I GOT A CALL TODAY . . .

SHIP'S LOG:

I got a call today from Tim Porter. Tim is the yard manager of the Mystic Shipyard. It seems that the person who is renting the slip I currently occupy wants his boat in the water, SOON, and Tim is suggesting that it is time to move. Unfortunately, there will be no slips available for me to hang so i must be moving on . . . . SOON . . .like next week. Actually, I have been waiting for the Yard to finish up the work on the engine. They evidently got tired of trying to find the filter element for the engine and are having a part custom fabricated so that I can get a generic NAPA filter when I need one in the future.

Washed out the bilge again and got it a little closer to being "sweet and clean." The work on the engine has dropped oil into the bilge and it does have a unique fragrance when mixed with salt water. A little Lysol(?), a little PINESOL and a little bilge cleaner poured into every part of the bilge cleaned it out fairly well I am going to have to drop some CLEANWATER tabs in the bilge. It is a type of bacteria that "eats oils and transform it into amino acids which you can pump over board and not get the EPA excited and upset. You need the boat in motion for this stuff to work best so once we get on the can, the motion of the tides, river current and waves will eventually assist the stuff in cleaning the bilge.

Pumped out and cleaned the fresh water system. Pumped out the antifreeze and filled the tank with water. Then umped it out again. Filled it again with a fresh water system cleaner and pumped it out again. Filled it up again and pumped it out and filled it up a last time. The best thing was that all the faucets worked and the fresh water pump handled all three going at once. It is nice to know that they work. Now I need only to install filters on the water lines and get the water maker installed. Always more to do but then I am not sure what I would do with myself if there weren't more things that needed doing.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

Well, I am getting "booted" out of the Shipyard. I am feeling something like a baby bird being pushed out of the nest. It is exciting and frightening at the same time. ABISHAG definitely feels more like mine but there are still things that need doing and I could easily come up with reasons to delay. However, nothing that needs doing is anything that would prevent my sailing, at least on short trips. This weekend is supposed to be hot and, while I'll still be tied to the dock, the weather itself will really be pushing me to go. Surely the worst day for weather next week will end up as being the day I have to go. Doesn't it always seem to work out that way?