We're bushed.

Yesterday, our first full day at work, was not too bad. Mostly, we got the feel of what needed to be done and arranged things for that set of goals, but today was full tilt work.

My task-du-jour was to remove and replace a piece of electronics that I installed in 2001, just after we bought Wings. It is, or was until it failed last year, a device that allowed all charge to go to the habitually discharged house bank until a pre-set voltage was reached, then it placed all three banks in parallel for charging. The device, a Xantrex Pathmaker, performed flawlessly until it failed. I scabbed together a manual substitute and that got us through the season (including the big crossing to and from Rarotonga), but it wasn't the best method. After a year of searching, I found the Yandina C160. What a find! For three banks, I had to buy 2 of the things, but they're totally waterproof and guaranteed for life. In fact, the tech with whom I've corresponded said that the Pathmaker was a copy of their unit. Yandina is a small, family business and I love supporting such.

Installing the two C160s wasn't difficult but the position in which I had to lie was terrible and it ain't getting any easier! I got things working but wasn't able to find a crimper for AWG 8 wire so I had to scavenge a heavy cable purchased for another purpose that was not as important. At any rate, it works. That crimper for heavy cable terminals is somewhere aboard, but I did a fairly deep search with nothing to show for it. I fabricated all of the cables when I re-wired the boat those years ago, and there was lots of banging on that crimper for connecting 2/0 cable terminals!

We installed the solar panels and I got them connected to the solar controller that I installed last year so we're cooking with solar. Conni got ten times more done that I did today, cleaning everything below deck, polishing all of the stainless steel in the cockpit, and installing (single-handedly) the dodger and bimini. When she's on a roll, get out of her way!

Engine news: Balloré, a French shipping company and the third-largest in the world, handled our engine shipping. The engine is, we are told, in storage in Papeete. We owe money for their final importation into the country, about US$600, but in a country without credit cards, payments like this are difficult. We could have called with a card and sprung our engine, but not here. We had to get local cash from a bank, walk to another bank, and transfer the funds. Yikes! How long will it take to travel 120 miles, from Raiatea to Tahiti? "Oh, 2-3 days.", and there's a holiday on Monday. We don't need the engine any sooner but holy smokes, that's a while! Luckily, we were able to use our old "burner phone" with a new SIM card in it. It makes communicating much simpler since the lady at Balloré would not respond to email. Our understanding is that at some point next week, the engine will be released and transported to our mechanic's storage facility. Adrian Pataki, our mechanic, promised to take a photo when it arrived and send it. This 3-day holiday, he's taking out his own small sailboat. I like a guy who uses the stuff that he does.

The temperatures are much nicer this late in the year and we're convinced that we'll not return to FP any earlier than June. It's cooler, there's less rain, and it's much more livable for us. With Conni's retirement, we can simply push our season a bit later, making use of the better weather. I did overheat even today, though, so caution is always the watchword.

We arrived here in 2013, so we get into the swing of things pretty quickly. We have a place to stay and a vehicle. We know where to shop for what's available, and we know what we might be able to buy. For example, we're replacing the propane system AGAIN, and, unbelievably, it's wrong AGAIN. Jeez, how hard is it to copy a system that I provided? Evidently, it's impossible. The point here is that there's only place in town where I might be able to buy SAE fittings for the system, and it's a Chinese hardware store called Silloux (pronounced C-U). They weren't open today when we got there, it's being Saturday, but if there's a chance to find the fitting, it'll be there. That's from 6 years here, looking in every store for parts.

More work tomorrow.