[Most recent entry is at end.]
[Previous log file is http://www.geocities.com/bill_dietrich/Magnolia/MagnoliaLogLate2002.txt ]


11/23/2002 (Saturday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Found my keys; location suddenly came to me
in the middle of the night.
Fairly cool, windy morning.
Big bowl of hot oatmeal for breakfast.
Saw that Doug and Nancy on "Presque Isle"
are still here.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Straightened up a bit.

Dinghied ashore.  Bought a bicycle for $30.
Paid $54 for a month of dinghy dockage.
Nice conversation with Duane at marina.
Picked up 6 or 8 weeks worth of mail.
To library to buy plane tickets for Christmas,
research solar panels and controllers, read
newspapers, etc.

Outboard wouldn't start to get me back to the
boat; I could have paddled, but a nice couple
gave me a tow.  Spaghetti for dinner.
I'm starting to suspect the primer part of
the outboard carburetor; will mess with it.

Ran engine for 1 hour to charge batteries.

11/24/2002 (Sunday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Fuel level 11.75 inches at engine hour 2514.3
Tested battery cells with a hygrometer, and
they all look good, so the uneven-use problem
must be a wiring issue.
Sponged water out of engine compartment,
rudder bilge, water tank bilge.
Heard lots of big powerboats going by in the ocean
(a couple of miles away); these must be for the
Key West powerboat races; they congregated at
Jewfish Creek on Friday, and they must be moving
down today.

Tried to start the outboard, and failed.  So
paddled to shore, against fairly stiff wind.
Got halfway there when someone offered me a
tow, gratefully accepted.  Talked to some
people, went to Home Depot, did grocery shopping.
Bought bike lock ($12), caulk ($11), starting
fluid ($2).

Paddled back to boat.
Salad and grilled pork chops for dinner.
Ran engine for an hour to charge batteries.

11/25/2002 (Monday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Took carburetor off the outboard, looked at
the priming part of it, didn't see a problem.
Still won't start.
Took battery cable out of electrical panel.

Paddled to shore, against fairly stiff wind.
Talked to an electrical shop about solar panels,
but they only want to sell their favorite brands.
Sent genset fuel injectors out to be worked on.
Had new connector crimped onto battery cable ($2).
Mail-ordered two Kyocera 120-watt solar panels ($918)
and a Morningstar solar controller ($129) plus
shipping ($38).  Did library.

Paddled back to boat.
Saw a primo anchoring spot, right next to the
city marina, suddenly was vacant.  Decided to
move there if it's still open when I'm ready.
Reinstalled battery cable.
Looked again, and someone was putting a mooring
in the anchoring spot.  If they don't put a boat
on it tomorrow, I may go talk to them about it.

Salad and finger-food for dinner.
Ran engine for an hour to charge batteries.

11/26/2002 (Tuesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Didn't have the heart to work on the outboard
again; pretty discouraged about it.
Recaulked double-chainplates from main shrouds;
think they've been causing deck leaks.
Took one original and one replacement set-screw
out of engine mounts; need to find better
replacement.  Messed with engine plate where a
tachometer adapter would go.  Took apart bilge
pump hose to confirm size of vented loop needed.

Paddled ashore against fairly stiff wind.
Looked around town for solar wiring parts and
bilge pump hose parts.  Bought more time
at internet cafe ($10).  Did library.
Ordered tachometer adapter for engine ($96!).
Paid $26 for fuel injector work done in VA.

Spaghetti for dinner.
Ran engine for an hour to charge batteries.

11/27/2002 (Wednesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Loafed all morning.  Got a dinghy-tow to shore.
Bought parts to make a bilge pump hose vent ($5)
and parts for rain-catching gutters ($4).
Checked up on genset fuel injectors, which are
being worked on at a place in Miami, I think.
Did library.  Nice conversations at marina.
Paddled back to boat.  Grilled sausage sandwiches
and cheese-and-crackers for dinner.
Glued parts for bilge pump hose vent.
Ran engine for an hour to charge batteries.

11/28/2002 (Thursday, Thanksgiving)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Glued parts for bilge pump hose vent.
Painted dowels for rain-catching gutters.
Took carburetor off outboard, opened up fuel-pump
portion, sprayed cleaner.  Put back together.
Looked at the gasoline, and it looks bad (clumpy).
Decided to replace it.

Paddled 2/3 of the way to shore and got a tow.
Dumped dinghy gasoline into car gas tank.
Hung around marina for a while, then gave
Ken a lift to the supermarket.  In the
confusion, sort of forgot to get more
dinghy gas at the gas station.
Paddled back to boat.

Salad and grilled chicken for dinner.
Ran engine for an hour to charge batteries.

11/29/2002 (Friday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Blew 20+ most of the night.
Loafed all morning.
Installed vent into 2nd bilge pump hose.
Decided it was too windy to paddle ashore today;
besides, the library is closed.
Read a book most of the afternoon.

Salad and eggsalad sandwiches and saffron rice
for dinner.
Ran engine for 1.5 hours to charge batteries.
Tested new bilge pump hose vent; seems to work.

11/30/2002 (Saturday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Realized that bilge pump through-hulls are
above the waterline right now, so I can't really
tell if the new vent is working.
Started making some rain-catching gutters
on the top edge of the pilothouse.

Paddled ashore with bicycle, no solar panels yet,
did library, talked to some people,
got fresh gasoline for dinghy ($4).  Outboard
still doesn't run, but I'm not sure the
gas is getting in properly.  Paddled back to boat.

Spaghetti for dinner.
Ran engine for an hour to charge batteries.
A couple of boats in the harbor have their
rigging outlined with Christmas lights; very nice.

12/1/2002 (Sunday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Beautiful calm warm sunny day.
More work on rain-catching gutters
on the top edge of the pilothouse.

Paddled ashore, hung around, bought new squeeze bulb
for dinghy fuel line ($7), got groceries.
Carnies are arriving in the marina again; there
was a big hassle when they arrived back in May
and made lots of noise all night long while
boat people were trying to sleep.  We'll see
what happens this time.
Paddled back to boat.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.
Ran engine for an hour to charge batteries.

12/2/2002 (Monday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Did a bucket of laundry
More work on rain-catching gutters.
Put new squeeze bulb on dinghy fuel line.
Outboard still won't start.

Paddled ashore, hung around, bought fuses ($2),
received tachometer adapter in the mail,
received huge CARE package from my sister in
Indianapolis (thanks, Jane !).
Paddled back to boat.

Chili for dinner.  Big slice of wonderful
homemade lemon pound cake for dessert (thanks, Jane !).
Ran engine for an hour to charge batteries.

12/3/2002 (Tuesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Loafed most of the morning; really need
to buckle down and do some work soon
(although I am doing a lot of good reading).
More work on rain-catching gutters.
Outboard still won't start.

Started to paddle ashore and got a tow.
Did library and grocery.  Still no solar
panels in my PO box.  Genset fuel injectors
might show up tomorrow.
Paddled back to boat.

Fruit and salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.
Big slice of wonderful homemade lemon pound cake
for dessert.
Ran engine for 1.5 hours to charge batteries.
Battery banks seem to be charging and discharging
pretty evenly now (with switch in "Both" position);
replacing that connector did the trick, I guess.

12/4/2002 (Wednesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
More paint on rain-catching gutters.
Did engine oil change at engine hour 2527.2;
about 9 quarts out and in.
Installed tachometer sender adapter during
the oil change; hot, sweaty work chipping
30-year-old gasket fragments off the engine.
But got it done with minimal oil spilled
and no leaks afterward.

Paddled ashore through stiff breeze, got my
rebuilt genset fuel injectors back ($263!).
With a lot of washers and stuff I didn't expect.
Received a CARE package of fruit from Mom.
Still no solar panels.  Did library.
Paddled back to boat.

Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches and
curried vegetable pilaf (from a box) and
fruit for dinner.
Ran engine for an hour to charge batteries.

12/5/2002 (Thursday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
More paint on rain-catching gutters.

Sat down with genset injectors and manuals,
and eventually figured out that:
- The diagrams in the manuals aren't quite right;
	a couple levels of washers are not shown.
- I left lots of washer-type things embedded
   in the head when I pulled out the injectors.
So I spent most of the morning getting the
old "washers" out.  Not easy; they've been baked
in for 30 years, and I had to pry them out without
damaging most of them.  Squirted lots of WD-40
and penetrating oil without effect.  Pounded on
them a bit to loosen them.  Finally figured
out a way to stick a bolt head-first down the injector
hole, snag the far side of the washer stack, and
lever the nut-end of the bolt to pry the
stack out.  Still took a lot of effort.
Lots of carbon in the cylinders, too; sprayed
a bunch of cleaner in there to loosen it.

Hot and humid afternoon; went up to 85 or so.
Paddled ashore, did some stores and library.
Called solar vendor to track my order, and
found that I've been bitten by inventory-less
retailing.  Even though I placed my order the
Monday before Thanksgiving, it didn't get
"into the system" at the real vendors until
Wednesday, and so it didn't get processed until
probably the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Someone told me the city is considering a proposal
for a huge upgrade of the city marina.  Replacing
much of the existing building, adding a
lighthouse museum, dockage for ferries, all
kinds of stuff.  Sounds bizarre.  The place is
losing money, and the only thing which could
make it profitable is adding a LOT more slips.

