OK, that's sarcasm. Some of you might be wondering why we're still in St. Augustine. The boat finally passed its sea trial two months ago. I've been back for two and a half weeks. So what's going on?

Well, it seems we just can't get ahead. At the end of this post is the list of the things done to the boat, and the things we've done to the boat this season. Every time we think we're finally at the end of the list, something else happens. Today two more things got added to the to-do list.

First, the aft head door handle started to malfunction. Bud took it to our local marine store (a great store) and they could sell us a replacement lock set for about $100 or parts for ours for much less. He opted for parts; they won't be here until the middle of next week...so departure is delayed again. Meanwhile, since the knob still worked in one direction, Bud reinstalled it until the parts came in. He tested it to make sure the knob worked and then closed the door of the head, and the knob no longer worked. At about this point Gary came down to join in the fun. The head was closed and we couldn't get at the lockset because the screws were on the inside. I managed to knock out the screen in the port in the shower stall, reach in with a coat hanger taped to our boat hook and grab the latch on the engine access door and pull that open. I then had to crawl over the engine and into the shower and head. The photo shows the engine area with the open access door on the other side. Once there I removed the screws and the back plate of the lockset, which accomplished nothing, except that I was now stuck in the head! Bud and I had both tried to open the latch with knives, but lucky for us, Gary is expert at this and soon he got it open using a skinny jack knife blade and a butter knife. I then completely removed the lockset from the door.

That wasn't our main problem, however. From the time we've had the boat we've had trouble with our fresh water pressure pump running when no faucets are on. Lately this has gotten much worse (of course). So while Bud was ordering the door hardware kit he also bought a rebuild kit for the pump. The valves and diaphragm could be accessed from the top, but there are two "pulsation dampeners" that need to be accessed from the bottom. We pulled the pump part way out, took the motor off, and turned it over. We didn't have to cut any of the wires to do this, but it did mean we had to do the work kneeling on the floor. The back plate of the pump has 12 screws in it. 11 came out OK, even the three that were slathered with epoxy once we chipped the epoxy off of them. (The presence of epoxy all over one side of the back plate should have been a warning.) I was working on the disassembly but had Bud try that screw. An hour later he had it out. We then had to buy a replacement screw for the screw he had all but destroyed in removing. I continued with the rebuild. When I put it back together the screw that wouldn't come out was now stripped. It was one of nine in that part, though, and the directions said not to over tighten, so I continued. I got the pump back together and Bud reinstalled it. We had also discovered that the rubber feet were corroded, so had them on order, but three of the four feet were functional, so we could put it back in service. Bud hooked the hoses back on, opened the valve to the water tank and turned on the pump. It sounded great and it pumped water very well. But then I saw water coming out from the base, no, streaming out from the base. Bud shut everything down and pulled it out far enough to access the base and tightened the screws. Reinstalled, valves, switches, try again. Water runs out again. Pulled it all the way out (cut wires etc.) and took it back apart. Either the stripped screw was essential (likely) or the epoxy was because the base leaks (possible, less likely).

Anyway after working all day, we have no lock on our aft head door and no water. And so it goes...

The List

Work performed by others:
New engine, transmission and exhaust
Reinforce floor under house battery bank
Move front navigation light out of the way of the Rocna
Repair lower bearing on rudder
New rod rigging
Shorten jib furler
New arch with davits to raise dinghy
Spartight to replace wedges where mast enters deck
Wash and repair main and jib
Repair SSB (we removed both SSB and antenna tuner and sent for service)

Work we've done:
Install new Racor filter
Trade in recalled Rocna on new one
Add 12V line to aft cabin with receptacle for hand held GPS (to use as anchor alarm)
Install WIFI antenna and wireless hub
Purchase IPad and wireless GPS and set up IPad as back-up chart
Move solar panels to arch and wire to single controller
Install tank monitor for forward holding tank
Install galvanic isolator
Install bonding brushes to prop
Replace generator raw water hose from seacock to strainer
Replace zincs in generator heat exchanger
Repair floor in aft shower (epoxy small break)
Make cockpit awning
Make small cover for base of mast
Replace light fixture over dinette with LED fixture
Rebuild both toilets
Rebuild foot pump in forward head
Replace jib sheets
Replace jib furling line
Line opening on jib furler to prevent chafe
Clean bilge
Replace bilge pump switch
Replace bilge hose check valve
Bond toilets
Buy and install tank and adapters to run rail mount grill on 20 lb. propane tank
Clean out deck and locker drain hose
Splice eye around shackle on anchor snubber to hold new hook
...