And The Rain Keeps On Coming! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

Yesterday (Wednesday), we had a real street cleaner of a storm. The storm drains popped and washed away part of the beach next to the club and almost half of the only "free beach" in New London! I was having dinner with Russ and got back on ABISHAG just as the rain was just beginning to fall. I got all the awnings down and tied and sat in the cockpit having a beer and reading a book while the rain came down so hard, I could barely, and I mean BARELY make out the clubhouse 200 yards away.I could not see the other side of the river nor the ferries that went up and down blowing their horns like they were in a fog. On top of the rain was the wind, the topped out at 40 knots plus in the gusts. It was a serious storm with lots of thunder and enough lightning to make one consider the appropriateness of sitting on a boat with two, count'em, two lightning rods . . .I mean masts. But there were no strikes on any of the boat, mine in particular, but the heavy rain did uncork a mystery.

There has been a leak that seeming comes through the main salon hatch and another by the main cockpit hatch. I have run a fat highlighter around the inside of both hatches and thrown water over the hatches to try and track down from where comes the water. But nothings shows up, yet when it rains, leaks appear in both places except .. . . . . .. and this is new, except when I have the awning up. Obviously, the awning are protecting the entrance point of the water for the leaks yet I can not figure out where it is. Every possible candidate, is lower than the leaks themselves and water, even on a boat doesn't run up hill. I am sure I'll find it some day, but for now, I will be happy with putting up the awnings and getting rid of the leaks.

The awning were evidently intended to be joined in the middle where the is Velcro on the edges of the awning. There is a gap however, and they don't quite meet. Vinyl doesn't shrink, so it was either a bad measuring job by whoever build the awnings or there was a closure piece for each side which is no AWOL. In the wind we had the last two storms, some rain did get through and into the enclosure, so I am going to have to construct and over lap of some kind with the old vinyl sailcover of the Mizzen.

I still haven't found the missing two volts to the propane solenoid. For the life of me, I can't figure out how the bus-bar to which it is connected is getting power. It is but I can't see how. Several disbelievers in this miracle have promised to com e by and see it, but so far no one has. I am still 2 volts short. It is probably a bad ground.

In the access hatch over the windlass, I cut and fitted a piece of PCV pipe so that the rope rode can run and used without the hatch being opened. I had to cut a hole in the hatch, cut the PVC Pipe at an angle so it receded into the hatch, and epoxy the whole mess in place. And It actually went off without a major "whoopsie" and works just fine.

Next Tuesday, the refeer gets its check over and at last I will be able to keep cold things cold.

I had to empty the "in-law apartment" locker to access the batteries for their monthly check and also to find out just how many amp hours I have in the boat. Each battery is rated at 105 amp hours which gives me 315. I have to find out as the monitoring device, the LINK 2000 does its thing based on battery capacity and that hadn't been adjusted since the installation of the new batteries . . . 3 years ago. There is absolutely no ventilation the that lockers and it was brutal working in there, but now the monitor is all synced and things are fine, though electricity is still all voodoo to me.

I don't like it but I am having to run the engine for 30-60 minutes a day to keep the batteries topped up. Living on the boat constantly uses more juice and as spare as I am, I do use it up. I am going to have to try another ways of generating power besides the engine and the wind turbine.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

The sailing has been wonderful and even the storms have been great. The last one had thunder so loud it shook the boat. The thunder sound waves hit the water and rush through the air and you feel it not only from above and below as well. It was exhilarating to say the least . . .and no leaks which was great.

I am definitely getting more and more comfortable living on the boat. I am knocking off lots of little project, though more are always presenting themselves. It is nice however, just to shut it all down, raise the sails and go, 't ain't something you can do with a cottage.

I am consuming reading material at an alarming rate. Thank goodness there is a small library at the club but I will be through that before too much longer, as I have read and/or own most the books. There are also some magazines. There was a copy of YACHTING and in a special section on powerboat, there was one huge YACHT that could cruise cruise at 28 knots and only burn 280 gallons of fuel per hour. And you wonder why I have a sailboat?