Very hot in the boat, from the hot afternoon.
Spaghetti for dinner, homemade pound cake for dessert.
Ran engine for an hour to charge batteries.
Took lots of tapping on the solenoid before it
would turn over.

12/6/2002 (Friday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
After spraying more engine-cleaner into the
cylinders, and cleaning out as much as I could,
installed the new washers and then the
rebuilt injectors into the genset.  Its starting
battery was dead as a doornail, so jumpered
a bank of house batteries to it, and got genset
started on 2nd or 3rd try.  Ran okay for 30 minutes
or so, hiccuped once or twice, ran okay for
another 10 minutes, then suddenly started
doing the same thing as before: running
unevenly or misfiring.  Quickly got so bad
that it shut itself down.  Bummer.

So, where does that leave me ?  I'm sure the
injectors needed rebuilding, and I'm sure the
thermostat needs replacing so the genset can come
up to proper temp and burn out the carbon.
But what is causing the misfiring ?  I'll have
to look at fuel filters again.  And I'll have to
pull the injectors to make sure they didn't carbon
right up again (in 30 minutes ?)  Someone suggested
scored piston rings or cylinder walls, but it
changes so suddenly from running fine to misfiring,
that I doubt that cause.

Put more paint on rain-catching gutters.
Hot and humid afternoon; went up to 85 or so.
Paddled ashore, did library.
Called solar vendor again, and the panels should
arrive about the 12th, and they're not sure when
the controller shipped.  Gave them a piece of my mind.

Salad and finger-food for dinner, scrumptious
homemade brownies for dessert (thanks, Jane!).
Ran engine for 1.5 hours to charge batteries.

12/7/2002 (Saturday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Grey, cool morning.  Loafed most of the
morning, finishing a cheap novel, avoiding
working on the genset or the outboard.
Finally looked at the genset a little,
realized I didn't have a spare fuel filter for
it, and didn't want to try to dig down to
the thermostat either, which might disable it
for weeks if something went wrong.

Got a tow to shore and bought engine oil ($34),
fuel filters ($22), carb cleaner ($2).
Did library.  Helped someone carry a
Christmas tree into the marina building.
Paddled back to boat.

Grilled chicken for dinner.  Fruit and
homemade brownies for dessert.
Ran engine for 1.5 hours to charge batteries.

12/8/2002 (Sunday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Very wet day; poured rain from 8 to 9 and
then again at 10:30.  Loafed most of the
morning.  Worked on the genset fuel filters:
figured out that the strainer probably is
installed wrong, and replaced the 1st canister
filter.  Didn't see anything else wrong with
the filters; no obvious gunk or anything.
Will try starting genset tomorrow; a little
too much diesel spilled and batteries a little
low to do it today.
Gave myself a haircut.

Saffron rice and baked beans and homemade brownies
for dinner.
Ran engine for an hour to charge batteries.

12/9/2002 (Monday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Another very wet day, and fairly windy too.
Seems to be a deck leak at starboard aft corner
of the pilothouse; maybe leaks into locker,
which then leaks into aft head near AC outlet.
Many ports leaking; really need to rebed the
frames soon.

Started genset (pretty easily; I was afraid there
might be air in the fuel lines, but I guess I bled
most of it out).  Ran a little roughly for a minute
or two, settled down for a couple of minutes, then
ran very badly as soon as I put the slightest load
on it.  Maybe that was a coincidence ?  Didn't
settle down when I took the load off; I stopped
it a minute or two later.
Took crankcase breather tube off; looks fairly
tired and collapsed a bit, so I'll replace it.

Weather calmed down a bit in the afternoon,
and rain stopped, so I paddled ashore, getting
a tow half the way.  Did library.  Went to genset
service place and bought fuel pump repair kit ($29),
ordered spare impeller.  Got some free advice:
make sure stop solenoid is all the way up,
test pressure from fuel pump.  Did internet,
went to a couple of stores looking for
breather hose replacement, got groceries.
Bought caulk for ports ($15).

Talked to Doug from "Presque Isle"; a few days
ago he said something about water in his engine.
They had been planning to start their cruise
about now, after 12 months in this harbor.
Today he said the engine is out
of the boat and being worked on.  Water jacket
in the exhaust split open and water ran into
3 cylinders.  First thing he knew about it was
when the engine wouldn't start; it wouldn't
turn over at all.  Feel very bad for them.

Salad and hot chili for dinner, brownies for dessert.
Ran engine for 1.5 hours to charge batteries.

12/10/2002 (Tuesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Blew pretty hard all day.
Had a bit of a headache in the morning.
Recaulked the lower joints of the starboard
side of the pilothouse, where there's a deck leak.
Patched some gelcoat chips, but forgot to cover
them up with plastic wrap to let them vacuum-cure.

Took genset fuel lift pump off.  Hit a snag while
disassembling it: the manual says "drive pin out",
but on my pump the pin is held in by a screw with
a tiny allen-socket in the head.  By the time I
realized that, I had whacked it a few times to
drive it out, and mashed the allen-socket enough
to ruin it.  So I had to hand-drill the screw-head
out, which took a while.

Then, when I got the pin out, it turned out to be
holding just about everything together, under
high pressure.  Nothing went flying, but when four
things came springing out in two different directions,
I thought "oh, $^&%&#, that's going to be a pain
to get back together".  Sure enough, it took about
an hour to get back together.  Had to compress a
strong spring with pump pliers, hold it there,
poke a part into a hole and snag it over something
sticking down from elsewhere, then insert another
part and stick the pin through the two parts,
while keeping the first part snagged on the
the thing hanging down.  Hands were getting tired
and I came close to giving up, but finally got it
done.

Took a shower, then realized I shouldn't let the
new pump diaphragm dry out overnight, so went into
the engine compartment and reinstalled the pump,
coming out several times to check on dinner as
it cooked.  Sweaty and diesel all over my hands.
But got it done.  Wonder if connection from fuel
hose to fuel lift pump is letting air in; probably
should take pump off again and add thread tape to
the joint.

Leftover chili, over noodles, and salad for dinner.
Homemade cookies for dessert (thanks, Jane !).
Ran engine for 1.5 hours to charge batteries.
Blew and rained very hard about 6 PM, then was
very still starting about 10 and all through the night.

12/11/2002 (Wednesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Put breather tube back on genset and started it.
Ran briefly and then wouldn't restart.  I see
fuel at edge of pump diaphragm; must be leaking,
and I probably didn't bleed and prime the
system well enough.
Will have to take pump off and try again.
Stop solenoid looks okay to me.

Drained coolant from filler tank; it looks ugly.
Probably should drain rest out of the block too.
Removed filler tank (difficult) and thermostat.
To my surprise the filler tank is very heavy metal;
I guess it's supposed to be a big heat-sink.

Paddled ashore, nice conversation with guy
from Island Packet 35 who just did Great Circle route.
Bought genset breather hose ($19!),
genset thermostat gasket ($2), hose clamps ($3).
Ordered new thermostat.  Solar controller finally
arrived !  Did library.  Bought a Lotto ticket;
the jackpot is $78 million.

Spaghetti for dinner, homemade cookies for dessert.
Ran engine for 1.5 hours to charge batteries.

12/12/2002 (Thursday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Mounted solar controller inside engine compartment
and measured for wiring.

Paddled ashore and had 6-gauge cables made to connect
solar controller to batteries ($38).  Most
expensive part was a fuse-holder ($15) with 8-gauge
wiring, the only one I could find in town with
wire that heavy.  Did library; I didn't win the
lottery, but no one else did either; next jackpot
will be $100 million.  Ordered new "finishing rings" for
ports, so I can rebed them to stop leaks (4 for $61);
I'm sure the old rings will crack into chunks
when I try to remove them.
Solar panels have arrived !  One big 65-pound box,
and it took effort to get it into the car,
into the dinghy, and then up into the boat.
Things are so big that they don't even fit in
the cockpit very well.

Saw Doug's engine in the marina workshop, and it's
gutted.  Apparently they still can't get the head off,
and the pistons are seized.  Someone suggested
they hadn't run the engine for a couple of months,
and it was sitting with water in the cylinders;
I find that hard to believe.  They manhandled the
engine out of the boat at anchor (after removing
everything they could) and brought it ashore !
I think it's a Perkins 4-108.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.
Ran engine for 1.5 hours to charge batteries.

12/13/2002 (Friday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Started to do solar controller wiring and found
that one wire had a smaller terminal than I
asked for, and also the fuse-holder is for
a non-standard size (they told me the wrong thing
about that too).  Opened solar panel box and
checked out the wiring plan for them.  Things
are so big and heavy and awkward that I managed
to nick the back of one of the panels with the
corner of the other; hope I didn't ruin a $460 panel.
Pretty impressive pieces of technology.

Up onto pilothouse roof and laid out where the
panels will be mounted.  The roof is barely long
enough for them, since I want to leave a big gap
between them in case they get tilted up; don't
want one to shade the other.  Glassing down wood
blocks to mount them, and trying to get them
level, is going to be a chore.
Jack stopped by and came aboard; I showed him the
panels and the boat and we had a nice chat.

