Thursday, 28 April 2016 - This morning I had my long awaited dermatology appointment. Just as I was about to leave to go, a French couple that had come into the bay last night came over to talk. I told them I needed to get going for an appointment, so they invited me over for "happy hour" at 5:00. I guess I've been spoiled by the personal, caring, treatment that I, and my dad, have gotten at the Veteran's Hospital in Salt Lake City. I really thought this doctor, really a nurse practitioner, was more interested in moving on to the next patient than she was in doing a good job of treating me. More people through the door means more money, right?
                  Next, I made the decision to give up on the generator and buy a new one. The mechanics said that it was going to cost about $700 to fix mine, and a new one will cost $1000. I think the old one has seen too much salt spray to put that much money into it. I'll start anew. After that, I stopped at the marina that assured me yesterday that they'd call me first thing this morning to say that a small fan for the refrigerator had come in and that I could come get it. When I went by just after noon, it was sitting on the counter in a bag that the delivery person had brought it in. The lady that had ordered it wasn't in and won't be in until tomorrow. She's supposedly the only person in the whole company that can sell it to me. Come back tomorrow. Next, I stopped by the nearby grocery store to buy a few more groceries. I can't carry much on the bicycle at one time, so I get a few things to keep from going back to the boat empty handed.
                  At 5pm, I joined the couple on the boat next door for a very enjoyable evening swapping stories and information about where we've been and where we're going. I'm headed south and needed information about anchorages in that direction, and they're headed north, so I filled them in on info about Ft. Myers and Palmetto.

Friday, 29 April - I was told it would cost $79 to get the auxiliary engine delivered to me, so I decided to catch an Uber ride into Naples to the Home Depot and get it myself. The Uber rides just cost me %61, which could have been a savings of $18, but I spent it on oil and some solar lighting and flashlights. Returning to the boat, I managed to drop one of the solar lights into the drink at the dock, but didn't realize it till I got back to the boat. I went back, thinking maybe I had left it on the wall where I loaded, but saw it in the water as I approached. The tide was out, so I reached in and got it. I figured it was probably fried, but took it back to the boat, rinsed it with fresh water well and let it dry overnight.

Saturday, 30 April - I took the dry light, put the battery back in it, and set it out to charge all day. It seems to be fine. This morning I oiled the auxiliary generator, gassed it up, and charged the batteries on the boat with it for an hour. While that was going on, I got out my diving gear and the components for the Hooka breathing system and got it all set up. I then moved the generator to the front of the boat, hooked up the Hooka, and went down to check out the lines wrapped around the propeller. I took some pictures, but the camera can't see any better down there than I can. I got some of the line off, but my compressor blew a fuse before I got finished and I couldn't breathe, so I came aboard to see what was wrong and if I could find a replacement for the fuse. No luck. It takes a 12 amp fuse and the closest I have is a 15. I called the local Ace Hardware, but they don't have one, and the NAPA store closed at noon today and will be closed on Sunday, too. I'll probably try one of the 15 amp fuses I have tomorrow rather than wait for Monday.

Sunday, 1 May 2016 - Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! - Welllll, I decided not to try the over-rated buss fuse. I know you can use one of higher voltage, but thought I'd better not go for higher amps. I don't want to burn the compressor up. I think I know what went wrong, but I'm probably wrong. I think the fuse burned out because the compressor shuts itself down when a maximum pressure is reached and then turns back on when I have used enough of the air up breathing to lower the pressure in the holding tank to its minimum pressure. When the unit comes back on it draws harder on the generator, which I had set on its "Eco" setting. This setting senses how much draw is on it and slows down when the draw is small, then, when the draw increases, it speeds itself up. There is a slight delay as the generator speeds up and I think that may have caused the compressor's fuse to blow or, rather, burn up. The Eco setting saves gas and is easier on the generator, but I think if I just turn the Eco setting off and let it run at full speed, that will solve the problem. When the compressor comes back on, it will be producing full power and shouldn't blow the fuse.
                  I spent the morning renewing the straps on some of the swim fins and dive knife scabbards. As I started to put some things back into the rope locker, I saw my own reflection at the bottom. That shouldn't happen! There was about an inch of water, fresh, thank goodness, in the locker and all the ropes were very wet, so out they came. I removed the water and waited to see if more came in. Yep, on the left end. There's no water on the left end to come in. What could it be? It turned out that the starter battery compartment had water leak into it, and it and was running back out. The water really came from the right end where fresh water used by the refrigeration system is returned to the water tank that sits under the rope locker. A stainless steel hose clamp had broken and was letting water out into the rope locker. A lot of rope is now hanging on my safety lines and from my shrouds to dry. I'll put it all back tomorrow when it's dried out good.
                  While in the engine room looking for that leak, I discovered bright green water in the bilge under the engine - antifreeze. Not a good sign. That means my super-duper repair job on the heat exchanger probably failed. It could be something else, but I assumed that would be the first place to look. Sure enough, it was dripping. I opened the coolant tank and a steady, fine stream started coming out. Before I opened the cap on the tank, there was a vacuum on the system. Opening the cap released the vacuum and the stream. I put the cap back on and drained the system with my new super-duper drain that I installed where a plug had been. At least that is working. I'll fool with it tomorrow.

