Day 354, Year 6: Back to Windbird’s Electrical Problems
Date: Thursday, October 13, 2011
Weather: Drizzle Off and On, Temp Hovering Around 70
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Where does the time go? Somehow we seem to fill every moment, but this morning Mark finally had time to get back to checking out our electrical system. Our inverter/charger is still not charging, so we run the engine twice a day to keep things going. We’ve checked out all of the suggestions sent to us by Dave Laux in Delaware and still have not come up with anything. Mark has been contemplating buying a new unit, but it is very expensive. The old unit cannot be repaired because Xantrax no longer makes parts for it. But today on the phone, they suggested yet another fuse inside the unit that could be the culprit. Mark will have to wait until Saturday to check this out as he works tomorrow. If the fuse is not the problem, then springing for a new unit is our only alternative. Another boat project today was trying to see if there is somewhere other than Kingman Marine here on the Cape where we could spend the winter. As I mentioned in yesterday’s log, Kingman is not being very flexible and we feel their price for covering the boat is out of the ballpark. We did find out today that we could stay at Brewer’s Fiddler’s Cove Marina and they would allow us to use our own contractor for building the winter cover. We feel much more comfortable with this arrangement, plus it is much cheaper, but we have already paid Kingman and have no idea if we can get our deposit back. Mark went there today to talk to the manager, but she was out. He waited an hour, but she didn’t return. And he couldn’t get through to her by phone later in the afternoon. So we’ll have to continue that search on Monday.
I have to share a grandkid story. Jonah is being very “two” these days and has been telling me all week that he’s a big boy and can do things by himself. Heather shared today that part of the insistence on being a big boy comes from the fact that Jonah has been practicing saying his full name, Jonah Biggs Goldstone. He says it as Jonah Big Goldstone. So, indeed, he is BIG(gs) boy!
This evening we had dinner at Heather and Jed’s before heading back to Eel Pond. When we got here, a fog had settled over the pond and the water was almost glassy. It was really beautiful. We have come to love life here in our little pond. This week Bob Morris returned to the pond with Apogee. He came over to talk to Mark yesterday while I was putting the boys down for naps. Bob had sailed the boat across Buzzard’s Bay to get the bottom painted and some boat work done to get ready for his trip to the Caribbean in a couple of weeks. He invited Mark to sail south with him to St. Martin’s, and Mark would love to do it, but he wouldn’t be back here in time to help me get Windbird moved to her winter location. Bob has made us feel very welcome here and we will look forward to seeing him here again next summer. Tomorrow evening we are getting together with a young couple on the boat moored next to ours. We have met Simon and he is interested in talking about our sail around the world. Steve and Irene on Star, the biggest sailboat in the pond, are preparing to return to their winter home in Nevis in the Caribbean. They will be leaving next week. Somehow we have not found time to get together, but they will be back next summer and we’ll make it a priority. Slowly we are meeting other sailors here and beginning to feel like a part of the local scene. Next year we’ll be old timers around here.