Today was clean, stow or throw day. We've been here for over three months and we've gotten a bit lax with things we bring on board. Lots needed to be stowed but we needed to find a place to put it. Boards were lifted and drawers were openned and space became available as some things were disposed of. If we couldn't remember what it was for or what it went to was long since gone, well, it was gone too. Cat food, milk(skim of course), snacks and cereal along with cans of food, all found new homes and other things found their way to the trash cans on the dock. We've stowed so many things that some things we had no idea what we kept them for. Vacuums appeared as did brooms. Dishes were washed along with pans that were out yesterday to catch the rain that made it's way inside poor Zephyr. Tracy went hunting a leak that we now have in the back of the galley. She unscrewed the wall paneling to get down to the fiberglass bulkhead. We found the leak(old repair done by someone else) when we saw a wooded plug shoved into the ceiling behind the wall. It was meant to fill the hole but water will always find it's way through just about any thing. We traced it to a storage cubby in the cockpit that looks perfectly sealed but we know it's not. Now we have to wait for it to dry out for a few days and then we will head in with layers of fiberglass and epoxy and seal it all over again. Bad thing is that it only leaks when the rain comes out of a specific direction and gets in the cubby. It doesn't always leak but boy when it does, it pours out of the cabinets and onto the top of the frig.
I installed two new smoke detectors today. One inside the engine room and one just outside it. Now we have a fire suppression system in the engine room(Halon gas) but it's not set up to give us any kind of warning if we are out in the cockpit. Now, if there is smoke, we will know there is a problem. When we were traveling back from Alaska a few years ago, I noticed that the alternator out put had dropped to zero. When I went below to check it out, I found the engine room full of smoke. No fire but lots of smoke. We ended up getting it rebuilt in Ketchikan before we headed south again. We had one in the hall way to the stern cabin but everytime it went off, it scared the cats. Well, it finally died and it went out in the trash today too. Now, at least we are a bit better prepared.
Tracy took the sewing machine and fixed the sides of our generator cover by attaching Velcro to one of the seams so it will fit better and gives us a better place for the chain and pad lock we have on it. We don't want it to go missing in any anchorage we stop at, especially since it's running so well now.
I started up the Mercury out board again today. Paranoia is my friend but she ran just fine.
We didn't get it all done today but will continue tomorrow. We look better but have a ways to go.