Paddled ashore, had cable fixed, got proper fuse ($3),
found they didn't have enough wire to make
the next set of cables I need.  Made yet another
attempt to get the hinges I want (stainless,
removable pin), and finally gave up and bought
22 zinc-plated hinges ($7) and ground the cap off
one end of each hinge pin.  Bought bolts ($4).

Bought another lottery ticket; $100 million
jackpot this time.  Did library; got started
on my Christmas shopping.  When I came out
it was blowing hard, with evil black clouds going
over.  Waited until it cleared up a little,
still blowing, and started paddling out to the
boat.  Hard work, started raining just as I got
going, and stopped raining just after I finished.

Connected the solar controller to the batteries,
and all okay so far (LEDs blink properly).

Cheese-and-crackers and salad and thai onion
soup and fruit for dinner.
Ran engine for 1.5 hours to charge batteries.

12/14/2002 (Saturday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Removed genset battery, cleaned up under it,
put in some rubber matting to dampen vibrations.
Went to check the paint I'll need for the
solar panel mounts, and didn't hear any sloshing
when I shook the can.  Lid was on so tightly that
I had to ruin it to get it off.  Found good paint
under a very thick "skin", and had to pour it
all into an old milk jug to store it.

Gathered up wood and tools and hinges and
paddled ashore.  Pretty exhausting against 12-15
wind; was grateful to get a tow even if it was
only for the last 100 feet.
Spent a while in the marina workshop sawing
2x4's into 3-inch chunks with my jigsaw; pretty
tough work for the saw.
Then took the hinges apart.  I'm short a couple
of hinges; the 3 different-brand ones I bought
turn out to have dimples that prevent removing
the pins.  Bought a box of nails ($1) to serve
as replacement hinge-pins for a while.
Did library.

Back to boat, and started painting all 22 of the
2x4 blocks.  Sun went down halfway through,
so I finished painting in the dark.  Wanted to
get first coat done today, so I can put another
on tomorrow.  Itching to get the panels working.

Salad and hotdogs and fruit for dinner.
Main propane tank may have just gone
empty; will try it again tomorrow.
Ran engine for 1.5 hours to charge batteries.

Nice little Christmas parade of boats went
by at 7:30, blowing horns and playing music.
10-12 boats all lit up, some of the trawlers
with huge amounts of lights.  And a half-dozen
anchored boats have nice lights up, too.

12/15/2002 (Sunday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Still blowing hard this morning, and fairly cool.
Got up on pilothouse roof and position wood
blocks for solar panel mounts, to see what I'll
have to do to level them.  Should work out
pretty well.  Brought them back down and put
another coat of paint on them.

Wind a little less by noon.
Paddled ashore into stiff headwind.
Bought a small 2x4 ($1) and some angled shims ($1);
cut more blocks from the 2x4 in the marina workshop.
Talked to Nancy a bit in the store
where she works; their engine is badly damaged,
and a rebuild will cost almost as much as new.
They're waiting to see if insurance will
cover it before deciding.  They want to get
cruising, but have no definite destination;
they'll just play it week by week.
Did grocery shopping.
Back to boat, and painted all the blocks some
more, then cut and painted the shims too.
Cockpit is full of an army of little wood
pieces drying on sheets of newspaper: 30 blocks
and 24 shims.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.  Big propane
tank isn't quite empty yet.
Ran engine for 1.5 hours to charge batteries.

12/16/2002 (Monday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Blowing hard this morning, and fairly cool.
Another round of paint on the wood for the
solar panel mounts; should be the last.

Paddled ashore, and it was a real effort into
that strong wind.  Bought more hinges ($10),
had more cables made for the solar panels ($76),
picked up genset impeller ($19) and thermostat ($18).
Some days the money just flies out !
Scrounged some lumber out of a dumpster.

Did library, forgot to grind off hinge pins,
back to the boat.  Pulled some of the new
cables through from the engine compartment
up into the cockpit, which makes them take
a couple of blind turns deep inside the
cockpit seat.  A tough job, requiring
a large quantity of bad words and a couple
of small blood samples.  Someone, probably the
builders, had left a string for pulling wires
through, but they used the flimsiest string.
I was afraid it would snap and there'd be no
way to pull more wires without drilling
holes in fiberglass.  So first thing I did was
to use the flimsy string to pull through two
strong strings.  Positive cable came through
fairly easily, but the negative cable was
tough.  I think maybe the holes through the
fiberglass are almost full, now that I've pulled
two 6 AWG wires through.  Connected the cables
to the solar controller.  Tomorrow I should be
able to get power flowing, I hope !

Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner.
Ran engine for an hour to charge batteries.

12/17/2002 (Tuesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Up at 0730, and hauling solar panels onto the
roof at 0800.  Cabled them together and saw
energy going into the batteries !  Kept
going down and looking at the battery monitor
and giggling.  Getting 3-8 amps, depending on
orientation, shading, etc.  Put Rustoleum on
hinges, drilled pilot holes in the mounts,
screwed hinges onto mounts and panels, got
panels standing up on most of the mounts.
Need to get some more wood, add shims, then
epoxy the whole thing down.

Paddled ashore against stiff headwind.
Ground more hinges apart, then scrounged
plywood out of dumpster and sawed it into
chunks.  Biked to library.

Back to boat, more painting of wood and
hinges and pins.
Salad and cheese-and-crackers and
tuna salad sandwiches for dinner.

12/18/2002 (Wednesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Grey, totally overcast day.  But even though
the sun is hidden and there's no blue sky, I
still get about an amp from the solar panels.
Sun came out later.

Messed with shims and chunks of wood to even
out the solar panel mounts.  Had exactly the
right number of pieces; amazing.  Had to sand
and repaint one piece, so epoxy will have to
wait until tomorrow.
Put new thermostat in genset, and put coolant
tank back on.

Paddled ashore against stiff wind.  Bought
tie-wraps to secure solar wiring ($5),
a gallon of WEST System epoxy ($70).
Did library.

Back to boat, drilled holes in pilothouse
sides and underneath, and secured the solar
cables.  Really not a foot to spare, given
that I left a couple of feet of slack on
the roof so I could tilt the panels.  Should
have gotten cables one foot longer to leave
more slack in the engine compartment.

Salad and chili for dinner.

12/19/2002 (Thursday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Nasty headache from the one beer I had with
dinner last night; just can't drink any more.

Up on the rooftop went old Saint ... Bill,
and sanded and epoxied down the inboard set
of solar panel mounts.  Lots of pieces to
do all in a short time, but got it done with
no major spills.

Painted the cables to try to protect them from UV.
Jumpered the genset battery to the house
batteries so it gets recharged, and then
maintained while I'm on vacation.

Paddled ashore against fairly stiff breeze.
Returned the epoxy resin I bought yesterday
(turnned out I had plenty of resin; I was looking
at a can of resin and thinking it was a can of hardener).
Did library.

Back to boat, and sanded and epoxied the outboard
set of solar panel mounts.  Tricky, because they're
harder to reach, and I found one that really should
have shims added to it.

Salad and nibbles and a grilled sausage and
a pork chop for dinner.  I'm trying to empty
the refrigerator/freezer before I go on vacation.

12/20/2002 (Friday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Mostly overcast day.  Up onto roof to prop
up the solar panels.  Then cut and painted wood
to support the panels when tilted up, painted
the epoxy-covered parts of the mounts, and painted
the cables again.
Put new breather hose on genset.
Started straightening up the boat, so they don't
tow it away as a derelict while I'm on vacation.

Houseboat is swinging close to me.  But someone's
aboard keeping an eye on it.  So I paddled ashore,
between rain showers, and did library.  Back to boat,
houseboat has dragged a bit more, and now nobody on
board, but the wind no longer has them pointing at me.
Caulked trim on starboard side of pilothouse.

Blowing hard by 5 PM; houseboat is dragging toward
someone else, and no one's aboard.  Guy it's blowing
toward went out several times in a dinghy, and put
another anchor on them.  Someone came along later
in a dinghy and ran into that rode; it goes out
very horizontally.

Lots of salad, and fried sausage sandwiches (too
windy to grill) for dinner.
Shut off refrigerator, emptied and defrosted
and cleaned it; will leave it off while I'm gone.

Blew 25-35 all night.  This is the kind of situation
that makes me nervous: crowded harbor, bad weather,
I'm singlehanding.  My anchors held fine, and no
one is in front of me or close behind, but if anything
had gone wrong, there wouldn't be much I could do.
Start the engine and motor all night to hold position ?
No way I could get two twisted anchors up and
repositioned in this weather.

12/21/2002 (Saturday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Blowing 15-20 this morning.
Finished last piece of solar installation: sticks
to hold panels up in tilted position.
Added water to batteries; the house batteries
needed a lot.
Packed a suitcase for vacation.

Paddled ashore into very stiff breeze; someone
gave me a tow the last 2/3 of the way.
Received new frames for opening ports.

Soup and soup-and-noodles for dinner.
Have a nasty sinus headache.

