On May 19, 1:42 pm, cruisin wrote:
On May 18, 6:05 pm, wrote:



cruisin wrote:
Greetings from Fiji,
A quick, slightly longwinded, note to report what happens to a boat
left alone with her keel in a hole for too long...not pretty.............
... The reality of things was kind of shocking, though, and I doubt I'll
ever leave our girl alone like that again. Bottom line is what we've
always known- the worst thing you can do to a boat is not use her for
too long.

Yep, gremlins invade boats that are left too long... it sounds like
you all had some bad ones, but made a speedy recovery. Glad to hear
everything worked out.

Just a suggestion: it may be cost-effective to replace the electrolyte
in your batteries. Batteries that are left flat invariably suffer loss
of capacity. It may be a relatively easy & cheap way chase out a few
electrical gremlins.

Putting the keel in a hole for dry storage may be common in the
tropics... that's the way boats are kept in much of the eastern
Caribbean. Harder to work on the bottom, easier to work on everything
else!

It's good to hear from you!

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

Yeah, except in this part of the world I think they're called
menehunes, polynesian cousins of the gremlins. I always like it when
they decide to fix something they've screwed up- it actually does
happen sometimes when you leave them a plate of coconut cookies at
night.
All we're waiting for now is a small, lightweight, brave soul to
ascend the mizzen mast to r/r the windgen blades, and a very laidback
NoCal vendor to ship a new contactor for the windlass.
So how does one replace electrolyte in batteries? Gotta get the old
stuff out somehow and find an all night electrolyte store for a few
quarts of new juice? I might try equalizing them first, something
I've never had very good luck doing.
Yes, it was kind of handy to have the boat set down low for getting on
and off, and polishing the hull. Also didn't have that scary feeling
of about to tip over like when she's on stands.
Any of the rest of the old regulars ever check in here anymore? I
mean besides WilNeal? Barb and I had an 11 hour layover in Auckland
and thought about looking up your old pal the Navigator as we drove by
the university, but couldn't remember his real name. Who knows if he
even teaches there anymore.
We're still hoping to take a trip south when we get to Queensland and
see if we can't find Tadpole. We're looking forward to winetasting
our way there.

If you get as far south as Tasmania, I'm still here. May not be in
another 12 months tho.

PDW