Day 32 Explore options

Today was a day of research.  I spoke with our marine supplier about the battery situation.  The wrong batteries are still in his truck.  I spent a great deal of last night and this morning reading lots of posts on other peoples opinions on batteries.  The battery company I had been lead to as having great batteries doesn't make a battery that will for into my bank. Wrong type of fastener for my connections.  Checked a few others and all of it left me with some knowledge and a few questions.  Not sure which way we will end up going,but we do know that it won't be fixed for probably two weeks. It may take that long to get them here.  Believe me people--the service you get in Denver at finding what you need and being able to take it home with you the day you see it just doesn't happen here on the coast. It's a week minimum on the simplest things.  To get it sooner may require another trip to Portland.  Many of the companies get their shipments from California not Portland.   This will take some work.   Unfortunately, the clock is ticking.  We have to be getting ourselves ready to get back up North.  We've only gotten out past the breakwater once since we got here.

We ran errands early in the afternoon.  Picked up some sandpaper and wire brush.  The sand paper to sand down the fiberglass that makes up the holding tanks for the forward head. We bought the protectant suit at West Marine on Wednesday while in Portland.  With luck, I'll be at it tomorrow.  

We checked on the fire extinguishers that we were supposed to get back at the end of this week(insert turnip truck here).  Not back and have no idea when they will be. Had to be sent to Albany-60 miles east of here-for testing.  They've had them almost 4 weeks.  Try that in Denver and see how long you will stay in business.  If you are the only place that services fire extinguishers, you can get away with this type of service.

The metal bracket that will hold the tv against the wall--dropped off the design on Tuesday--promised to be done on Thursday(not done and was promised for today) not done again.  Promised for Monday(insert turnip truck again).

 Late this afternoon we worked on the wheel steering.  As you turn the wheel to starboard it would bind up at 23 degrees.  Kind of bound up at 23 degrees to port but not as bad.  Bill(previous owner) had advised me on how to add hydraulic jack fluid to the reservoir thru a tube in the binnacle(holds the wheel and compass).  Slowly poured the oil into the line and turned the wheel each direction. Down went the oil--lots of it.  At least I think it was a lot. Never having done it before I'm not sure how much is a lot.  Once the oil was showing outside the binnacle, we played with the steering.  turning it to port and back to starboard over and over to make sure all the oil got where it was supposed to go. The steering was better but not fixed.  If you had the wheel all the way to port and turned it all the way to starboard, it went fine.  If you were at dead center and turned it to starboard, it would bind up.  Not as bad as it had been but still binding.  The mystery deepens.  We will see how it operates tomorrow after a night of rest.

We saw SUN TODAY!!!   Lots of it.  Blue and Snowshoe just sat outside and relaxed in the sun as we worked on the steering.   Blue only tried to jump off the boat once.   It sure made a difference in our days spirits.  You can only take so much cloudy weather.  Ahh--the warmth on the body sure felt great.  Tomorrow--more sun!

Tomorrow--onto the holding tank or up the mast-wind willing.