Day 19 - Thu 16 Jun 2016
Docked - Brewerton, NY

[photo: This is the marina party held on Fri evening]

When we awoke today, it seemed like a good day to have a hearty breakfast, so I made home fries and veggie omelets. While Diane cleaned up, I walked over to the flotilla leader's boat, Heron, and talked to Dick about the battery swap. He wanted to leave the marina with our old batteries (for the core trade-in) by 0800.

That meant shutting off all the devices being powered by the batteries until the new ones were fully installed. The only thing that would be critical was the refrigerator, but without the 12V pumps, you can't get water from the taps, nor flush the toilet. It was a bit of a job getting the old ones out, but we left on time for the hour's drive to the battery shop. Along the way, I got to learn a lot more about the history of the PDQ company, the maker of our boat, and it was very interesting.

We got back about 1045 and I started the installation process; everything was working fine in about a half-hour and the refrigerator has defrosted itself in that time, so things were good. The afternoon was somewhat relaxing, with Diane electing to sit in her bathing suit on the foredeck in her folding chair. Most passers-by thought she had the right idea. The reason I said 'somewhat' relaxing is that the yard employees were receiving another 4 boats, several of which were close to 60 feet long, and they needed us to move half of our PDQs around to make room. For us, we just had to pull the boat about 50 feet forward by hand, and move the shore power cord and water hose. Others had to start up everything and drive the boat to a new spot. As of late afternoon, we had another boat (yet to be named) rafted alongside us on the outside, since we will be leaving later than the flotilla on Sat morning.

For supper, we asked Dick's wife, Carol, to pick us up a flank steak while she was out shopping. Delays occurred, but we got the meat about 1730 while I was already up at the grill and picnic tables enjoying another simple cocktail gathering. Diane brought up the steak and I grilled it and some potato slices I had pre-cooked somewhat in the microwave. It is probably the first time we have had a flank steak without marinating it first, but it actually was very tender and delicious. For the price per pound they charged, it certainly should have been. Diane made a wonderful tomato, mozzarella and fresh basil salad as an accompaniment.

As of suppertime, we had 9 PDQs at the marina: Golden, Vagabond, Heron, Traveler, Moxie, Next Adventure, Diva Di, unnamed boat formerly Improv, and Cat Daddy. Getting to remember everyone's names and know everyone a bit took some time. The rest of the evening was spent enjoying the delightful weather outside. By sunset near 2100, it was time for bed.