I have a lot of catching up to do so I will do it in the next few blog posts. This is just a notice that more is coming right now!!!
Kermit boat
repairs:
Kermit is very busy repairing the boat, puttering about
every day making sure Good Karma stays in good shape. Here are some of the
things he has done in the last few months.
Lights: Replaced
37 halogen lights with LED
Sound: Installed a
Fusion radio and speakers on bridge. We have great sound now!
Shower sump repair.
Kermit usually uses Edge gel when he shaves. He switched to Barbasol just to
try it. Suddenly the shower sump was acting up. He switched back to Edge and it
got a little better. Eventually even switching away from Barbasol didn’t help
that sump. It kept running and running making a funny whining noise. Something
had to be done.
So he pulled out the cushions and moved the mattress to get
to that section under the bed where the pumps are located. He has to lay on his
stomach with his head and shoulders in this big hole with arms outstretched.
Anything dropped while working on this project gets lost in the bilge. Risky
business. Also there are head hazards all around. Every time Kermit works in
this particular hold he bonks his head. He did again when fixing the sump.
Anyway, he pulled out the old sump pump and found a huge
glob of something disgusting. I am not even going to try to guess what all was
in there but he cleaned it out, washed it up and put it back in place. The sump
pump works like a charm, whooshing away the water from the shower and rear head
sink like magic.
Overboard pump out.
Kermit took the boat over to Cracker Boy Marina on the other side of the
bridge. They discovered they didn’t have to put in a through hull because for
some reason we had a through hull that no one was using. Don’t ask. So the
plumber came and installed the plumbing that allows us to pollute the beautiful
Abaco Sea while we are in the Bahamas. When will they install pump out systems
in the Bahamas?
Engaged a diver in
North Palm Beach. When we traveled
south from Fort Pierce to North Palm Beach before crossing to the Bahamas, we
realized we lost almost 300 rpm from our cruise speed. We figured it was from
barnacles so Kermit engaged a diver to go look. The bottom still looks great!
But barnacles were growing on the props and shafts. Down here in salt water you
have to paint the running gear with an ablative bottom paid. We don’t have to
do that in the Great Lakes. Next time we pull the boat we will make sure to
paint the running gear. In the meantime we have to get a diver every few months
to scrap the crud off the running gear.
Actually that was a pretty funny story. We got a name from
the marina for a diver. On our way back from the office we saw a couple of
divers walking back to their trucks. You can tell they are divers because they
are wearing wet suits (your first clue) and they look like divers (kind of
rough). Kermit stopped one and asked for a card. Then he called both services.
We got a good price from the guy recommended by the marina. The other service
said she would have someone come by and look. About 30 minutes later she called
and gave us a price for just the props and shafts. Evidently the diver had been
under our boat checking on conditions and we didn’t even have a clue. We went
with that service!
Cleaning: Kermit
washes the boat every few days because it gets covered with salt just from
sitting in the wind. The bikes are getting all eaten up from salt even though
they are in protected bags. That salt is nasty!
Update on auto pilot.
It still wanders at slow speeds like 6-7 mph with wind and waves behind you. We
l had problems with the autopilot in the Bahamas even after Garmin sent people
out for hours upon hours in Fort Pierce. It was very frustrating.
We were racking our brain to figure out what might be
different to push Ivan the auto pilot off kilter.
We recalled that Eve Gribble
once mentioned that their auto pilot got messed up when she put metal hangers
in her closet. When she removed the metal hangers the auto pilot worked again.
We went over all parts of the aft cabin and head to find out
what might be interfering with the auto pilot. Remember last time Garmin was on
board they discovered that the flux gate compass head critical to giving the
auto pilot it’s direction was located in the top of the aft cabin head next to
a light fixture. We think the magnets in the light fixture were messing with
the auto pilot’s head. So it can be something very small that causes a big problem.
We put on our detective hats.
One day while sitting on the back of the boat with a
cocktail Kermit reviewed in his mind the steps he took while repairing the sump
pump. He realized that the hydraulic drive cylinder was also located in that
same general area as the sump pump. Could there be a relationship between the
two? He went to look.
Kermit pulled out the cushions again and got on his stomach
with his head and arms back in that small compartment to take a look. He saw
something funny. The whole cylinder was missing. Two caps, one right, one left.
The one on the right side was missing completely. There was a spring hanging
out of the hole where the cap should be. The little spring was hanging by its
last fingernail.
He put the spring back in the hole then looked for the cap.
With his flashlight he spied the little cap, the size of a dime on the bilge
floor. He went in almost waist deep to pick the cap up. He tightened the cap
with the spring inside.
This last time we took the boat out miracle of miracles the
auto pilot works perfectly! Evidently replacing the spring and that cap made
all the difference!
If Kermit hadn’t been sitting there ruminating on the
problem over a cocktail and if he hadn’t gone to look at that particular minute
then it is very possible that the spring would have finally worked its way out
and along with the cap would have been lost forever in the bilge. He wouldn’t
have known that anything was out of place and he might never have found the
auto pilot problem.
The moral of the story is: never skip a chance to have a cocktail!
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