Update from Frank

Taking Jody's hint to update the blog, I'll share some news from my end.

First, we did move!! We are now over at the 12th Street Yacht Basin, which is pretty nice. I think we're gonna like it over here. I must confess, it is nice to be around a bunch of boats again.

On to maintenance, I'm taking advantage of the winter months to do the periodic maintenance that our boat needs:

The first system to get attention was out inboard diesel. I changed the engine oil/filter, marine gear oil, fuel filter, fuel element in the fuel/water separator, flushed and replaced the coolant, changed out the seawater impeller, and of course did a good visual inspection, tightened hose clamps, and did some clean-up of dust/grime on the engine and in the engine room.

Next was the battery system, nothing exciting there other than topping off the electrolyte w/ distilled water, giving a good equalization charge, and checking the S.G. of each cell (all still 1.265 or higher, even with our draining the bank last month!) I might as well try to make these last for as long as possible while upgrading the charging systems onboard!

The next project is maintenance of the dinghy's outboard. The biggest challenge? Where to do it! Some things are more complicated when you live aboard, and not having a backyard or garage means I'll have to find somewhere else to change the oil, in-line fuel filter, spark plug, grease fittings, etc. I'm hoping the Everett yard will let me do it there for no charge, we'll see!!

Other than that, right now I'm home with a sick little boy, but he's getting better by the day and will probably go back to day care tomorrow. Jody is out for a few days, then back for the weekend, then back out...even more reason to make sure the boat is ready to go for a weekend cruise when we is actually home for a while!!

One last tidbit, we bought another TV since the dvd player on ours no longer works. Maybe the player will get less hours of use now that we'll have cable in port!

Frank