DOES IT EVER STOP FALLING APART

By the time we sell this thing it will be a new boat. The auto pilot was not turning off which caused one to disconnect the control unit to get it back to standby. Not good in an emergency. The local Furuno people said that was like crashing your computer. Not good for it. My guy in Pensacola said that was BS. Put a switch in that made it convenient and sell the boat. By yesterday afternoon nothing worked. No autopilot, no compass, and who know what else. We decided to bite the bullet and order a new kit which includes the controller, compass, rudder indicator and processor. Big bucks, but things that would be a problem in a survey. There are things that those items do that downgrade the chart plotter if not working. So here we go.

Tomorrow it is the normal stuff, replacing my 6 YO starting battery. It needed a boost from the house batteries to crank the main engine. Its time. We have water damage on sever spots in the interior. So tomorrow it is off to the lumber yard to get a sheet of plywood and start replacing areas. Some were caused by leaks, some by having ports open when we were not aboard and a squall hit. The leaks are about finished. The ports, well, we are in the land of air conditioning, so the ports are closed. I do open the hatches when we have a cool dry morning. A boat is a small space and needs airing out on occasion. Finish tomorrow with grocery shopping and a hair cut.

Sound like a normal boring life. We have to take the boat out one of these days. This past weekend I spent playing with the dead autopilot. One of these days. Need to put the dinghy in and crank it up. It has been a month and it does not like to crank right off like it should. Projects.

The mountains are calling me…. The ones surrounded by clear blue warm water,        gentle tropical breezes and palm trees by the sandy beach, oh my.