Projects, con't

Sunday Morning, 7am

We have been staying with our friend Janet while I have the bed torn apart - Thanks Janet!  Friday and Saturday, I built and installed the battery box for the two Trojan 105 batteries.  The box had to be reinforced with fiberglass roving to ensure it wouldn't come apart in rough seas, and the platform it is installed on definately had to be reinforced, as it is sitting on the side of the hull.  So the shelf brace was reinforced with a three stainless "L's" and glassed to the hull so it won't slide either.  Then it was bolted into place.  The support for the new SSB Automatic Tuner went in just above the battery box also and is well supported.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner with our friends Ralph and Rhonda Hull and Shirley and Dan Jones at their house.  Wonderful company, incredible food!!  You guys amaze me every day!!

Then back over to Janet's house to meet up with Janet and Scott and Lee Carpenter and his lady friend.

Over the past week, I ordered new LED lights for the overhead cabin lights.  I got those installed this morning and I am very impressed as to 1) how bright they are, 2) how little amperage they draw (.5 amps vs 3-4 amps), 3) how cool they are to the touch.  As I was removing the existing halogen light bulbs, I burned my fingers and swore never to use them again if at all possible.  They are bright, hot, and very expensive when it comes to calculating amp draw.  Good Riddance to bad Rubbish as far as I am concerned.

Haven't run the generator or engine for a while.  Had the prop and hull cleaned earlier this past week by Bob Saunders (he always does a great job for us), so this morning when I got up and moving over here, I ran both the engine and generator for an hour.  Noticed the tach is a little off, so I have to ask my friend Bill Hudson about that.

Warren Gloss (Iron Maiden Fame) stopped by yesterday also to look at the engine.  He gave me some hints on how to pull the plugs so I can install the overheat alarm, and I guess that will be my big project for today.  That and installing the components for the SSB.  Then Monday I have go get or order all of the cables for it.

All in all, looking like Thursday is a go.  Weather will be the determining factor.  If the weather holds up, the temp will drop into the 40's or slightly lower (man that sounds cold), but the weather front should pass over us by the end of the morning.  We are keeping an eagle eye on the tides.  It has been down quite a bit.  We may need to move to another area of the marina if we have a chance of leaving on Thursday.  The water tends to drain out of here precipitously when a Norther comes through.

Renne' is starting to feel better.  She slept well last night, so hopefully she will be on the mend and rested by departure.

I thought I would list the companies I work with for each post:

www.LEDwholsalers.com - excellent customer service, broad selection of LED's to choose from - very reasonably priced!

Superiordiveservices@comcast.net - Bob and Amanda Saunders - They have been friends of our for years.  Bob is an excellent diver, reasonably priced, reliable service.  Gets the job done.

Kemah Hardware, Hwy 146, Kemah, TX - Toni is the Mayor of League City, great customer service, they know what they are talking about, great prices on marine grade stainless steel, pipe fittings, West Systems supplies, etc.  We go there before anywhere else.

Continental Battery, 600 N. Shepard, Houston - Trojan T-145 and T-105 6-Volt Batteries.

Thanks for stopping by.

Jon and Renne'