.... so I am taking the opportunity to get the fussy electronic stuff done on deck. I am still waiting with lots of fidgets for the welder to show up. He told me this morning that he would be here at 0900 and here it is 1100 and still a no show. I understand that my little job is just that - a little job when compared to the six figure jobs that he does for the food processors and wineries, but I really wish that he would at least call to let me know that he is going to be later. I suppose he keeps saying to himself that he will be out the door in a few minutes, out the door in a few minutes and the next thing that you know it has been a few hours. Oh well. I'm retired. I am supposed to be relaxed about these things. It's just that we want to be away......

(Late minute note: Derek came around to the boat with the davit reinforcements and boy oh boy did he do a great job. Now the onus is on me to get them installed.)

I am putting the cockpit table up attached to the binnacle and that is proving to be more of a challenge that I anticipated. Not because of anything technical, but simply because the fibreglass formatting the binnacle is heavier that I had expected and the bolts that I bought are exactly ½" too short. Coises! Back to the store to spend more money. That is one of the jobs that has been done. Praise be!

I am wiring up the new radar and since it connects to the GPS Chartplotter it is even more important that it be done right. But, guess what? Although I have every butt connector known to man except one. Guess which one. That's right, the ring connector of exactly the size required. Another trip to the store. To top it off today is laundry day and Barb is off with the car. Shriek! Sigh! Oh well. I am not stuck with doing the laundry and it won't be too long a wait before she is back.

Aw crap!!! That was Bluenose-eese so if you didn't understand it reflects my frustration. As I hooked up the new radar I did a Turney dumb. I made the assumption that since the device and its documentation said that it could function from 10-40VDC that if one part of the device was 12 V and the other was 24 it would be OK. Nowhere in the documentation did it say otherwise. So, of course, I blew out the 24-12 VDC Converter. $130 later we were back in business and I'll reconnect all aspects of the radar to one voltage or another and since the whole mess has to talk to NMEA which is at 12V I guess that has selected the voltage. Generally I think I am a pretty smart chap, but every once in a while I do something that confirms that, like Barb said the other day, "Male self improvement ends with toilet training."
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