Monday, 2 May - Up a little early to avoid having to work in the engine room in the heat of the day. I think the first time I removed the heat exchanger it took about two days; lack of knowledge, frozen bolts, etc. This time it took about an hour. One of the hexagonal sides on the end had blown out and the O-ring had partially come out, too. That really doesn't make sense to me. The engine hadn't overheated while running it and the coolant cap has a pressure relief at about 15 lb. Surely 15 lb. of pressure hadn't done this damage. Well, it doesn't matter. It needs to be repaired. I disassembled the heat exchanger, got out the masking tape and JB Weld, drilled some tiny holes in the exposed face of the broken part to give the new layer of epoxy something to grip, cleaned the unit up, masked it off and applied the epoxy again. I'll let it set up overnight.
                  The French couple came over for a little while this afternoon. I shared a cold beer with them and gave them a tour of the boat. Everybody always wants to see each other's boats. They're very nice. He was a bit upset because they had gotten water at one of the private docks at a ritzy condominium and had been chewed out by some old woman. He had tried to tell her that a Frenchman, Jean Lafitte, had saved our country in the war of 1812 by helping Andrew Jackson defeat the British at the Battle of New Orleans; and this is the welcome he, another Frenchman, receives? It probably went over her head. He had been expecting, "Hello, how are you and where are you from? Ahhh! France. Have some water. Welcome to our country." Maybe he should have mentioned that the French gave us the Statue of Liberty. That probably wouldn't have helped either. Rich people!

Tuesday, 3 May - Back to the heat exchanger. I worked on it all day. This time I had to match the inner, 3" hole, file it down to exactly match the flat face, and rematch the existing bevel. Well, that's not quite right. In the process of doing all the above, I had quite a bit of time to think about it. The first time, I couldn't figure out a way to measure the depth or width of the bevel. As I was checking and rechecking the bevel as I cut it down, I realized that the other end is as originally manufactured, or at least close, and that by putting the new o-ring in place and measuring the gap between the face of the housing and the cap, I could determine to what depth the bevel I was creating was, because they should be the same. My first attempt had been off by quite a bit measured this way; too shallow. This must be what caused so much pressure. I was compressing the o-ring into much too small a space, so it burst the side out of the housing. At least that's the theory I'm working on now. I had been very reluctant to over-deepen the bevel the first time because creating too deep a groove would make it impossible for the o-ring to be compressed enough to seal, thus assuring that the unit would fail, but leaving it too shallow assured failure, too. I hope I'm on the mark this time. I know I'm a lot closer. I wish I had a way to pressure test the unit without installing it, or for that matter, a way to pressure test the system with it installed without having to fill it with coolant and run the engine. I think I'll take it over to one of the marinas that has repair facilities tomorrow and ask a few questions.
                  This evening was absolutely beautiful; a light breeze, a beautiful sunset and about 75°F. Very nice dining on the bow to some great music. I've recently made a push in the evenings to get my music collection up to date and finally have all 11,958 songs where my computer can find them and play them on cue without asking me where they are. Yahoo!!!
                 Looks like lots of wind and rain tomorrow. Maybe my batteries will get topped off by the wind generator. With enough wind, I could run the refrigeration and have music all day, too.

Wednesday, 4 May - Off to the marina this morning to pick their brains for some information about the heat exchanger. Their most knowledgeable technician and service manager said he was just too busy to talk to me and that he couldn't give me any advise because if the repair went bad, I might sue them. I headed back to the boat, but stopped by the French couple's boat because he wanted me to listen to the engine. It had been making a high pitched whine or squeal that he wasn't sure whether it was a bearing or a drive belt. Of course, when he started up the engine, it sounded perfect, just humming along. I returned to the boat after a short visit to make finishing touches on the repair and to reassemble it. Again, the gasket sealer will have to set up for 24 hours.
                  In the meantime, I am getting low on water, so I siphoned 16 gallons of water from my spare water jugs into the water tank and treated it with Clorox. It seems to be starting to smell again. High winds and rain were predicted for today, but the wind didn't arrive until about noon. I took advantage of the opportunity and charged the batteries for a little while with the auxiliary generator. I had thought that the wind might be strong enough and long enough to charge the batteries up, but, being late, I thought I'd better supplement the wind with the Honda. As I said, the wind didn't arrive until noon, and then it rained lightly without much wind, so I'm glad I ran the generator. It only rained for about an hour and a half, then a sucker hole opened up for a couple of hours. After the sucker hole closed up, the wind came, accompanied by lightning and a hard rain, but again for only about an hour. It looks on the radar like there's another spell of dry, then maybe more in a couple more hours, but by then it may have cooled down enough to break the storm up.
                  As I was lowering the dinghy this morning to go to the marina, I heard something in the water about 50 yards away, looked quickly, and saw the large tail of a manatee submerge. It must have been a rather large one, so I watched for a minute or two, hoping to see it surface again. I gave up, went back to launching the dinghy, then heard another noise. I looked and could see something coming right at the boat rather quickly from about 75 yards away. I thought it was moving awfully fast to be a manatee and I was right. It was a rather large ray, or rather, one large one leading one about half its size. Suddenly, the smaller one turned over and swam upside down almost right under the larger one. As they got closer to the boat, they angled off the stern and disappeared. Pretty cool stuff to have in your back yard.
                  What's not cool is the problem I'm having finding a replacement fuse for the air compressor. I've already spent several hours calling every marina, auto parts store, electronics store, and hardware store nearby and no one has a 12 amp fuse of any kind, much less the exact one I need. It's the small cylindrical, glass type buss fuse. I need a 12amp, 250v, slow blow. I thought this one would be easy. For years, these sold for about 35 to 50 cents each most placed, now their around $3.50 each. I finally called the manufacturer of the compressor. They want $18 each, or 5 for $25. I think I'll search a little longer. They say they make their own and have a "special messenger" deliver them, which I seriously doubt. I wouldn't mind paying a reasonable price, but I don't like getting raped in the process. They are in Canada anyway and it would take a week or more to get them here.
                  Dang! I was writing this to pass the hour waiting for the RTV silicone gasket on the heat exchanger to set up before I torque the bolts down and almost forgot. It's an hour and a half, but it still squeezed out, so I'm sure I'm not too late.
                  Speaking of late, I guess I'd better get this weekly report on its 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