" When Pigs Fly"

         The countdown is back on. 

At this time tomorrow, August 9^th we will be starting our adventure. Yesterday while we were waiting for our UPS deliveries we took a leisurely 20 mile boat ride. Anna did a great job captaining the boat the whole trip, short of clearing the slip and the chute leading to and from the river. The chute’s a narrow gap about 150’ wide with plenty of room but the rocks on both sides look a bit daunting to the novice captain. While out we adjusted the icons on the chart plotter to sizes and shapes we both agreed on. We found a secluded cove, dropped anchor, swam, had lunch and finished off our last two Red Stripes. After arriving back at our slip we found our deliveries setting on the dock awaiting installation.

Anna and I installed our second new Garmin Radar before dinner. This was quite a fiasco and I’m sure we looked like the Clampets or some Rub Goldberg outfit with all the rigging. The radar itself was really simple since it was a direct replacement, four nuts and two plugs-ins. The difficult part was getting access to these nuts. The helm console, which is hung from the bottom side of the radar arch and weighs about 45 pounds with all the electronics, needed to be lowered. This allowed access to the nuts holding the radar. To accomplish this I needed to rig two ropes over the arch to cradle this weight, allowing the console to hang suspended 3’’ lower than the normal position. While doing this we also had to insure not to break or disconnect any wires. We didn’t need any new wiring problems. There also were some difficult positions needed to remove and reinstall the 3/8” nuts. This all kind of reminded me of my days working on Uncle Sam’s jets engines, there too you needed to get in ridiculous positions and work only by feel.

Our new battery charger also arrived yesterday and is being installed this morning as I compose this post. This should finalize the list of the repairs needed to fix the low voltage issues we were having.

This afternoon we will clean the boat and load the power cords and water hose all in preparation for tomorrow. We are planning to make one last run to the grocery store for fresh food items. Then we  plan to have a good dinner at the Oasis Roadhouse. Those ribs are calling our names.

Tomorrow around 9:30 AM we will top off on fuel, get a good pump out, and say our goodbyes to all the friends we have made in our short stay at Buzzard Rock Marina. However, it will only be good-bye for a short time. I have already put our name on the list for a slip on “E” dock, even number  side when we have completed our loop. We rate our stay here at Buzzard Rock on the Pig Scale as a 5 pigs, if there was just cable TV and a little stronger wifi it could become a very rare six pig marina.

See you on the water!