Mike
05/05/2009, Marxh Harbour, Abaco

May 2nd Marsh Harbor, Abacos

Kathy washed up what dishes there were and then I shut off water and pulled out the sink. Reconnecting all the lines and rewiring took me a few hours. When I tested the system there was a small leak. The places that I repaired were fine but something was amiss.

We heated a tank of hot water and both had showers. Unfortunately, the pump that removes the grey water seemed to be malfunctioning....so there is another project in my future.

After some lunch we went into town for a few purchases and a trip to the bank. We ended up with way more groceries that we anticipated and were a little sorry on the walk back to the dinghy dock.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon reading...

At about 6 we went over to the Jib Room to watch the Kentucky Derby and stayed for their steak dinner which was as good as I remembered it from last year.

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Mike
05/05/2009, Marxh Harbour, Abaco

May 1st... Marsh Harbor, Abacos

After coffee I tried to figure out what to do with the water heater. We can survive quite well without one with the solar shower and a tea kettle but if I can keep it going for another month it would be nice.

I decided t attempt to fix the holes like you would a hole in drywall fitting a piece behind the damaged area, holding it in place with a string and then filling from the front. Our first attempt was with a small circle of plastic. I rolled it up and pushed it through the hole but couldn't get it to flatten against the inside of the water heater. Next we found some thin rubber, cut our ¾ inch circles, punched a piece of dental floss through the middle and pushed them into the water heater. Everything seemed to work well so I mixed up some JB weld, worked so through the hole in the water and pulled the rubber circle into position. With both holes half done, I went below and cooked some breakfast.

After the JB weld had set, I mixed up another batch and added some more to the out side of the tank covering the now cut off end of the dental floss.

With the tank drying we loaded up the laundry and headed to for the Harbor View Marina where the best facilities are located. I dropped off Kathy and went back to the boat to load up some garbage which I took to the government dock and hiked down to the dumpster.

By the time I finished, it was back to visit Kathy and have a small lunch at Snappers which is next door to the laundry.

When we got back to the boat I replaced all the fittings on the water heater, but left it on the deck to set overnight. We had some cheese that needed to be eaten so I made a batch of Mac and Cheese using my basic recipe but changed up the process a little. After the macaroni was drained I added the sauted peppers as well as the cheese which melted nicely. I then added the custard mixture and stirred everything together for a minute before putting into the baking pan. It ended up being my best effort so far.

Then we were off to the Jib Room to get some water. Actually the Jib Room is a restaurant which is attached to the Marsh Harbor Marina. We loaded op 25 gallons and then had a beer before heading back to the boat.

The anchorage here is emptying out. Last year when we were here there were over 100 boats. We're down to twenty today. In a few weeks the summer boaters from Florida will show up the fill it up again but right now the winter folks are mostly gone and the summer people aren't here yet.

When we got back, "Fine Lion", who we left in Hope Town, was anchored just to our stern. After offloading the water, we swung by to say hi to Steve and made arrangements to head in to listen to a band at about 8:30.

We had a fine dinner of brocolli and Mac and Cheese and then napped a little before heading back to shore.

The band was good, and we danced a little. Before midnight we were pooped and returned to the boat and to bed.

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Mike
05/05/2009, Marsh Harbour, Abaco

April 30th... Marsh Harbor, Abacos

The winds have slacked and Chris Parker has promised safe weather for the next week so this place is emptying out quickly. Boats who have been sitting in the wind for 10 days are taking this opportunity to head back to the States.

We're not quite ready to say good-by to the Bahamas and will stay for a while longer.

With a nice hardware store close by, I decided to tackle the drip leak in the water heater this morning. One of my past repair jobs of the past was not holding and although were going to replace the thing this summer, something needed to be done.

The entire fresh water plumbing system of this boat needs to be redone. There is an expansion tank that is not in use and the tubing looks like it was laid out by a first grader.
All that can wait though, today I just need to make the system leak proof...

The first chore was to add a valve so we can isolate the hot water heater. I started work by removing the sink, and in the process broke the bottom end of a strainer where it attaches to the drain. So I was off to the hardware store for my first trip of the day.

When I got back I added the valve so that we could turn off the hot water but still have cold to the sinks. Then I removed the hot water heater. It actually took a lot longer than one short sentence but we won't go into the details.

It was evident that not one but both of the repair jobs of the past were leaking. After thinking about the problem for a while I decided to attempt to get some epoxy on the inside of the tank. I cleaned the outside of the tank in the area of the leaks and drilled the leaky areas to a diameter of about ¼ in. Then I opened it up as much as I could to dry over night.

Then I took the old strainers out of the sink and replaced them with the new and also replaced the drain tubes before reinstalling the sink and turning the water back on.

At some point there was another trip to the hardware to purchase a section of ½ inch pipe to that I could tie the lines coming and going from the engine to together. The line loops in the hot water heater and with it gone I needed to create a new loop.

Kathy had planned on working on laundry today but she spent so much time helping me that laundry day will be tomorrow.

We made some Stroganoff for dinner and watched a movie before calling it a day.

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