3 April 2013 - Wednesday – Dinner Key Mooring Field
It’s been a wild few days coming up the keys… ending (more or less) with two major events… One WILD Thunderstorm…which I’ve already written about…, but are still gathering ‘outcomes’; and the fact that after running the generator on Monday night until 2300 hours  Tuesday morning it wouldn’t start at all…. Big time bummer!!!

OK…the lightening storm first: We found out yesterday, that one of the boats that traveled just in front of us all the way up the keys from Marathon (s/v “Marianna”), was struck by lightning. It has to be surveyed, but, ostensibly, all the electrical equipment in the boat has been “fried”. Marianna is now on a mooring to our stern, here at Dinner Key. Everyone on board is fine. They said it “rained sparks, and metal” as the lightning literally vaporized the VHF antenna. We looked at that last evening on the way back from shore.

With respect to our Generator not starting on Tuesday morning… That was a shock…as it ran perfectly the night before… so the problem was most likely electrical in nature. But I checked the fuel first anyway… priming, and bleeding the fuel system from the lift pump to the injector pump…
The fact that there was no fuel venting at the high pressure side of the injector pump, when cranked, said that the fuel shutoff solenoid was NOT opening….
OK… electrical problem…. Either relays, or connectors… The voltmeter confirmed that 12 volts was not being provided to the shut-down solenoid. OK… out comes the wiring schematic…. Sure enough relays control that circuit… #3 in the series of 4 relays… I called a Northern Lights dealer here in Miami…and they sell a package of 4 relays ($8.14/each), and they’d put them on the counter for me….
Fortunately for us… the Davis’ had a rental car…(preparing for Earl’s trip to Hong Kong)…and they drove us the 12 miles (each way) out to the dealer… yeah !!!! So for that courtesy, Susan and I bought lunch/dinner at Scotties…. Double yeah!!! Dinner was followed by ‘happy hour’ on ‘Seeker’. So…needless to say… I waited until this morning (WED) to work on electrical stuff in the crowded engine room.

Anyway… this morning I installed the new Relays…. Opened the seacock (as a show of optimism), AND IT STARTED ON THE FIRST REVOLUTION…. Triple YEAH!!!
Just a note for those that believe in numerology or superstitions…. Guess what the hour meter read on the Generator control panel when it failed to start ????? 4666 (the ‘666’ part being the interesting part)… Susan noticed that…. ;)

This morning I furnished ‘taxi service’ for Kathy, Earl, and ‘george the cat’, and luggage… in the dinghy.
They’re now off to Hong Kong, and N.C. (obviously in different vehicles). ;)
OK…. WELL it’s time to get back to work… and maybe a movie this afternoon at Coconut Grove.