Even though it seems that we hang out on sandy beaches, beach bars and generally just getting to see the sights, there are days that we need to spend maintaining our floating home. Besides the general every day work of keeping things clean and tidy, we have to do maintenance. The generator is our biggest issue at this time and Paul is trying to baby it along till we get back to Trinidad. It now runs for about 2-3 hours at a time so that is usually sufficient to get the laundry done and water made. It wouldn’t be such a big issue if our brand new wind generator didn’t blow up and nearly catch fire. At least it is covered with a warranty so hopefully the manufacturer will cooperate with replacement parts. We are also having to spend some time to find all the burnt wiring to see what other damage it may of done. We also have brand new VHF that is having issues. After a call to the manufacturer back in the states, the best answer we got was to send it to them so they can do the software fix. So we live with it till we get back to Trinidad. Sending it is easy; getting it back is a problem. The engine needs oil changes and occasional TLC. Things like sucking up straws into the intake takes yet another half day while we try to get hoses off that haven’t been off since Adam was a boy and then replace with new ones. We had to take the wind generator down to put in new wiring. This entailed building a scaffold of sorts on the back davits, as it was heavy. We also had to wait for a day with less wind (that took a few weeks). There are numerous small issues that arise with having a boat in the elements and, as they do, we tend to them. Then if there is nothing else to do, there is always plenty of stainless steel to polish. Whoever said stainless doesn’t rust, never had a boat. But it makes the reward of trying out different rhum punch recipes in the evening all worthwhile.