Making Home Become Transportation

Spent most of the last two days making the boat both livable and ready to become transportation once again.  Ticking off a bunch of little things on the list.

The wild temperature swings in Georgia have taken a toll on the boat interior.  Since two layers of fiberglass and a layer of balsa don't make the best insulation, every time the temperature goes from the 60's to the 40's, condensation starts to develop.  And since my port hull doesn't have anything except fans to keep air moving, keeping it dry is near impossible.  The result of all the condensation, of course, is mold.  Being in project mode for the past three months, stuff gets tracked into the boat too.  So, a fair amount of yesterday was spent with sponges and cleaners (usually vinegar and water), cleaning the walls, floors, and ceilings.

And then there is the Wester-beast.  Since the starting issue only occurs when the engine has been sitting for 12 hours or more, each fix attempt results in a long wait to test it out.  After doing all I could to make sure fuel wasn't an issue, its behavior changed a bit this morning.  Still hard to start, but now there seems to be evidence fuel is making it to the engine.  Once you wake it up for the first time of the day, starting it again a few hours later goes smoothly.  So, I decided to check the glow plugs today (the next item on the troubleshooting list).  Using the procedure outlined in the manual, I disconnected each plug and then tested the resistance.  Each one showed the 1.1~1.2 Ohms of resistance they are supposed to have.  I did note some corrosion on the connections, so I cleaned the terminals up before reassembly...maybe this will help.  Guess I'll find out tomorrow.

Maybe the cause of my motor issues?

While I was down in the engine room, I also replaced the engine zincs.  I think I got to them just in time as they were looking pretty well worn.

Another item on the list was to restitch a portion of the soft bimini top that had come unraveled during the trip down to Brunswick (the flapping piece of Sunbrella material was starting to get on my nerves by the end of the trip).  I didn't want to take the whole bimini down, so I decided to hand-sew this two foot section while it was in place.

Good enough to hold it for now...I hope.

Since my next stop doesn't have free laundry, I also wanted to take advantage of the large capacity machines while I was here.  So, in addition to normal laundry that I'll be doing over the next couple days, I also took some of the larger bedding items over to wash.  While doing the laundry, I was thinking about my recent post on laundry and machines (we are still debating if having one of these small Panda units would be worth the storage space required).

And the reason I didn't get this posted last night like I had hoped was because I was invited to dinner by some friends I made while here at Brunswick Landing.  They made some very yummy Indian food and we had a nice time...to the point that time got away from us and I didn't get back to the boat until well past "cruisers midnight",  They even gave me a plate of leftovers to take along...

Mmm....Homemade Indian.

Thanks for the invite, conversation, and Indian food Chris and Liz! I'll need to get some of those recipes from you.  And if I ever get this boat cleaned up and ready for guests, we'll have to do this again when I can host the gathering.

Now I'd better get back to work cleaning and organizing the boat so I can head south.