We got lucky last night or this whole "living the dream" could have ended very quickly. As we sat watching TV last night, we both suddenly sat up with the sudden smell of burning wires running through the cabin. Yeah, I know, we thought we were past our problems with the electrical system on Zephyr. Cushions flew and cords were unplugged and wires felt for heat. As it turns out, the electric heater, one of two we bought at Costco about a year ago was self destructing. The wires inside the unit were melting at the on/off switch. Luckily we were here to unplug it quickly. While nothing may have happened (other than a destroyed heater unit) with our luck, it could have ended in a fire. Zephyr has already experienced one back in the 90's(you'd never know it by the look of her).
With us living aboard and the Webasto heater having been on the fritz, we brought two of these from Denver--one for the main cabin and one for the aft stateroom. They've worked great so far with no problems. Since we are about to set off, we had taken one of the two to the storage room till we returned. We figured that the Webasto would keep us nice and toasty(but uses some of our precious diesel fuel to run) while we were at anchor and the other would be used when we tied up at a marina. I guess we took the wrong one to the storage unit. I brought the second one back just a few minutes ago and will dispose of the bad one this morning. We're just glad we were on Zephyr when it melted the wires. We got lucky. It could have been worse.
The freezer has stabilized at 9 with the frig at 35 now that everything is set properly. We could make it colder but there is no reason to do so. It's still using about 2.8 amps--half of the last unit and is much colder.
Yesterday was more rain and winds in the low 20's. The next few days are supposed to be great so we expect to be off by Saturday morning for somewhere on the South side of Lopez Island. We still have lots to learn and systems to check before we truly head North.
I worked on our finances yesterday transferring funds to so that there will be enough to cover our bills for the next few months since we aren't sure where we will be and what our Internet situation will be. At least we are in the final stretches of our refit. The last piece of equipment --Hydrovane wind auto pilot--will be here some time in May. We can install it once we return when ever that is.
And that is about how our day went--oh yeah, we also took showers!! Wow how exciting!!
Have a great weekend everyone. If we do get out of here tomorrow, I'll post as soon as I can acquire Internet again so don't be worried about us if I miss a few days. The fun is about to begin. With luck, now you'll get to read about what the cruising life is all about. We're ready for it.
1 comment:
One good thing about Costco, other than computers, they guarantee everything for life. You can take it back years later. Learned this when my camera had problems that I had bought 4 years earlier. If no receit, they will give credit in the store which you can always use, right?
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