Day 558 On the run--some more.

Here is a picture of two boats that are berthed in the next marina.  The sailboat is "Janice of Wyoming"built in 2005.  Google her for more info.  At 130 feet in length, she is quite the boat.  I included the motor yacht behind her just because she has a helicopter on a pad on her stern.  The first we have seen.  Now, you're talking some money!!

Another day of a few projects and running around in the car.  We first plotted our course around town printing out maps of everywhere we needed to go and then took off.  

I started my day at 0400(couldn't sleep) by making a list(quietly of course) of everything on board that has a serial number.  We'd found out recently that the Mexican authorities require the list just to make sure you don't sell things off your boat while in Mexico.  Being up early, I got the job done and entered into the computer and copies made for the consulate.

We started off our errands at Downwind Marine since they were having a "Cruisers" week with lots of special deals.  We need lots of fans(Hella Turbo has been highly recommended) for the cabins to stay cool once we get south and they had them on sale almost $30.00 less than anywhere else I could find them.  We picked up 8!!  Now all we have to do is figure out places to put them.  They will have the wires for the job today.  We also bought a wringer to get the water out of the clothes we wash on board.  It's easy to wash them, but no so easy to get them dry.  We also picked up two more Alpenglow lights for the boat.  We already have four scattered around the main cabin, but now we will have one for the forward head and one for the stern cabin.  As they run both white and red lights, they will be perfect for when we are out at night and don't want to ruin our night vision while below decks.

We need a vet to get the fur people certified before we head South so an appointment was made at Shelter Island Vet clinic to have them check tomorrow afternoon.  We filled out their paperwork and dropped it by their office on our way around town.  They were in the same shopping center as the scuba place so we got two birds hit with one stone.

We needed the scuba place again as the "new" gear we bought isn't quite compatible with some of our old.  The low pressure inflater hose that goes into our scuba jackets(also know as buoyancy compensators) doesn't fit the fitting.  As it turns out, the "O" ring is also broken so we needed a new one.  The hose we need is no longer made(rats) so we're not sure what we will do now.  We can leave it off,  buy a new "BC"(more boating bucks gone), or keep searching for it on the web.  So far the search is progressing.  I've made some contacts and they are also searching for the new hose.  With luck, I might get lucky.

Next, the plastics people.  We found an area in Zephyr that is a big tunnel down into the bilge.  We were told by Jeff Casher(owns another boat like ours) that a plastic shelf goes on to the top ledge of the tunnel and makes a great storage area.  I measured it and found a company locally that will fabricate a shelf for us.  We got lucky and even found a scrap piece of plastic in one of their bins and that made the price even better(cheaper).  They will have it ready for us today.

On to Wells Fargo to have a paper notarized.  So far, two branches have told me that they will only do it for Wells Fargo paperwork.  Hey, they have all our money and even the mortgage on our house.  Let's play nice here.  I never had problems in Colorado getting them to notarize a document.  We finally found a third branch.  I was told "Oh, the man that does that is on vacation, you'll have to go across the street to FedEx, they will do it there.  I stood my ground and said " I don't think so.  Where is there a branch that will do it".  They asked me to have a seat while they checked around.  A few minutes later, a man by the name of Sam came over and asked if he could help.  I explained the circumstances and he was more than happy to help.  He was a "Notary".  OK, I guess he must have just gotten back from vacation?!  He could not have been nicer and a few minutes later I was out of there.  Sometimes, customer service has to be poked a bit to come into action I guess.

Over to Von's(branch of Safeway) for some ribs.  Having seen the pressure cooker demo the previous night, we wanted to try them.  Normally, I barbecue them for hours and hours to get what we like, but hey, that's just not going to happen on a boat.  We picked up a nice rack and headed back to Zephyr.  I got involved with a rigger(Steve) that has his boat in the marina for a few days and he was nice enough to come over and look at our forestay.  It's always been loose and (strangely) when the Genoa sail is rolled out, the entire roller furling gear rides up the wire.  That is not supposed to happen.  He looked at it and proposed a solution and we were off for West Marine to get parts.  A half hour later and the "elevation"problem was resolved.  Now all we have to do is take off the sail(gee what fun) and tighten up the turnbuckle.  A project for the weekend after our errands are taken care of.

While I was working on the rigging, Tracy put the ribs into the pressure cooker.  Fifteen minutes to get pressurized, about 40 minutes to cook and another 20 to have the pot cool down and they were ready.  Oh my God!!  They were great!!!  They literally fell off the bone tender!!! Quick and easy and darn little mess all in all.  I think the pressure cooker will be getting a lot more use in the future.  We'd heard they were great for cruisers but now we know for sure that they are.  Even when underway, if the pot should fall off the stove, it's all clamped shut so nothing will splatter around the galley.

I was off for another seminar at Downwind on safety gear and how to use it.  For once, we actually have everything he discussed and know how to use it.  We just have to brush up on the "how and when" part deploying the gear when and if we get ourselves into a pickle.  

Today, more errands.  We're getting closer.