I’m A Happy Camper
(Freddi)

At long last—what I always thought was a 3-day project turned into a 3-week one—we now can make our own water!! In the process of putting together the modular parts of the system that we had “inherited,” Scott re-engineered the install several times (doubling the output, recalibrating the monitoring circuit, relocating things multiple times, improving access to filters, etc), each time requiring new or different parts NOT in the onboard inventory to accomplish the goal. How can Scott have so many parts but not the one he needs??? Oh well; the hardware store is next door to the raw bar and in fairness it IS a very nice installation and he does take pride in his work and wanted it to look good as well as run well. So, finally, on March 10, we made potable water, and now we have filled an entire tank.
We dedicated one of our tanks to the water-maker, just in case there was ever a problem. Of course we wanted to be very clever and figure out a way to transfer from the water-maker tank to either of the other tanks; that project only took an hour! Since we’ve been making water, I’ve been able to catch up on laundry –clean towels and sheets always a treat. Now if we could only figure out how to get hot water on demand … and not waste water waiting for it to get hot. Our current system is a 20L jerry can in the shower that we fill and dump back into the thank… Scott promises to install a bypass system “real soon now.”
While working on THE project, we’ve been visiting with other boats in the anchorage, and have come to enjoy our new friends Mark and Sue Owen on MACUSHLA OF SHANNON who happen to know Rob and Sara Bell on SERAFINA (it’s a small world after all). We have also met some other SSCA members, CHARM from Lancaster, VA and Stephen on BENTANA.
The weather has not been cooperative for an outside run but we have no “schedule” so we’ll just wait for a weather window to head to Key West and on to Naples via the Hawk Channel. We have a couple of maintenance issues that require going up both masts (replacing bulbs with LED models, checking on the wind instruments, etc) but we need a little less wind before we can undertake those. Meanwhile, we work on little projects, like getting the autopilot functioning (done, we think), recapturing space taken up by the water-maker (in progress), and re-stowing the boat for a passage; never a dull moment.
Lately, in the evenings, when we collapse, we are able to watch a really well-done BBC series called House of Cards starring the late (Sir) Ian Richardson as a combo villain Iago/Richard III/Macbeth complete with many Shakespearean references and his character is named Francis Urquhart (FU for short). It’s from the 1990’s but well worth a look-see if you haven’t ever seen it.