An unexpected interruption came one early morning around 4 o'clock when our carbon monoxide detectors started chirping. WTF? So up we get and start the process of figuring out what the cause may be. Experience points to a dead battery but the batteries are only 2 years old. Into the lazerette I go to check out the charger. None of the indicator lights are on. Why isn't this getting any power? Next I go to the breaker panel. (Pam is all the while trying to keep a flashlight pointed in the direction that I'm looking.) The breaker is still in the on position. I know. I'll get the multi-meter and see if the switch is good. Only problem is that the 9 volt battery in the meter is dead and we don't have a spare. Undeterred I found a replacement breaker and switched them out only to find that the breaker wasn't the issue. By now it's 6 a.m. Only another hour till Publix opens and I can get a 9v battery. Meanwhile I shut down all of the 12v power to stop the incessant beeping.
6:55 a.m. finds me hiking down the street to Publix. I return with two 9 volt batteries, half & half, and a half gallon of milk. Seems I would have been going for half & half anyway so Pam could have her morning coffee!
With a working meter we traced the problem to a non-functioning charger. Power in but no power out thus a dead battery. The remedy was to order a replacement charger and as a temporary fix purchase a small portable charger to use till the replacement arrives.
Through all of this the comedy (for me) was Pam's displeasure of having to use the bathroom facilities in the marina for a short time since ours are all run from the 12 volt side of the power supply!
Finally the new charger arrived and the switch out went relatively smooth considering it was a "boat" project.
One of the items found by the surveyor back in November was that the sea water hoses that feed the main engines were showing some cracks and he suggested that they be replaced. What should be a pretty straight forward job probably isn't so I elected to have a professional do the work. He estimates that we have roughly 38 feet of hose that needs to be replaced which seems like a lot. but of course this is Tourist and the engineers at Sea Ray decided it would be prudent to place the thru hull at the front center of the bilge then run the hose from there across the engine front, down the outboard side of the engine and into the sea strainer. Then another hose from the strainer to the fuel cooler and then another short piece from the cooler to the sea water pump.
Knowing what a pain in the butt it is to work on the outboard side of these motors is what led me to hiring the job done. Now all we need is the hose which because of the lengths of the runs had to be special ordered from the manufacturer.
Not all of our time has been spent making repairs to Tourist. We made a trip to Walmart where we were delighted to find brand new shopping carts! What a treat to be able to push a cart that rolled smoothly and went in the direction it was pointed.
We also had a great Valentine's Day dinner at the The Road House Café with friends.
Well back to the dream. It's time to fix a water leak!
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