12/22/2002 (Sunday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Still have nasty headache.
Did various chores to get ready to leave boat:
cleaned up, straightened up, opened lockers
to let them ventilate, vinegar in the toilets,
close through-hulls, etc.

Sat topside for about 30 minutes before I was
able to hail someone (Matthew) to bum a ride
ashore.  I'm leaving the boat at anchor while
I'm gone.

Heard that Ken just had a solar panel stolen
off his boat.  He even had it cable-locked to his
boat; someone tore the lock off the boat.
Hope no one steals my panels while I'm gone.
I'm not too worried; his panel was small
and mounted close to the water (on a small boat).
Mine are huge and mounted 9 feet above waterline,
on top of pilothouse, with a complicated mounting.

Drove to Ft Lauderdale, stayed the night at
my cousin's house, and flew out the next day.

12/23/2002 to 1/7/2003
Boat's at anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
I'm in New Jersey for Christmas.

1/8/2003 (Wednesday)
Flew back into Ft Lauderdale, drove back to
Marathon.  Guys in marina complaining that it's
been cold and windy for last week; think it
was in the high 40's one or two days.  Didn't have
to wait more than a
couple of minutes at the dinghy dock before I
was able to bum a ride from Keith and his wife.
A bit of fiddling to get a light going enough
to see the combination lock on the main
companionway and open it.  Boat seems fine.
Not too smelly for being closed up for 2 weeks.
Batteries at 12.95 volts; hoped they would be higher,
with absolutely no load, and solar panels
going.  Probably the genset battery is dragging
down the others.  Of course, voltage is not
really a good indicator of charge state.

1/9/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Still and cool and foggy in early morning.
Loafed most of the morning.
Took outside ring off opening port in aft head,
and started scraping away old caulk.  One screw
snapped off as I removed it.

Paddled ashore and did errands.  Saw Doug briefly;
they're putting in a used engine, don't know if
insurance paid anything.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner; first spaghetti in 3 weeks !

1/10/2003 (Friday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Scraped more caulk off aft head port; starting to
think the whole port has to come out to rebed it properly.
Took fuel lift pump off genset and put teflon
tape on loose connection.  Solar controller is buzzing
a bit; don't think it's supposed to do that.

Tried to start the outboard; no go.
Paddled ashore and did errands, mostly checking out
boatyard prices for hauling out.

Back to boat, managed to get aft head port out
of boat.  Looks weird to have a raw hole in the side
of the boat.

Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner.

1/11/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Cool and very moist morning.
Spray-painted outside ring from port; have to wait
to see if the paint will damage the plastic before
spraying the rest of the port.
Pulled a fuel injector out of the genset, to make
sure there was no water in the cylinder, and
found a fair amount of carbon on it's face already.
Ran genset for 5 minutes or so; ran loudly and
roughly, but ran.
Ran engine for an hour to exercise it; it coughed
a bit at startup, and put out a cloud of rusty
water, but ran fine.
Painted main body of port.
Tried to drill out stuck screw (with hand-drill),
and broke the bit.
Tried to start outboard, then took carburetor out.

Paddled ashore, and bought tire pump ($10),
grill briquets ($10), drill bit ($3) and extractor ($3).
Paid $54 for another month of dinghy-dockage,
although I probably will be hauled out in the
middle of it.  Works out to about the same price
as paying weekly.
Doug and Nancy just put a used 4-108 engine in
their boat; they found one locally for $1500,
and now have spares including a transmission
and alternator.  Insurance didn't pay anything.
The hated former harbormaster, Harry, is
returning as harbormaster again.

Tried to drill out stuck screw, but couldn't
keep the bit centered, and the extractor couldn't grip.

Cheese-and-crackers and salad and grilled chicken for dinner.

1/12/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Cool and windy morning.
Ran genset for 1 hour under very low load to
test it; ran a little loudly but okay.
Reinstalled aft head port.  Was all finished,
picking up tools, when I saw a gap at one edge,
gave a screw one last tweak, and the finishing
ring cracked right through.  Just cosmetic,
but ended the job on a sour note.

Worked on the outboard carburetor, examining
all the diaphraghms and valves, running thin
copper wire into the tiny ports and orifices.
Used form-a-gasket compound to put it back on
the block, on the theory that vacuum is leaking.
Will let it cure overnight and try it tomorrow.

Got tired of boat work, and paddled ashore to
watch some football with the guys in the marina.

Salad and chili for dinner.

1/13/2003 (Monday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Overcast and some light rain in the morning.
Took off part of engine exhaust to see where
leak is coming from.  Every part of it looks
a bit suspect.
Started on opening port in galley to rebed it.
Outboard still won't start.

Paddled ashore, found "Capt Ron" to see if he
could work on my outboard, but he's busy.
Bought more caulk for ports ($15), various
parts for exhaust system ($19).

Salad and grilled chicken for dinner.  The
fat dripping from the chicken started a
runaway fire in the grill; thought I was
going to burn the boat up.  Had to dump
some water around and slightly on the grill
to damp it down.  Will see tomorrow if
anything got damaged.
Some rain in the evening.

1/14/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Cool, foggy, icky morning.
Put engine exhaust system back on, with much
grunting and sweating and skinning of knuckles.
Thick hose and a series of small pipe fittings,
in a short space; it's a real jigsaw puzzle to
get it in and tightened.  Will test tomorrow.

Hey, there's a noisy thing at the back of my dinghy !
Tested the outboard for spark, cleaned the plugs
a little (they weren't bad, but surprising dark
since I replaced them a short time ago), and
after 4 or 5 pulls the motor started !  Let it
run for a half hour, then motored ashore.
What a luxury !  Not sure what fixed it: maybe
cranking it a couple times with each plug out
let gas into it, or maybe the gasket sealant
I added a couple days ago fixed a vacuum leak
between the carburetor and the block.  We'll
see if it stays fixed.  Started again on the
return trip.

Salad and saffron rice and tuna-salad sandwiches
for dinner.

1/15/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Cool and very windy day.
Ran genset for an hour to test it.  Ran okay;
a few smells, and a little roughness, but
it kept going all right when I put a 20-amp
(moderate) load on it.
Exercised RADAR, aft air conditioner, and
freezer while genset was running.
Started excavating around holding tank to
clear space to get at the aft head outlet,
which still has a gate-valve on it (last one
on the boat, and it's frozen).
Called for a pump-out, but they're busy today.

Dinghied ashore, taking grill with me, and
cleaned the grill in the marina workshop.
Bought hand-vacuum filters ($7), and scheduled
haul-out for Monday the 20th.  The major items
to do during the haul-out are bottom-paint,
repair scraped place on the keel, and replace
the one gate-valve.  I'm hoping about $1200,
but if the damaged keel area is waterlogged,
days to dry it out could start piling up
at $40/day.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

1/16/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Called for pump-out, but the pump-out boat is
down for maintenance.
Removed opening port in galley, to rebed it;
gouged a nice chunk out of one knuckle doing it.
Cleaned and spray-painted the port.
Ran engine to test exhaust hose: drips steadily.
Took it off again to put sealant on joints,
and found I don't have any Loc-Tite on board.

Well, I was feeling so good, and now I'm bummed
again.  Started the outboard to dinghy ashore,
and when I put it in gear, it choked and stalled.
Started it a couple more times, same thing.
Then it wouldn't start at all.  Ended up
paddling ashore, getting a tow halfway.
I need the outboard to be working so I can
untwist the boat around the anchor rodes,
so I can raise anchor to go get hauled out.

And when I went to buy Loc-Tite, someone told
me I shouldn't be using galvanized pipe in my
exhaust system.  I assumed it (steel) was a
closer match to the stainless steel elbow
than the copper pipe that was in there before,
but it turns out copper is more noble than
mild steel.  So I'll have to go find something
better after the haul-out.

Salad and fruit and sauted chicken with rice for dinner.

1/17/2003 (Friday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Started to put port back in, but need longer bolts.
About noon, it suddenly started blowing 15-25,
and kept blowig that hard the rest of the day.
Decided I'd better put the engine exhaust system
back together.  Did so, and tested it, and there
still are leaks, but not from the part I replaced.
Looks like the welds on the big stainless-steel
exhaust elbow are leaking, which means the whole
thing should be replaced.

Messed around with the outboard, and finally got
it started by using starting fluid.  Went ashore and
bought bolts for the port ($3), did other errands.

Salad and fruit and really awful macaroni-and-cheese
from a package for dinner.

1/18/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Turned cold overnight; down to the 40's at night,
probably in upper 50's today.
Big bowl of hot oatmeal with brown sugar for breakfast.
Decided to replace frame of port in galley; tough
job hammering the hinge pins into the new frame.
Cold out on deck installing the port.

Outboard required starting fluid to start on
both ends of dinghy trip.  Went ashore and
stayed in warm library for a couple of hours.
Cold and little sprinkles of rain as I came back.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

1/19/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Still cold and fairly windy.  Stayed in bed late
because it's so hard to get out into the cold.
May have to postpone the haul-out because it's
been so windy that I've been unable to unwind
my twisted anchor rodes by pushing the boat
around with the dinghy.

