Binge Labor

Charlotte Harbor Boat Storage, Placida FL

So we're back, what next?   Well, three or more weeks of hard work, and unpleasant living conditions.  I don't mean to whine, but the fact is that the maintenance/repair cycles of cruising boats is not uniform.  It comes in binge sessions.

It is also an old adage, that starting on the first day you leave your boat unattended, it begins to deteriorate.   Overall, Tarwathie fared well.  No major leaks, nothing missing, nothing broken.  However:

• The water in the toilet bowl evaporated leaving a disgusting black residue.
• The hand pump on the toilet is nearly frozen.
• There is either something very wrong with out batteries, or with our refrigeration system.  I'm trying to correct that now.  More on that subject tomorrow.
• There are rust/grease stains in many places on the top deck.  That will take lots of cleaning.
• There is water in the engine compartment.  It must be leaking in from the cockpit, hatches.
• I think there is a slow leak at the starboard side chain plates.  I tried to repair that last winter in Boot Key Harbor, but it didn't work 100%.
• The kitchen sink drain foot pump is not working right.
• Good news, almost no mold or mildew.  We used Sun Packs with formaldahyde before leaving, but those are supposedly good for 3 months only; we were gone 6 months.

But our big project is to paint the hull above the water line.  That's the project we bailed out on in Green Cove Springs last year.   Lots more on that in coming weeks.

The big impediment to our work is the fiercely hot sun.  We can't work at all 10AM-4PM on sunny days.  We hide out in the air conditioned library those hours.  When it is cloudy and cooler, it rains, and we can't paint in the rain.

Also, in coming days I'll write a blog covering the time since we left Vermont.  We had a geat time.

One more slight worry.  Hurricane Mathew.  The probability of it coming here is nearly zero, but you can never be sure.  Anyhow, we can be glad we are not in the Abacos Bahamas today.  Here is their weather forecast.

Abacos, Bahamas, Thursday:     10% Precip.     Hurricane conditions likely. Showery rains containing strong gusty winds and heavy downpours at times. High 86F. Winds SE at 80 to 100 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 3 to 5 inches of rain expected.