Friday, March 4, 2011

2011 First week or so

OK, I arrived on Sunday,February 27, and in less than a week I've gotten a lot done. On Monday, I rebuilt the carburetor on the dinghy outboard. It went pretty well and I'm very glad that I didn't pour the little bit of “fuel” from the gas container into it-- it was all water. I rowed into the marina, bought a few things including gas, and was thrilled that it worked fine for the ride back to Magus. In fact, its working better than it ever has.

My shopping trip included getting some produce at a little roadside place in Salinas. Another reason I really like Puerto Rico.



$5.50 for all of this. And fresh squeezed OJ for 4 days.

That evening, I tried to start the engine and found out that the engine battery was essentially dead. This was my own fault because I didn't have the solar charger on it. The system was set-up to just charge the house batteries, but that will change this trip.

I brought the battery in to Fred's house and we put it on the charger, then made an evening of it at Drakes. The next morning, it still didn't show any signs of life, so I bought a new one. As it turns out, two days later, it was essentially fine, and Fred didn't want it, so its now the fourth battery for the "house" system.

Before I bought the battery, I replaced the old running light fixtures with LED fixtures and bulbs. And on the way into the marina (by dinghy,) I stopped and talked to Gilbert on his boat about cleaning the bottom of Magus, which he was doing when I got back from the battery trip. [Thanks, Rick of Orion at the Salinas Marina who I didn't see somehow.]

Anyway, by Wednesday I was ready to do the engine work, which was nasty, but the engine works great, with the new water pump and other stuff. All with thanks to Fred and his tools and moral support. Thursday was a bunch of shopping, and Friday was a few more things and returning the rental car to Sydney-- see the story from last year. On Friday, Fred made some excellent rice and beans at his and Mary's house in Salinas.  Here they are in their backyard.



Saturday was the beginning of really getting ready to go, with putting up sails, rigging the anchors, etc, etc. Also did some laundry and had dinner at Drakes. Brought in a piece of canvas to Maryann at Tradewinds to have it modified to fit better when we put the boat away.

On Sunday, I had a tour of Barbara, the “live anywhere” boat designed by Michael Porter, tour by Barbara Porter, both of Chebeague Island, Maine. The boat is outrageous and I learned about a great little hatch screen that I want to get for Magus, among other things. Mike is still finishing out the interior, with a schedule to get a cabin finished in about a week for a visit from the grandkids. It turns out that Barbara and Mike are friends with some neighbors of ours in Bowdoinham, David and Allison Berry, because Mike designed and built a boat that Dave uses to sell vegetables in the summer; check this out.

Tomorrow I plan to leave early for parts east.

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