Removed opening port from port side of main
cabin; had to destroy its finishing ring to get it out.
Dinghied ashore, took bike to boatyard, then
told boatyard I'd have to reschedule the haul-out,
because the anchor rodes were twisted.
Watched football in the marina.
5 or 10 degrees warmer today; quite nice in a
sunny spot when sheltered from the breeze.
Wind slacked enough to let me untwist
the boat 3 revolutions; took about 15 minutes.
Another 5 or 6 revolutions needed, then raising
two anchors.  And still need a pump-out.

Chicken and rice for dinner.

1/20/2003 (Monday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Cold in the morning; glad I don't have to get
up to raise anchor and go haul out.
Stayed in bed much of the morning.

Worked on port in main cabin some more.
Wind died down in the afternoon, so I launched
the dinghy and used it to rotate the boat 5 times,
untwisting the anchor rodes; that took about 20 minutes.
Then I raised the secondary anchor, which took
about an hour and left me tired.  Lots of stuff
growing on the upper part of the chain, and lots
of gucky mud on the lower part of it.  Now I'm
swinging on one anchor, and I'll have to keep
more of an eye on where I'm swinging to.
Warmer this afternoon than yesterday, and supposed
to be a little warmer still tomorrow.
But when I called the boatyard to see if I could
haul out tomorrow, they said they had a "situation"
with a boat in the lift right now, and didn't
think it would be resolved by tomorrow morning.

Cheese-and-crackers and salad and tuna-salad
sandwiches for dinner.

1/21/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
More work on port in main cabin.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Opened up spare alternator to see if I can clean it.

Dinghied ashore and did errands.  Warm afternoon.
Scheduled haul-out for next Monday at 9:30.
Bought spray paint ($3) for port, BioBor for diesel ($16),
carburetor cleaner ($9), contact cleaner ($5).

Salad and chili for dinner.

1/22/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Reinstalled port in main cabin, then found that
new finishing rings have no holes in them, and
it's not easy to measure the placement of the holes.
Did a bucket of laundry.

Dinghied ashore and did errands.  Hot afternoon.
Bought parts to make propeller-puller ($5).
Marina has it's pump-out boat back from the
boatyard, but they're complaining that the yard
forgot to do any of the work they wanted except
for the bottom-painting.  Typical yard experience.

Salad and saffron rice and grilled sausages for dinner.

1/23/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Loafed most of the morning.
Started to drain transmission fluid, and realized
I didn't have enough to replace it.  And a front
is coming through this afternoon; great timing.
Going to be cold all weekend too.

Had to work hard to start the outboard; it started
first thing and then ran dry in 30 seconds.
Lots of starter fluid and pulling to get it
started again.  Dinghied ashore as it blew 10
or so.  Drilled holes in port finishing ring and
hole in wood to make propeller-puller, with John's
help.  Bought gallon of transmission fluid ($8).
Did library, then back to boat as it blew 15+.
Of course, now I'm swinging on one anchor, so
I'm swinging a little close to a neighboring boat
again.  Installed finishing ring on port; it
looks ugly, close up.  Drained more transmission
fluid, then added new fluid.  Probably should
do it again soon, to make sure I did a full change.
Blowing 15-20 now.

Salad and pigs-in-a-blanket for dinner.
Ran genset for 1 hour to exercise it and cook dinner.

Nervous night; blew 20-25, got cold, and I'm
close to another boat.  Kept getting up to
check on the situation.

1/24/2003 (Friday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Cold and blowing hard.  Stayed in bed all
morning, reading and trying to keep warm.
Not many people moving in the harbor.
Finally decided staying still was making me
colder, so I got up.  In low 50's at noon.

Afternoon turned nicer; wind went down to the
12-15 range, and it warmed up a bit, probably
to around 60 but with a good wind-chill.
Dinghied ashore, and everyone in town was behaving
like it was a blizzard or something.  Lots of
people hanging out in the warmth of the library.
Bought 5 quarts of transmission fluid ($10),
and disposed of the old fluid (looked pretty milky).

Spaghetti for dinner.  Cold and windy enough to
make dinner take longer to cook.
But the wind is slightly less than last night,
and from a much better direction; I'm not
swinging close to that boat any more.

1/25/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Cool, windy morning; loafed in bed much of it.
Fixed hinge-pin on secondary anchor hawse-hole.
Took screws out of fixed port in hallway, but
was reluctant to take the port apart further
because I have no spares; put it back together.

Dinghied ashore and did library.
Chicken-and-rice for dinner.

1/26/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Beautiful mostly-warm, sunny day.
Finally got pumped-out ($5), and then spent
a couple hours disconnecting the holding tank
and pulling it out, so I can replace the
valve next to it while hauled out.

Dinghied ashore and found marina pretty quiet;
I'm sure it will be a lot noisier for the
Super Bowl later.

Chili for dinner.

1/27/2003 (Monday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Raised anchor about 9 AM, motored through the
harbor and the bridge, and into Marathon Marina.
Very tight channel inside, tons of boats docked
everywhere.  Went right into the lift and was
hauled out.  Took them about 2 hours to haul
and pressure-wash and put the boat on blocks.
Several nice conversations with other boat
owners as they came by and looked at Magnolia.
Some good advice from several of them, especially
Jim on Antares; he and his wife were about to
splash their boat and take it up to Ft Laud.

A couple of good surprises:  the old bottom-paint
looks pretty good, and the scraped area on the
bottom of the keel doesn't look nearly as bad
as I thought when I dove on it.  All it needs
is a barrier-coat.  Some gouges in the gelcoat
down there, but really not bad.  Also, the
propeller shaft zinc is about 3/4 gone, but
still enough left to be effective.  All good news.

Worked on removing propeller, to see if I can do it,
and to take the propeller to a shop for checking.
Got cotter pin off (half of it snapped off), and
the propeller itself is loose on the shaft (but a key
keeps it from rotating), but the two nuts are
locked together tightly.  Lots of penetrating oil.

Biked up to city marina and got my car.
Bought cotter pins ($2) for propeller.

Removed three strainers from the outside of
through-hulls; wanted to do all six, but the
other three are one-piece through-hull-and-strainer
parts, and I don't want to mess with those.
Glad I took the strainers off: all three had extra
unfilled screw-holes under them.  I'm going to leave
the strainers off; I'd like to be able to snorkel on
the boat and ream out a clogged through-hull.

Removed the swim ladder and took it to a welding
shop to have the cracked joints welded.

Was thinking of drilling a hole in the bottom of
the rudder to see what comes out.  But the rudder
shaft doesn't have much play, the rudder seems firm
on the shaft, and the yard manager says "yeah, you
could drill a hole and stuff would drip out, and
stuff would KEEP dripping out for the next 8 months !".
So I think I won't bother to do that.

Removed the zinc from the propeller shaft.
Drilled a hole in the lower part of the outside of
the dinghy transom, to see if water poured out.
Just hit some foam; no water.  Now I don't know what
to do; I'm pretty sure that RIB keel has a lot of
water in it, but I don't know how to drain it.

Thought that the 55-gallon drum full of concrete
in the yard was someone's mooring, but it turns out
to be how they tamp down the garbage into the
dumpster !

Eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.
Tired, and a bit sunburnt.

1/28/2003 (Tuesday)
On the hard in Marathon Marina boatyard.
Helped Antares get underway from the dock.
Suddenly realized there's some more work I need to
do before the through-hull guy arrives.
Started taking hose off aft head discharge through-hull;
tough job.

Bottom-painting guy arrived to do prep work.
He says hull and paint look really good, no
blisters, the grounding took off paint but
no gelcoat.  He'll grind and fill today,
and paint tomorrow.

More work trying to get propeller nuts off,
and trying to get aft head hose off.
Epoxied the hole I drilled in the dinghy hull.

The bottom-prep guy ground paint off gouged areas
that need filling (with blister-repair stuff) and
then barrier-coating.  I left for 20 minutes to
talk to a dinghy place about my dinghy; they
said put it back in the water and take it
a ramp later, and they'll trailer it to their place
for testing.

Back to boat, and after 45 minutes or so, bottom-prep guy
was saying things like "I'd like to keep the billed
hours down for you" and "I wasn't supposed to have
to work today" and "it's too cold to paint today;
tomorrow will be better".  Then he left his grinder
for me to use, and left.  So I took the hint and
spent about 90 minutes grinding paint off places that
need to be repaired.  Some ugly chunks gouged out
of the edge of the bottom of the keel, and some resin
oozing out of a few dozen pinprick places, and I did
grind of some gelcoat on the very bottom of the keel.
Got to know my hull a lot better by doing the grinding
myself.  If I hadn't been there to keep pointing out
bad areas to the guy, and to do a lot of the grinding
myself, they would have just slapped bottom
paint over everything (tomorrow) and called it done.

Got lots of paint dust all over me, took a shower
right afterward.  I was using a breathing-mask,
but probably should have had a better mask and
some goggles.

Larry showed up at 3:15 to do the gate-valve.
He couldn't get the hose off either, but got around
it by using a pipe wrench (my pipe wrench was
too big and toothless) on the pipe into the hose.
He got the valve off in about 10 minutes total.

