I spent the morning running errands. First, West Marine for wire to install the new "multiplexer" for combining the information from the GPS and wind instrument into one signal for the autopilot.
Over to Fastenal to pick up the wing nut to finish installing the bolt that will keep the anchor from falling off. They had been out of the wing nut and needed to get more in. It's not easy to find a 5/8" wing nut. These things are huge. They'd told me that it would be about $7.50 for it. That was more than what I had spent on the bolt, nut and lock washer I bought on Monday. Like I said, it was huge. They were supposed to call me when it came in on Tuesday but hadn't so I stopped in anyway. After they rang it up, I was told it was $12.85!!! There was a $4.00+ freight fee for bringing it in. Say what?!! Now Tracy and I had run FanciMats for years and the thought of charging a customer postage to bring in something that we normally kept in stock but were out of would never have crossed my mind. These guys wanted us to pay the freight to get something in that they were should have had in stock anyway. The manager was out of the store so I had the person that was there call him. He told her to take off the freight charges BUT, I was advised that they normally added freight when they needed to bring something in like that. Sorry, but I don't think that is any way to get customers to come back.
Down to the Post Office to mail my brother a can of B & M Brown Bread(Yeah Rick, it's on its way). Growing up, our mother used to serve us baked beans and brown bread regularly for dinner. Since she was raised just outside of Boston, it had been on her table for years and she made sure we got to experience it also. Now we were raised on bread with no raisins, but I couldn't find that so, sorry Rick, this cans got raisins. If you haven't tried it, you should. It's a great meal for those cold Winter nights. It's worth the search to find it. It took us about a half dozen stores to find the brown bread.
Back to Lowe's to swap out the dehumidifier we had purchased about a week ago. It would no longer drain down the hose into the bilge. It would only put the water it filtered our of the air into the bucket that is in the machine. When I called "customer service" they told me to just take it back and get a new one. We had purchased the last one that still had the straps on it that keeps the box closed (four others had already been opened)so I picked up one that had already been opened. When I got back to Zephyr and pulled the box off, it was packed upside down in the container. obviously it had been used by some one and returned. We'll see if it works any better than the last one. So far, it is running fine and there is no water in the bucket. I'll check the bilge later to see if we have more water down there.
A while ago, I changed our registration address for our VHF radio license and the new one came about a week ago. I stopped by Office Depot to have it laminated. This way, water will never hurt it. Plus, I'm supposed to carry a card in my wallet with my part of the license. The person that helped me pulled a few pieces of laminate out and did it while I waited. She then told me there was NO CHARGE!! She used a few pieces of laminate that she had used part of earlier and she wouldn't charge me!!! Now there is great customer service!! Guess where I will do more shopping in the future.
Back to Zephyr for lunch and get the new multiplexer installed. I measured and cut wires, stripped the ends, drilled the holes to hold her on and rerouted wires and boom she was in. I fired up the necessary electronics and guess what--it doesn't work! The autopilot gets the signal from the wind instrument, but not the GPS. As a matter of fact, I disengaged the rest of the wires and just hooked up the GPS the way it had been without the wind instrument and it won't read it that way either now. The GPS on deck reads just fine on it's screen, but doesn't transmit the signal to the autopilot. It was after 2:00 so they were closed(East coast company). I'll try calling them today after I try a few more ways of hooking it up.
We'd purchased our out board motor last year after finding out that the one we had couldn't be repaired. A nice 8hp Mercury motor. I attached it to the stern rail on a bracket to keep it safe and sound. It made it on the rough trip from Newport to Port Townsend last year just fine. For security sake, I'd attached a steel cable and lock to make sure it didn't go for a walk some dark night while in the marina. Well, after a few months, the salt water had taken its toll and the lock--a Master Lock--was corroded shut with no chance of getting it off. So out came the cable cutters since the lock wouldn't open and off it came. I'd bought a proper out board motor lock last year while in Port Townsend but had never gotten around to putting it on. Hey, if I couldn't get the lock open, I figured no one else could and the engine was fine. The big steel box you see next to the handle is the new lock. It slides over and totally encloses the bracket that unscrews so you can take the engine off. You can't get to the screws to take the motor off. Now the plus side is that your motor isn't going anywhere with out a key. The minus side is that if someone wants your motor bad enough, they are really going to trash the boat to get it off. I have heard numerous stories of people having their motors taken. Normally, they also take the dingy it is attached to at night if you leave it in the water. One of the cardinal rules of cruising is to never ever leave your dingy with the motor attached floating beside your boat while you are away or at night. They are prime goods in most harbors. You always take off the motor and at a minimum attach you dingy to your boat with a stout cable or BIG chain. It may still be gone when you get up. It's better to hoist it back on board if you can. It's harder to steal a car from a closed garage than parked in the driveway. To make our motor easily identifiable, we plan on painting the cover. How many men will steal an out board motor if the cover is painted pink? Easy to identify and it will standout in any marina. Well, that's about if for yesterday. More odd jobs for today.
Oh, we had a "comment" yesterday asking about how long we intended to stay out sailing. We think about 5 years or so. Not really sure. We're in no real hurry to get anywhere or get back. It really depends on how long the money holds out. Once we finally finish getting Zephyr prepared for long distance cruising, our monthly expenses will drop like a stone. We get closer each day If you have any question, just put them in the "comment"section and I answer them if I can.
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