perfect and may not last as long as a new one, but I can make it work.
                  I spent the afternoon cleaning the exchanger up much better, masking part of it off to act as a dam to contain JB Weld, and applying the epoxy. The epoxy needs to set up overnight, so I decided to spend the evening hours showing my laptop some of the 11,000 songs that I have loaded on it, but it can't find. I have to show iTunes exactly which folder and which file belongs to each and every song, one at a time. Saying that is a slow process is an understatement of epic proportions, but with out doing so, I can't listen to the songs. I only have about 6,300 to go. Yahoo!!!

Friday, 8 April - I tried one more time today to reach the company in the British Virgin Islands that installed this engine to try to see if they have the part I need. I've called them twice and each time they've said they'd get back to me, but never did. Today, the phone call wouldn't go through, so I gave up and worked on filing the exchanger housing back to how it should be. I have to hand file a centered, 3" hole, flat file the end perpendicular to the axis of the housing, and file a 45 degree bevel into the circumference of the 3" hole. It's going to take awhile. All the measurements and dimensions need to be exact or it will leak. Wish me luck. I worked on it from 8am till 8pm, with the exception of a 10 minute lunch.
                  While I was working, another CSY, a 37 footer pulled in and anchored right next to me without my noticing until I got up to go forward and start the auxiliary generator to charge my batteries for about 45 minutes this evening at 6:30. I had to compliment them on their choice of vessels.
                  I just finished dinner and it's 9:15. I think I'll do a few more songs before I retire for the evening.

Saturday, 9 April - I spent almost all day working on the heat exchanger, then went to the ACE Hardware store and the Publix grocery store via dinghy and bicycle. As I was getting ready to launch the dinghy, a power boater ran over my anchor rode, but amazingly, didn't damage it. When the wind blows, it can stretch the nylon line out and that brings it near the surface of the water quite a distance from the bow of the boat.

Sunday and Monday - were spent working on re-forming the end of the heat exchanger...filing, filing, filing. But you know what, I could be in a lot worse spot than working on a boat. As I sit here working, I see porpoises and lots of sting rays swim by. I think it must be mating season for the rays. I also get to watch an osprey perch on the unused boat next to me and watch her feed her chick on a day board not too far from me. Today, I also heard something surface about 50 feet from the boat and looked up to see that an anhinga had caught a small catfish. The head of the fish was about the size of the birds, so I stopped work to see how the bird would manage to swallow the fish. It really made me appreciate this complex body that I have. How would you like to have to catch dinner in your mouth, no hands to help...and swallow everything head first, all at once. It took this bird about 10 or 15 minutes just to maneuver the catfish so she could swallow it, almost losing it several times. It was so slippery, she ended up several times only having it by the tail. She'd then stick her head underwater and re-grip it nearer its head, almost losing it totally a time or two. I think she was getting frustrated, and decided to take it somewhere she could land on hard ground or a boat and not be in fear of losing it, but that didn't happen. As soon as she took off from the water, it almost slipped out of her mouth, so she lit on the water again. Once, she was underwater totally for about 20 or 30 seconds. I wondered if it got away and she had to re-catch the fish. She did resurface with it though. She finally flipped her head, caught the catfish by the head and started swallowing. I think it took her about two minutes to get it down. I'm glad I don't have to catch dinner that way.

Tuesday, 12 April - Filed on the heat exchanger, took the Honda auxiliary generator to be repaired, and tracked down a fresh water accumulator tank and order it. The wind hasn't been blowing enough to charge the batteries with the wind generator.Since I can't start the engine to charge batteries, I've been using the Honda generator to charge them, but yesterday, it wouldn't start. Without charged batteries I can't run the refrigeration, so my freezer is defrosting. Boy! Am I having fun this week!

Wednesday, 13 April - Filed on the heat exchanger. It's almost flat on the end. Now I have to get a bevel cut in the end for the o-ring to fit into. The o-rings and end cap arrived at the post office today and I picked them up. The o-ring that I had taken out was triangular in its cross section, but apparently started out round, since that's how the new ones are. I suspected that, but now I know. The Honda generator needs a new coil, according to the repairman, so I'll have to turn off the refrigeration again tonight. I had it turned off most of the day, but the wind charger built the batteries back up a bit, so I turned it on again, but the batteries won't last the night unless the wind blows quite a bit, which I doubt will happen. I picked up a fresh water accumulator at the marina today and installed it, but it didn't solve the problem of the pump not shutting off. I guess I'm due for a pump switch after all. I also went to McDonald's Golden Arches Restaurant today to update several of my apps, my laptop, and my iPhone on their free Wifi. All went well except the iPhone. I tried three times to update it and failed each time. It's an update of over a gig, so I definitely want to do it over wifi. Who knows why it failed other than to frustrate me.

I guess since I've been talking about the heat exchanger so much, I'd better include some photos so you'll see what I'm talking about.