Talked to some friends in the yard and found that
the "situation" the yard had last Tuesday, when
I wanted to haul out, was that they splashed
a big wooden Chinese boat that's (back) in the yard
now.  They put it in all the way quickly, water
poured in through many leaky seams before anyone
checked, and quickly submerged the engine and genset !
Not good.  There's another wooden boat in the yard
with most of the lower planking missing; I'm told
it's been in the yard for a year.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

1/29/2003 (Wednesday)
On the hard in Marathon Marina boatyard.
Bottom-paint guy showed up at 0830 and started
patching the hull with filler/repair stuff.
I had to point out a bunch of places to him myself,
and I ended up doing about 10% of the work myself.
He came back to sand the spots.  Now the schedule is
to paint and dry the patches today, paint the
hull tomorrow, and splash Friday.  One more day
than I hoped, but okay.  Bottom guy was gone when I
got back at 1130; probably worked 2 hours.

Larry appeared about 10 AM and had the new
ball-valve installed in 10 minutes, then
got the propeller nuts off too (I wasn't hitting
the handle of the wrench hard enough).
He says the loose propeller was a bad thing;
the keyway will get damaged.  So it's good
we took it off.

Took the main and spare propellers and their keys
and nuts to Prop-Tec for an evaluation.  Learned
lots of useful things from the expert, including that
the nuts were on in the wrong order, and most boatyards
get the order wrong (thinner nut should go on first).
Main prop didn't really need reconditioning, which would
have cost $118; bought a set of new nuts for $7.

Tried the spare propeller and all the nuts on the shaft;
everything really does fit.

Bottom guy came back and spent an hour putting paint
on the patches.

Filed the teeth on my pipe wrench so it might work next time.
Changed gear oil in outboard motor (why do they make
you pump the oil upward in those things ?).
Put new zinc on prop shaft.

Tried to put prop on, but it's loose no matter
what I do; the key isn't very tight in either the prop
keyway or the shaft keyway; probably need new key.
Just then, the yard manager, LJ, came by and said hi,
and pitched in to fix the prop for me.  He made new
key out of stock, we struggled and finally wiggled
the prop on, he tightened the prop nuts so hard
they'll never come off, I added a cotter pin, and
it's done !  He also said I should plan to replace
the cutless bearing next time; it's okay for now.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

1/30/2003 (Thursday; Mom's birthday !)
On the hard in Marathon Marina boatyard.
Bottom-paint guy arrived about 0815; I heard him
down below.  I took my time and wandered down there
about 0830, to be greeting with "well, are you going
to help me or not ?".  So I did most of the scraping,
gaining a blister and a bunch of sore muscles in the
process.  Worth doing, since the fewer hours he has
to work, the less I should be charged.  And every
time I go over the hull myself, I learn more about it.
And it really is too big a job for one person.

Put hose back on aft head through-hull.  Will
reinstall the holding tank after I'm afloat, and
sure that the new valve is not leaking.

Did a little more scraping as the guy painted;
he finished about 2 PM.  Scraped peeling paint off
the metal part of the swim platform; it's pretty bad.
Walked around the hull cleaning blemishes off the
above-waterline sides of the hull.  Probably should
clean that area and repair gouges in it soon.

Went out and picked up repaired swim ladder ($50);
wonder if I got ripped off (it was their minimum
charge) and should have looked around for a friend
to do it for me, although it was aluminum welding,
which is supposed to be difficult.

Spray-painted metal part of swim platform.
Watched LJ drive a forklift in with a new engine
dangling from a chain, and lift the engine into
the boat next to mine.
Watched nervously as they maneuvered the Travelift
so close to my boat that it touched the mizzen
topping lift at one point; finally couldn't watch
any more and had to walk away while they finished.

Discovered a small drilled hole in the transom,
2 inches above the waterline.  Serves no apparent
purpose, and probably lets water into the laminate.
Closed it with epoxy.

Reinstalled the swim ladder.
Hot afternoon, good for drying the bottom paint.
Noticed that wooden Chinese boat is still dripping
water from the seams, 10 days after it almost sank.

Salad and cheese-and-crackers and tuna-salad sandwiches
for dinner.
Loaded water into the tanks and on-deck jugs.

1/31/2003 (Friday)
On the hard in Marathon Marina boatyard.
Paid the boatyard bill ($1135); cheaper than
I expected, and cheaper than the estimate !
Probably because I did several hours of the labor.

Squirted oil into most of the through-hulls from
outside, and exercised the valves.  I think it
made a difference for several of them.

Measured the draft.  Supposed to be 42" (3.5 feet),
but looks more like 46" or 47", given typical waterline.
Maybe the manufacturers spec doesn't account for
full tanks and a genset ?

After they lifted the boat into slings, I crawled under
and put (blue) bottom-paint on most of the bottom of the
keel.  Mainly wanted to get the areas that the blocks
had been covering, but did most of the rest of it
for good measure.

They put her in the water and she floated !  No leaks,
including the through-hull valve we replaced.
I had fun turning her around in about a 60-foot wide
channel next to the lift, but the wind was from a
good direction, and it was no problem.  Came out of the
blind turn from the marina to the narrow harbor channel,
and two boats appeared at the worst possible time,
one a sailboat passing another boat !  Didn't
really come close to colliding, but got everyone's
adrenaline pumping.

Through the bridge and into the harbor and my old
anchoring spot was still vacant.  Put down two
anchors, washed the boatyard sand off the decks
and cockpit, and vacuumed it from the carpets inside.

As I was cleaning, someone came by in a dinghy,
and it turned out to be the couple from "Footloose",
who I lent batteries to on the ICW when they had a dead
battery.  They insisted I come by for a beer.  An hour
later, I dinghied down to Burdine's and back, but
couldn't find them.  I thought they said they were
IN Burdine's, but maybe they said "anchored near
the bridge and they'll take me to Burdine's".  Anyway,
couldn't find them or their boat.

Landed at city marina, to find that they were having
a free barbeque.  Biked to the boatyard and got my
car, then had a hamburger and cookies and soda at
the barbeque.  Did some errands, paid $10 for more
internet time.  Tried to arrange to have dinghy hauled
out and tested.

Dinner based on which pot is clean:  salad,
Ramen noodle soup, saffron rice.

2/1/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Shuttle explosion has ruined my Saturday routine;
NPR/WLRN radio has replaced "Car Talk" and "Prairie
Home Companion" and everything else with idiots
guessing what might have gone wrong
with the shuttle, saying how tragic it is, etc.
5 minutes worth of info, repeated for 27+ hours.

Lots of cleaning and straightening up.
Put penetrating oil on engine starter motor
bolts; will try to remove it tomorrow.
Couple from Footloose came by again, guy
yelling again about "we'll have some beers !".
Reattached hoses to holding tank, and
moved its mounting slightly.
Cleaned outboard spark plugs.

Dinghied ashore; not much happening.

Fruit and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

2/2/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Tested holding tank; no leaks.  But it really
fills up quickly; 6 or 8 good flushes would fill
the 13-gallon tank.
Measured dinghy davits for adding new cross-piece.
Looked at charts and guidebooks to plan
west-coast FL cruising.

Dinghied ashore and did some errands; not much
happening.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

2/3/2003 (Monday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Discombobulated day: got the dinghy hauled out,
which involved lots of radio back-and-forth
scheduling it, then I had to kill some time
waiting for them to test it and then launch it
again.  He handed me a $98 bill, but I
told him he'd quoted me $40 last week, so
he graciously took $40.  His mood was greatly
improved by someone who came in and bought a
new inflatable at the end of the day.

The verdict on my dinghy: there's a major crack
near the transom that needs repair with glass
cloth.  They'd do it for $450; I can do it myself.
They're not sure that all the water I reported
could be getting in through there, but it's
definitely a major leak (from the topsides).

Among all the dinghy dyrations, I managed to
do a bucket of laundry, saw a rusted shackle off
the secondary anchor rode (with ... a herring!),
and buy a small grapnel ($8).

Turns out the couple who keeps inviting
me to come over is from "Freyja", not "Footloose".
No wonder I couldn't find them the other day.

Salad and chicken-and-beans for dinner.
Big propane tank is empty; had to use a small bottle.

2/4/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Removed big propane tank from stern.
Removed starter motor from engine.  It's amazingly
heavy, which I expected.  But the flywheel is dry
and slightly rusty; I thought it would be oil-bathed.

Dinghied ashore with propane tank and starter motor.
Exchanged tank for a new one (they didn't balk at
the rust on the old one) with 17 pounds of propane ($19).
Had starter motor checked ($10), and all it needs is
lubrication !  Nothing wrong with the solenoid; the
"spline" was sticking because of no lubrication.
Ordered FL west coast guidebook ($27) and charts ($38).
Went to welding shop; they estimate $400-$500 for
the cross-shaped addition I want for the davits !
Seems like a lot, but maybe it's worth it.
Did library, groceries, other errands.
Hot afternoon (80+), and by the time I got back to the
boat and unloaded groceries, propane tank, and starter
motor, I was bushed.  Reinstalled propane tank.

Salad and leftover chicken-and-beans for dinner.
Warm, still evening.

