Friday the (shudder) 13th.
13 December 2019
• Stuart FL
by Michael and Barbara Turney • Wet
..... where is Jason?
Friday the 13th.........
Need I say more?......
Yesterday I didn't mention but it was a good test of the off grid power capability of Nelleke. When we got back to the boat after a day of being away, a rainy day with gusty winds and little sun we were still at 24.5V which basically means that the house bank was at 50% useful charge. Again I have to believe that when we have the freezer shut off we should be in Power Pig Heaven.
I'm looking at the weather forecast. It doesn't look too great. In the next week we might have one day of sunshine. O yea! As it is at noon we were getting perhaps 2A from a combination of the two panels even in the overcast skies and nothing from the wind generator.
Sigh!
Much engine running and generator operation in our future I fear.
Last night there was another boat that crept in under cover of darkness and anchored in the area between the mooring field and the shore. It's confusing as on some charts it is marked as an anchorage, and as the mooring field is full a boater has no choice but to anchor. I don't think the marina has a dingy dock policy for anchored boats so they have to go into an unsecured public dock at a park nearby. With it open to the public and with the number of vagrant types drifting about I would be worried about whether I was going to come back to an intact or in place dingy.
First thing in the morning I inquired of Dr Google, "How do I fix leaking valves on an inflatable?", and once again, the good doctor didn't disappoint. I found out that the valves can be cleaned out of grime and all I need is a Q-tip and soapy water. In the middle of the night I had arisen from my slumbers to pump out the dingy in readiness for my water taxi mission this morning. At that time the starboard and bow tubes were slightly deflated and I tried to clean out the valve by pushing on the deflate button to see if I could blow out whatever might be blocking the seal. This morning when I looked out at the dink all pontoons seemed as they should be. Fingers crossed! The air pump lives in the bottom of the dingy so it may have picked up some crap that I transferred to the valve the last time that I pumped up the pontoons. I will have to be more careful in future. There is still a small leak but nothing unmanageable.
Also, over the last week or so we have been able to work on the final steps in settling my brother's estate. Revenue Canada has been s--l--o--w to say the least in getting things done, and then they tried to contradict the accountants we had working on the final I dotting and T crossing and tell us that the estate still owed the government $10,0000! That didn't go over very well I can tell you, neither with us nor with the CAs who had done the work. A stiff letter from them along with a bright highlight on the original document that the CRA folks had conveniently overlooked and magically there are no more monies owed. Now all that is left is a statement of release and we can do the final stuff.
We heard a story at the marina about Haitian pirates hijacking three boats full of relief supplies on their way to the Abacos. I asked some friends who are already over there and they told me that they hadn't heard anything about Haitian pirates but that they have heard about government people "intercepting" supplies to be held for "more equitable distribution". The rumour has it that they then sell it through the Black Market. I can see some folks from the government claiming to be Haitians to cast the blame elsewhere. There is no love lost between Black Bahamians and Haitians. The Bahamians say the Haitians are taking their jobs and most employers say that although they are in the country illegally the Haitians will at least work hard. Sound familiar? I am not surprised to hear that story about the government. They aren't known for their integrity.
We came into the dock this morning after dropping Carl and Linda off. They sang the praises of the boat broker that they used and gave us his contact information. I have sent off an inquiry to see if he would be interested in listing Nelleke while we are underway. Hope so. Wouldn't it be great if this could all be done while we were down here?
We were going to walk to Bank America but as we were coming ashore the heavens opened and the rain poured down. So, we whipped out and took an Uber to the bank. We prefer to tip the drivers directly since I have a feeling that the company takes a share of the tips that you give electronically. We ended up at the bank 30 minutes early. We didn't get the credit card since we haven't built a credit file in the US and they can't access our Canadian credit score. Odd. We did find an old VISA Debit Card for on line purchases to we decided to try that to get on with Google Fi. It worked! Hurrah! Bank of America still got us going with a debit card which will be quite useful in places where the US dollar is paramount.
We are back to the marina, sipping a beer on the porch and girding my loins for the trip back into the mooring field. I am going to try to do the q-tip and soapy water trick to clean out whatever is causing the last of the air leak in the valves. I will let you know how that worked out tomorrow.
In case anyone is wondering, it is Barb who has the unnatural fascination with leeeezards. That's why we always have pictures on the blog of the day's reptile.
Comments