DAY ONE, TAKE 2! Don Pedro, anchor

Yesterday, Russ fixed the windlass. That took him a hour or so, taking the thing completely apart and putting it back together. I can attest that it does, indeed, let out rode. Tomorrow morning we'll see if it can bring it in again.

Then he fiddled with some settings, senders, and switches on all the electronics he installed the past 3 months. Turns out the engine was not, in fact, overheating, but readers and displays thingys weren't in sync. Which is always good news. 

I drove most of the day while Russ tracked down all little hiccups and fixed them, and it kept him busy almost the entire time. 

What it's like to be me.

He fixed 

• Engine overheating (faulty sender)
• Missing AIS data (reseated the inline fuse)
• "Drunken sailor" auto-pilot AND the "speed source fault" error from the autopilot (change speed source to GPS from Tachometer, which he thinks was the default when it couldn't find the AIS information, and that made her stay true. Go figure.)
• "High pressure" reading on the starboard engine (oddly tied to the next problem, so keep reading...)
• House batteries weren't charging (At some point Russ had switched together both engine starter batteries, probably trying to troubleshoot our engine issues back in December. Once he disconnected them, the house started to charge just fine and the starboard oil pressure reading returned to normal.)

Due to repairs the Albee Bridge only opens every half hour.

We missed it by 2 minutes. But this give you an idea

of how many boats were out and about today.

By the end of the trip the only issue remaining was the throttle. The port side has to be nearly an inch ahead of the starboard for both engines to run at the same RPM. He made phone calls, wrote emails, and googled for answers. He did some magic while on the hook. Tomorrow we'll see if that changed anything.

And DOLPHINS!

That all aside this was a terrible day to boat! For me, that is. Yes, the weather was gorgeous, sunny, warm, a little windy but not an issue in the channel. Even the red tide, which has plagued the area for months now, was not a problem. But all that made every one who owned a boat get out and enjoy the day. It was flippin' Wednesday! There were tons of boats -- every kind, everywhere, and all at once (hmmm... sounds familiar). That just made doing the driving a little more tense -- frankly, I don't trust any of these people.