2/5/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Dumped about a quart of oil into the engine flywheel
housing, as suggested by guy at AIM, to lubricate
the flywheel.  Lubricated (with WD-40) and reinstalled
the starter motor, started engine, and ran it for 10
minutes to exercise it.  Noticed a small amount
of oil coming from two threaded holes in the
side of the flywheel housing; looks like oil
hoses could be attached there, or at least oil
could be injected there.

Overnight, tentatively decided to build the new
davit crosspiece out of wood, instead of paying
$500 to have it fabricated in metal.  There will
be only a hundred pounds or so of pressure on it,
and when painted white it should look okay.  If
wood doesn't work, I could have the equivalent
made in metal later.

Dinghied ashore and bought anchor shackle ($11)
and board for davits ($5).  Did library.
Back to boat, and put fiberglass cloth and
epoxy on the crack near the transom.  Might have
overdone the epoxy a bit; hope it doesn't
glue the tube to the hull.  I put aluminum
foil between them to prevent adhesion, but then
the epoxy ran a bit.  Hoisted the dinghy to make
the crack close tightly before the epoxy cured.

Hot afternoon; 80 inside the boat.
Nice couple stopped by to say hi, they read my
web site several times.  Like a lot of other
people here, they're heading to the Bahamas soon.

Spaghetti for dinner.
Humid evening and night.

2/6/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Grey, humid morning.
Loafed all morning.  Paid for it when I worked
on the davits in the heat of the afternoon.
Sawed wood and then sanded it again and again
to try to make it fit (the davits aren't
square to each other, and have rounded and
sloping sections).  Finally ran into some
seized screws that I need to get out; sprayed
penetrating oil on them and put the davits
back together.  Refeshing solar shower, but
sweaty again soon after.

Dinghied ashore and chatted with a few people
for a while, then did library.
Back to boat, and worked on the dinghy again.
Using aluminum foil as a "mold release" didn't
work; bits of foil are stuck in the epoxy.
But it's in a place no one will see; cleaned
and sanded and then painted to protect the
epoxy from UV.  Used plastic wrap as a mold
release this time; we'll see if it works any
better.  Reinflated tube and hoisted dinghy,
then painted the davit wood I cut earlier,
and used the rest of the paint on spots
on the pilothouse.

Grilled chicken and saffron rice for dinner.
Rearranged briquets in the grill to avoid
the inferno I got last time.

2/7/2003 (Friday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Hot morning and day.
Doug and Nancy on "Presque Isle" have left
the harbor, to head for the Bahamas.

Got started on the davits again by 0930,
but got sweaty and frustrated and then overheated.
None of the frozen bolts would budge, and one
hex-heade bolt snapped off in the most inconvenient
way possible, leaving stubs on both ends that
kept the two pieces locked together.
Finally put another coat of paint on the wood
pieces, and dumped the metal pieces and a
whole bag of tools into the dinghy and took them
to the shop ashore.  Had to make another trip
to get the Dremel and some other things I forgot.
Worked on them for almost two hours in the
workshop, grinding and drilling the frozen bolts
out.  The drill-press was key; never could have
hand-drilled those bolts out.

Back to boat for lunch, and despite drinking
lots of water, still overheated and headachy.
Took a short nap, then back ashore.  Drilled
a couple of holes in the wood, then went to
Home Debit and bought bolts ($4), bilge cleaner ($13),
rust cleaner ($4), respirator mask ($5).
Then to library, where the air-conditioning
revived me.  Then to PO box, supermarket, and
back to boat.  Reassembled davits, hoisted dinghy,
took a shower, and then relaxed.

There was a 2-foot green iguana on the swim platform
when I got back to the boat.  I didn't mind him
there, but when he came on deck I decided I did't
wanna iguana, and chased him into the water.
He swam around to the swim platform again.
Guess I'll sleep with all of the screens closed tonight.

Fruit and salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.

2/8/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Grey and cool and humid morning, threatening
to sprinkle rain.  But by 11, the sun won through
and it started turning into a nice, breezy day.
No sign of the iguana.
Started rearranging the stowage of tools and
charts and such; it's gotten out of hand.
Put some bilge cleaner in the bilge.

Dinghied ashore at 9 AM; lots of trouble getting
outboard started and keeping it running.
Exchanged a couple of bolts at Home Debit,
drilled some more holes in wood, then back to
boat in time to hear Car Talk.
Fit the davit pieces together, hand-drilled a few
more holes, then took it apart and put another
coat of paint on the wood pieces.

Dinghied ashore again in the afternoon, bummed
around, did library.

Fruit and salad and spaghetti for dinner.

2/9/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Very humid night and morning.
Loafed around feeling tired and headachy all
morning.  Allergy medicine and a big lunch
made feel better, but still tired.
Put some carpets and cushions out to dry
in the sun.  Put another coat of paint on
the dinghy repair and the davit wood pieces.
Had a visit from the Freyja couple and their
dog and a friend.  Dinghied ashore and sat
around reading and chatting a little.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

2/10/2003 (Monday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Bolted wood pieces onto davits; looks pretty
good.  A few more steps to do before it's finished.
Took side inspection plate off engine exhaust
manifold, which was quite a struggle.  Hard to
tell what shape it's in; maybe it's good for
another year or two.  Now I have to scrape all the
old gasket sealer off so I can reinstall it.

Dinghied ashore and talked to some people
about exhaust systems; there's a strong
sentiment in favor of "cobble something together
from pipe" as opposed to "pay $1200 for a new
stainless steel riser-and-elbow".
Bought various bolts and nuts ($3) for davits.

Salad and fruit and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

2/11/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Did some more work on the davits, and some
more scraping on the exhaust manifold gasket.
Got frustrated when I ran into a galled Sta-Lok
on the mizzen backstay; have to order new parts
so I can attach it to the new pieces on the davits.
Guess it's a good learning experience; all of my
standing rigging has Sta-Lok's on it, and I've
never messed with them and I don't have any spares.

Then loafed the rest of the morning, and felt
guilty later.  Put inspection port
back on engine exhaust manifold and have to wait
24 hours before testing.  That idea turned into
a lot of work for little information; couldn't
see much of anything through that inspection port.
Cleaned the bilge a bit, straightened up a bit,
pumped some water out of the dinghy hull.
Felt frustrated and stressed; I still haven't
learned how to relax enough.
Dinghied ashore and did library, bought bike
tire stuff ($4), space blanket ($5), groceries.

Salad and pigs-in-a-blanket for dinner.
Ran genset for an hour to test it and cook
dinner; didn't run too badly.  Probably still
should take head off and clean carbon out
of cylinders.

2/12/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Did lots of straightening up, cleaned bilge a bit.
Spliced thimble onto secondary anchor rode and
added new shackle.  Pumped some water out of
dinghy hull.  Started taking forward head apart.

Dinghied ashore, talked to some people about
exhaust systems, including John who works on
them for $50/hour.  Still researching what to
do with mine.  Chart and guidebook for west
coast of Florida arrived !

Salad and chili for dinner.

2/13/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Blowing hard this morning.  Fortunately the
neighboring boat that was pretty close picked
up and left or moved yesterday.
Ran engine for half an hour to test it; no problems.
Worked on Sta-Lok a bit; need to take it ashore.
Need bulb for stern light.
Worked on forward head little, but don't have
instructions for it.

Dinghied ashore.  Grinded and pounded Sta-Lok in
the workshop and got it apart.  Ordered bulb
for stern light.  Did library, chatted a bit,
back to boat.  Cut mizzen backstay shorter and
attached Sta-Lok to it, and attached it to
turnbuckle on new part of davits.  Looks good !
Started wiring stern light in new position.

Fruit and salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.

2/14/2003 (Friday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Still blowing hard, but still warm and sunny.
Did lots of straightening up and cleaning,
and more work on forward head disassembly.
Still trying to figure out a way to dry the bilge.
Dinghied ashore and bought fasteners for
stern light cable ($2), did library, looked
at catalogs of exhaust system parts.
Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

2/15/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Worked on forward head, lubricated it a bit
and replaced hose clamps on intake, replaced
spring on flapper.  Would need to remove it from
sole to really disassemble and lubricate it properly,
but I don't know what those bolts are going into.
Tried to get intake hose off, but it wouldn't
budge.  Really need to replace the whole hose.
Worked on stern light a bit.
Cleaned and straightened up.

Dinghied ashore and connected with Gary and Judi
and brought them out to the boat for a nice visit.
Talked for a couple of hours and gave them a tour.

Ashore again for grocery shopping.
Salad and fruit and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

2/16/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Very warm and humid night; going to be a hot day.

Started pulling out cushions to air them out,
straightening up and cleaning up, and found a
real mess in the chain locker.  Water from there
leaked down the doors between the chain locker
and V-berth, corroding the hinges.  And one of
the door-latches is broken.  And wood in the
V-berth is water-damaged.  Need to fix everything
and then install some kind of plastic barrier
to direct the water down into the bilge instead
of letting it hit the V-berth.  Took one locker
door off, and can't get the hinge screws off the door.

Removed lower stern light fitting and connected
wire to new upper fitting.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Did more cleaning up and straightening up.

