March 16, 2023 - Thursday

 March 16, 2023: Chirping in the night.

I was making coffee and preparing breakfast when there was a knock on the hull. It was Richard seeing if I could lend a hand to one of the cruisers on our pier. Shannon is in the first slip on our pier. She wanted to turn her boat around so she could work on the other side from the dock. Mornings are best for this type of maneuver- there is usually no wind. Using dock lines and brute force, we pushed her out and swung her around. Piece of cake, but it is always a little tense when pushing a 12 ton boat around in a crowded marina...


After breakfast, I started working on the deck prism. This is a large prism mounted flush on the deck. It brings a surprising amount of light into the cabin. It leaked last year, so was on my repair list. Getting it out was fairly easy. I then cleaned off the old caulk and inspected the brass frame. The frame was bent, so I'll have to see if someone has a vice I can use to straighten it out.


The daily ritual of cleaning continues. Though time-consuming, it is really nice to get the boat thoroughly cleaned out. There are some places that probably haven't been touched for decades!


I finished draining the water tank and unscrewed the flange. I'll open the access port tomorrow to finish removing it and to get the rest of the water out. The repair will go quickly once I locate my spare flange...


I was startled awake last night by my smoke alarm. Apparently the battery was failing, so it started chirping at me. In the close quarters of a boat, it gets your attention. I looked at my watch. 3:00 a.m. Always the middle of the night when the battery is cold... I grabbed my spare battery - corroded! Such is life and electronics on a boat...


The forecast calls for cooler weather the next week. Looking forward to that!

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