Day 288 Frozen pea soup.

That's pretty much what yesterday was--frozen pea soup.  No Sun, no  clouds, just a thick impenetrable fog of rain and snow.  Mother Nature just couldn't make up her mind as to what she wanted to do.  The docks got very slippery as the slush mounted on the concrete and wood on the bridge back to the mainland.  It got so bad that our Direct TV went off the air for several hours.  We ended up with a black screen.

The "multiplexer" I need to have both the GPS and wind indicator communicate with our autopilot came in yesterday, a day early.  I checked last night and as I expected, I don't have the right gauge of wire to complete the job.  I'll be off to West Marine to pick up some this morning.  I'll need 16 to 18 gauge multi strand wire to complete the job.  

I disconnected the previous connections late last night so the job will be easier today.   Once installed, the autopilot will know exactly where we are and be able to steer us by the direction of the wind in relationship to Zephyr on the water.  A great feature that will make sailing long distances much easier.

 

Our new "Bottomsider" cushion came in yesterday among other packages.  One of the problems

that I have had since day one on Zephyr is seeing all the way forward when I am at the wheel steering.  I'm just not quite tall enough to see over everything that is between me and the bow of the boat.  This new cushion will boost me up the 4 inches I need to see clear to the bow.  In the past, I've had to pile a couple of cushions at the wheel to see that far.

Our new refrigeration system also came in yesterday.  The folks at the office keep asking me what we are doing to our boat as we keep getting more and more boxes every week.

We expect to travel back to Port Townsend to have the new lid cut and installed in the counter for this new system.  We'll be taking out the old system and having to run new copper tubing under the cushions and through the cabinets to get this baby installed but the benefits will be really great as it uses far less amps than what we have now.  What we currently have is an old Adler Barbour that uses 5 to 6 amps every time it runs and the new one for Cool Blue by Technautics will only use 2 while it is running.  A great energy saver.

I'm not sure how long the installation will take.  It will depend on how busy Sea Marine is and how soon they can get to us after the first of March.  Our slip is paid for till then and we see no real reason to head back up there till then.  I don't think the entire installation will take more than a week.

Matt(our son) called yesterday.  He is coming back to Seattle for a month starting in a few days.  He's going to be apartment sitting for some friends that are going on a trip for about a month.  I expect we will be making several trips back and forth to see each other before we head off North to Alaska in mid to late March.  It's been quite a while since we've seen him.   

One of our friends here at the marina had planned to be gone yesterday to start their trip North, but with all the bad weather we have been having, won't be getting underway till Thursday or Friday at the earliest.  

Yesterday--no Sun or blue sky.  Today--clear blue skies and lots of Sun.  The weather up here is crazier than it is in Colorado.  It just can't make up its mind as to what it wants to do.  Oh well, I'll take the sunny weather any day.  Sure hope it lasts so we can get more projects done outside.

Have a great day everyone.