Dinghied ashore.  Everyone in the marina building
is watching NASCAR on TV (yuck!).  Bought some
plastic sheeting ($2) to keep water from getting from
anchor chain locker into V-berth, and some rubber
material ($2) to make new toilet parts.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.
Camp stove is acting funny: surging.  Not sure
if the old stove or the full tank is the cause.

2/17/2003 (Monday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Grey day, wind fluky and clouds circling,
occasional sprinkle of rain.
Started trying to get bolts loose on end of
engine exhaust manifold so I can inspect it.
Launched dinghy and spun boat around 4 times
to untwist the anchor rodes.
Removed rusted shackle from dinghy anchor and
decided it didn't need a shackle.  Scrubbed a
couple of plastic crates I scrounged yesterday.
More work on anchor chain locker.

Dinghied ashore, and used workshop to drill
out and extract a stuck screw from one of
the anchor chain locker doors (first time
anyone in the workshop had seen a screw-extactor
actually WORK !).  Bought door hinges
and latches ($6), and gasoline ($4).  Sat around
chatting in the marina.  The Hunter 37 that Richard
abandoned a year ago has been towed into the
marina to get it off the mooring; it's been
stripped, and has gone through a bank and two
finance companies (he skipped out on the payments).
Grocery shopping.

Had a splitting headache by the time I got back
to the boat; just enough energy to have salad
and cheese-and-crackers for dinner, and collapse
into bed at 6:30.  Feel awful.

2/18/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Still have a bit of headache.
Got bolts off end of exhaust manifold.
Worked on chain locker.  Bummer: thought I'd
found identical hinges, but they're slightly
smaller, so I have to move a set of holes.
Drilled new holes, mounted new hardware,
came out okay.  Nailed up some more plastic
in the chain locker; hard to do, twisting
around and nailing up into an awkward place.

2/19/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Still have a bit of headache.
Tightened bolts and clamps on exhaust manifold;
I'll take the end off later.
Straightened up in advance of picking up my
brother at Key West airport.

Dinghied ashore, did library, then drove to
Key West.  Turned into a fiasco; his planes
didn't connect in Tampa, and since it's two
days after the big snowstorm, the airports
are full of people on standby, and the best he
could do was a flight to Miami and stay
in a hotel there.  I spent a few hours in
the airport, a couple of hours on Smaglers
Beach, and came home.  Would have been okay
except my headache is still with me.

Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.

2/20/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Still have a bit of headache.
Dinghied ashore at 0730 and drove up to Miami
(2.5 hours) to pick up my brother.
His luggage is in Key West; it'll stay there
until he leaves.  Did some shopping on the
way back to Marathon, so he'd have some
clothes, and I bought a beach umbrella ($15)
and hose-repair tape ($2) and groceries.
We're both a bit under the weather, from all
of the traveling and stress.

Onto the boat about 2:30 or so, and anchors up by 3:15
or so.  Neighboring boat had to move a bit; he was
almost on top of the primary anchor.  Motored through
the harbor, through the bridge, out to the ocean,
then under the Seven Mile bridge, and down the gulf side
of Bahia Honda Key.  Anchored there about 5:30, and felt
better after showers and food (salad and grilled
chicken for dinner).  A couple other boats anchored
nearby.  Very dark at night, and tons of stars
to look at.

2/21/2003 (Friday)
At anchor off Bahia Honda Key.
Both of us feeling okay this morning, taking
it easy, loafing.  Nice and quiet and open here.
Cleaned engine compartment sole a little.
Cleaned some rust spots on deck.
Checked battery water.
Measured fuel level at 10.5 inches.

Got going just before 1 PM and anchored in our
old spot in Boot Key Harbor just after 3 PM.
Dinghied ashore and did library and wandered
around a bit.  Bought bulbs for stern light ($7).

Salad and garlic bread and spaghetti for dinner.

2/22/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Pretty still and warm and humid in the early
AM; hard to sleep.
Got going early, dinghied ashore, and went
to take a walk on the old bridge out to Pigeon
Key.  Blowing hard, but a nice sunny walk of
2+ miles (we didn't go all the way out, which
is 2 miles each way).  At the entrance to
the bridge, they had an Animal Control truck
with "shelter dogs" that you could walk on
the bridge (for free).  Saw some skates swimming
along the side of the bridge.

Then we went to Crane Hammock state park, which
has nature trails and a museum and a bird
rehabilitation center.  Found out how Marathon
got it's name: one of the railroad workers
in the early 1900's complained that building
the railroad was a "marathon".  Walked another
mile-plus in the park; getting pretty hot.

Back to the boat to lunch and recover from
all of the exertion and sun we got.
Installed stern light bulb and put light together.

Dinghied ashore and took a little driving tour of
Marathon; not really much to see.  Went to Dockside
and walked the docks and talked to some people in
the restaurant.  Drove over to look at the
beach, then toured some of the nice neighborhoods
near it, looking at houses.  Wanted to climb the
3-story tower in the community park, but it was locked.

Very nice dinner at Castaway Restaurant; I had
sauteed gator-tail.  The entertainment was a sailboat
that ran aground in the middle of the canal,
50 feet from our table, shortly after we got there.
The waiters said that boat is always running aground
there.  The couple on board put out two anchors and
dinghied home.  We calculated they had about a 4-hour
wait until the tide changed and came up enough to
float the boat off.

Watched lots of lightning in the distance before
going to bed.  Started blowing hard, and rained hard
much of the night.  The newly-rebedded ports all
seem to be fine.  At one point I was a little worried
that our anchor was slipping (we only had about 75
feet of chain out on that anchor), and almost started
the engine, but I held off and we were okay.
But I was up frequently all night to check on things.

2/23/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Still raining off and on, and we have to dinghy ashore
to get to the airport.  Of course some of the
heaviest rain came down just as we dinghied ashore.
My brother showered ashore, then we drove down
to Key West and I left him to wait for his flight.

On the way back, I stopped at a fire station and
picked up some used firehose; supposed to be good
for anti-chafe gear and such.

Back to boat, feeling tired and wet.
Did lunch, then various straightening up and
cleaning up, and trying to get my mind straight
on what I need to do to get out of town in
a week or so.
Disassembled aft head.

Salad and fruit and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.

2/24/2003 (Monday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Another grey day, but not raining.
Trimmed another inch off the mizzen backstay,
put the Sta-Lok back together,
installed cotter pins and seizing wire,
and declared the davits project finished !

Dinghied ashore, bought parts for toilet ($5),
paid for water and a week of dinghy dockage ($16).
Did internet and groceries.

Back to boat for lunch, loaded about 20 gallons
of water, put aft toilet back together.  Works,
but needs more extensive rebuild: water is leaking
from the shaft the handle is attached to.

Dinghied ashore again, did library, got more water.
Salad and chili for dinner.

2/25/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Removed aft end-plate from engine exhaust
manifold.  Can't see much (no tubes), but looks
okay.  A few chunks of old zinc rolling around in
there.  Scraped everything and painted the end-plate.

Dinghied ashore, did library, got more water.
Arranged for car storage ($38/month).
Paid for another year of PO box ($180).
Received CARE packages from my sister (cookies
and stuff) and mom (grapefruit).  Mom's pretty
sure I'm starving down here.

Mailed application to register Magnolia as an
antique vessel (non-commercial, 30 years old,
with original engine), which means
free registration from now on.  [When my
brother came on board a week ago, I said
"be gentle with the equipment; everything on
board is 30 years old."  He said "yeah, except
for you; you're even OLDER !"]

Back to boat, and reinstalled exhaust manifold
end-plate.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner;
grapefruit and homemade cookies for dessert.

2/26/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Cut notch out of cockpit locker door to let
solar panel cables through.
Repaired hatch screens.
Worked on repositioning the rain-catchers.

Dinghied ashore, and bought parts to screen in
the entire pilothouse ($20).  Did library.
Bought gas for dinghy ($4).  Back to boat,
and gave myself a bit of a haircut.

Just before sunset, saw something unusual:
A week ago, a small plane crashed in the ocean a
few miles from here.  Apparently, the wreck started
leaking oil or fuel.  Anyway, they just brought
it up from the ocean floor and towed it into
the harbor.  Three TowboatU.S. boats, one really
straining to keep the plane moving.  All you could
see were several air-bags and part of one wing
and the top edge of the fuselage; the rest of the
plane was underwater.  They towed it to the city
marina, where a crane-truck and a flatbed truck
are waiting.  I'm guessing $20k for that job.

Salad and chili for dinner.

Hot, still night.  Had a headache, and a mosquito
got in before I thought of putting up the screens.
Pretty miserable sleeping.

2/27/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Rose late, feeling tired.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Tightened exhaust manifold end-plate and ran
engine for 15 minutes to test it.
Tried to fix pinhole leak in water jug.

Dinghied ashore.  Cut up wooden wire-spool I
scrounged yesterday, to make "anchored" day-shape.
Paid Duane $5 to machine-sew seams on screens
for pilothouse.  Bought groceries, did library,
loaded water.  Hot and humid afternoon.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.
Another still and warm night, but not too bad.

[Next log file is http://www.geocities.com/bill_dietrich/Magnolia/MagnoliaLog.txt ]