Thursday we got hauled out and are now proped up in the parking lot. Everything went smooth and it was nice to see the whole boat. I felt more connected with her as I walked around and felt the hull. April 13th is the day we bought Bright Eyes so it's almost been a year and I think we understand each other alot better now.

We had a great time on E dock, but all things must end. We went back and saw our empty slip and talked to our old neighbor Mark. Rick, who was on the end slip, sold his boat and just got it pulled also. Mark, who is in between us and Rick, was on the waiting list to get the end slip. He had been on the waiting list for 7 years so when we walked over there, Mark hadn't wasted anytime and was already in the end slip! It really is a great view worth the wait.



When we came home Thursday evening we found our boat near the bathrooms just as we had requested, how nice! We don't have a real ladder but luckily my wife is a genious and thought to drive her jeep under the stern. So we just climbed on the jeep and climbed up the stern ladder. We checked around and tiddied up. We noticed two lines had been left at the old slip so we will have to kayak over and get them this weekend. We also noticed that the water was off and our electic cable wouldnt fit the power block. The marina and the hardware store were already closed so no water or electicity tonight, we are camping on a boat!



We are only on land for the month of April so we can bottom paint.

In other news, we got the Garmin to work! Sort of. So after 3 days and 3 attempts to solder the transducer wire together, I finally did a semi decent job. But then when I hooked up the Garmin power wires to the control panel, it wouldnt come on, even with the transducer unplugged. I was furious because I had already tested that wire to make sure it would power the Garmin.

You see the Garmin power wire wasnt long enough to reach the control panel, so I had to splice on an extension wire. This was a simple job and I tested it and everything came on and worked fine, but now it wont come on. I checked to make sure there was voltage at the control panel, but for some reason it wasnt getting to the Garmin. I snipped the connector points off and redid them to get a better connection and eventually I got the Garmin to come on. But looking at the voltage reader on the control panel the needle was bouncing back and forth and when it would bounce down the Garmin would turn off. So i'm guessing the extension wire I added is acting up and I am going to resplice it. On the bright side, I got the voltage needle to stay powered long enough to check that the transducer was spliced properly and it was! I tossed the transducer in the water and the depth popped right up. That was the part I was most nervous about.

Here is the transducer solder splice that took a few tries.


So now I just need to resplice the Garmin power extension wire. Christine is patiently waiting on me because we have to run mine and her autopilot wires through the boat together.


O and our friends the 3 ducks are back again for another year of sun.


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