Tuesday, October 19, 2010

A visitor at our dock.

 This is a Lion's Mane Jellyfish we spotted next to our dock this morning. We normally see them a dark reddish brown colour, so this was an unusual sight for us. The bell on this jelly is about 18" across and the tentacles were probably about 10-12 feet long. I would have liked to get a picture of this one from in the water, that would have been very cool. This jellyfish can give a nasty sting, but not life threatening.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Oh the joy$ of owing a boat!

$ince we got home from our last journey, we have (well, mostly Jerry) been busy fixing broken things on the boat. As you know, if you have been following our blog, we ended up without our windlass as the motor was burned out. $o that is all installed now and working nicely.
The front head's macerator pump has not been working for quite awhile, Jerry just finished that $melly job yesterday. He also made a plywood floor for our inflatable $ince the original inflatable floor was no longer holding air for more than 10 minutes (we always took the foot pump with us when we went out). The tubes are still holding air and a new floor is a ridiculous price, so this will get us another few years before we have to buy a new dingy.
The next thing is getting new foam for our mattress $ince it feels like the Rift Valley right down the middle where the two pieces come together. Apparently, foam only lasts about 6-8 years and this mattress is over 8 years now. Time for a new one!
Ever since we had the salt water intake pump for the engine replaced earlier this year, we have had this really irritating very slow leak. I say irritating because so far we have not been able to locate exactly where it is coming from, so that is another job on the list. And another minor leak in the engine coolant lines we have to figure out.
The last thing that needs our attention is the auto pilot. When we very unfortunately backed up into a rock last summer and made the chain slip on the steering column because the rudder was pushed against the rock, our auto pilot has not been working properly. But I think it really is just a matter of fine tuning the settings, which we really don't know a heck of a lot about. This particular job will need to be done one day when we are out on the water and it is very calm.
Well, at least this gives Jerry something to work on since we have finished renovating the house! We will have Splendid Mane in ship shape for her next journey coming up this fall.