Thursday and Friday, December 1 & 2, 2016 - These two days were spent doing more research and troubleshooting on the autopilot. Finally, after talking to several of the people at Raymarine, I discovered that they don't produce the hydraulics. It is a Canadian product from Octopus. I contacted them and, after talking to two of their people, I truly believe I've figured out what's wrong. One of them told me how to run a test on the motor and solenoid. The motor works fine, but the solenoid, which is supposed to engage a clutch, does absolutely nothing. There's the problem. I ordered two of them from a local supplier and they'll be at their store Monday around noon. At least, once I actually get my hands on one, it will be easy to replace; remove a retaing nut, unplug two wires, and replace it.

Saturday, 3 December - I spent most of today trying to figure out how to remove the roller furling halyard by myself and waiting for the wind to die down so I could do it. I was afraid that if I removed the last nut on the bottom of the internal halyard, the wind might pull hard enough that I couldn't replace it. The wind never died off. I also realized that even if I can get the bottom of the furler off, the new line will still have to be fed in from the top of the mast, I'm contemplating replacing the steel cable with a Dyneema or Vectran line. There are so many new types of line made of new fibers that are as strong as steel, lighter, and easier to splice and handle that it is very difficult deciding which one to use. They all have their good and bad features, for instance, Dyneema is stronger than steel and so light that it floats, but is so slippery that knots in it will slip right out. It has to be spliced in a certain way to hold.
                  Mark DesErmia, the treasure hunter, had fallen and broken his ankle while I was down at Marco Island. He and I went out to dinner, me walking and him pushing himself along on his new knee scooter. With the scooter, he easily outpaces me on the flat terrain of the island. We returned to his boat to watch the parade of lights as the boats went by all decorated for Christmas. Some people really spent some time decorating.

Sunday, 4 December - I defrosted the freezer/refrigerator today and, once again, tried to get the fresh water pump to turn on and off properly. I think the pressure switch needs to be replaced, but I'm not positive, yet. Steve and Judy came by the boat for a visit and a couple of margaritas.

Monday, 5 December - Today I talked to the manufacturer at CDI, the maker of the furling system on my mainsail. They nixed the idea of using synthetic line on the halyard because when I mentioned that their design entails de-coring the line and that this would then place all the stress of the halyard on the outer sheath alone, they asked, "How tall is your luff?" When I told them 47', they said that I should only use stainless steel cable. They use synthetic line on their new installations, but for that very reason, not on anything over 39'. They'll make me a new one and ship it out from Canada today, so it should be here by the beginning of next week. I guess I'll be staying here a little longer.
                  Wow! The music at Bonita Bill's was fantastic tonight. I was joined by an acquaintance that I met here several months back, Robert Dahmer and a friend of his, Bill. They've just recently returned from up north to avoid the cold weather and are headed for a short trip to Key West. Unfortunately, I didn't even come close to winning at music trivia, although I should have. One of the questions was, "What were the names of the couple in the Beatles'song "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da"? I didn't think of their names, Desmond and Molly Jones, until WAAAAAY too late. My mind is like a steel trap, but it's already sprung closed.

Tuesday, 6 December - With a band of showers and a trough due in later this afternoon or tonight, I thought I'd better move my anchor away from the shallow water near the small island I'm close to. Unfortunately, during the night, the wind direction is predicted to change, so I may be out into the channel when I wake up tomorrow morning. I'm not too worried about that. All the traffic in this area is required to travel at "Wakeless Speeds", and the only really large vessel that comes in and out of the bay is the Key West Express passenger shuttle at 9:15pm and 8:15am. He should still have plenty of room, it's a pretty wide channel. After dark, the Sheriff stopped by my boat because my new "waterproof, automatic" sensor for the masthead light hadn't come on. He reviewed my registration and gave me a warning ticket for the light. Today was the first time since I installed the "waterproof" sensor that it has rained. Luckily, I had it working before he got the ticket written out.

Wednesday, 7 December - Let's not forget that on this day in 1941, an until then, peaceful nation attacked our country even as they reassured us of peaceful intent. Our country must always be prepared to defend itself.
                  I spent 7 hours running two errands today by bus and bicycle, one to Harbor Freight, and the other to the company that I ordered the solenoid for my steering system from. I ordered it Friday with the assurance that it would be there Monday at noon. I gave them two extra days just to make sure. I should have given them three. It wasn't there yet. I'm not about to waste another day going back for it. I said just mail it.