Happy Days
09 March 2010 | La Playita de Amador
Racor Fuel/Water Separators
March 9
Noticed a loose prong on boat's shore power socket. After removing the thing, discovered backside was fried. Possible cause of charger/inverter failure? Local chandlery had one (only one) for a not-quite-outrageous price (Marinco thinks highly of their stuff). Since new one is, of course, slightly different, several tool lockers were emptied to accomplish minor surgery.
While removing corrosion encrusted plug from short 3-wire cable to longer one that can reach above mentioned outlet from Honda generator, it broke. Trip to hardware is envisioned. Dubious beginning to day and then:
Do NOT attempt honesty with Microsoft. Nothing good can come of it. After receiving several requests to protect myself by participating in the "Genuine Advantage" program, finally clicked the "Yes, please check my OS then mash me like a bug under the full weight of the Evil Empire button". They decided that my copy of Window XP "may" not be genuine. It use to be! When attempting to reinstall, the computer hung in a perpetual setup loop. Would a snapshot before beginning have helped? Yes. Was it done?... Anyway, have now re-returned to Jan. 20 for another round of updating. Luckily expertise has been gained in exactly that procedure and an invaluable temporary lesson has been learned until forgotten. Aside: Why do valuable and invaluable, like flammable and inflammable, mean the same thing?
Ready for the good news? Yeah, me too! Oh wait, there is some. Very unexpectedly found and installed an elbow fitting for parallel Racor filter installation at the other, smaller, marine store in vicinity. Specialized fittings arriving next Monday, he avers confidently, will finally get that rascal operational after only 10 months.
Everything considered, after all the kerfuffle, not an awful day. Sun hasn't gone supernova, aliens haven't induced mass hallucinations (probably) and this little segment of the planet, despite downside potential, ended up nearly a wash.
Speaking of which, the shower awaits.
Jack