What's been going on?

Besides a serious case of the f***-its.  We've been rather busy with various events in our life.

But one that matters for this blog is:  WE BOUGHT A BOAT.

Yes, yes we did.

We had been looking, and deliberating, and thinking and budgeting.  We initially talked ourselves into getting another cheaper boat, but still packed with newer amenities, so that immediately put us into the category of -- production boat with up to date electronics and systems.

And we came close to a Jeanneau 45DS that was fully loaded.

Then we decided to wander over to Annapolis, well, because, they have a few boats.  In fact, every other one of them is for sale. Maybe not, but it sure seemed like it.

So we check out a few more, started scratching certain things off our list (for me, the new Beneteaus and Jeanneaus are too stark for my liking).

Some older boats--too many things to upgrade.

Then, even though my spouse had declared NO CENTER COCKPITS. We looked at a Southerly 135, or should I say the Southerly 135, since Southerly's are scarcer than hen's teeth in the US.

And it was a lock.  We bought her.  Blew our budget all to hell.

Of course, to keep up with tradition, because we sailors must have tradition. Northshore/Southerly went belly up (finally) between offer and close. (last time when we bought the Hunter, Hunter Marine declared bankruptcy soon after).

So, we are now in the process of giving her some TLC that she needed, nothing heart stopping, just some maintenance that has been belayed by the previous two owners.  The living quarters are in impeccable condition, but some systems things we want in better shape for our liking….or maybe because the spouse likes to buy shit for his boats.

So the latest dinner time conversations is about the 'list' of maintenance and upgrades.  There's the have to do, the should do, and the wanna do.  It's funny how the things on the spouse's wanna do list got moved to the have to do column.

I will post pics soon.  We hope to move her the first week in November, we have our slip waiting for her in Key West.  Can hardly wait to put that retractable keel to use!  We can put her in 4ft water, she'll still be floating with plenty to spare and we can scrub the hull our own damn selves…or not, so says the spouse.

In the meantime, here's a glamour shot from when she was known as Thistle and
featured in a couple of sail magazines. We have a copy of the SAIL magazine from 2003.

Sail Loft Time

With a little pixie dust, a lot of f-bombs, possible bleeding and a couple of glasses bottles of wine, there shall appear:

1. Binnacle cover. (not mine)
2. Sail cover for Catalina 30. (also not mine)
3. Awning for the mother-in-law's porch.

I'll probably post an album on Facebook (because I'm lazy, and that seems like a good place to put my projects).

No, I didn't order a first aid kit from Sailrite, that's just standard operating equipment for me.

If it ain’t fixed….it broke

To sum up this trip.  It broke.  What did? It ALL did.  Ice machine, makes a lovely bunch of ice and then suddenly starts this endless loop of “I scoop the ice into the basket…I scoop the ice into the basket…I scoop the ice into the basket”, even tho’ there ain’t any ice to scoop.  So, ye olde circuit board is shot in that. Tim later read that it tends to happen, so back to the drawing board on that.

Next, why aren’t the batteries charging.  Because the boat electrician forgot to check the water levels in them.  To which he’s kicking himself for.  So off for a new set of batteries.  So the boy who put forth 5 tons of AGM batteries on the boat is now back to being the mere mortal.  However first set of batteries lost was more of a new battery charger failure than any lack of effort on our part.

Next.  Let’s finally get the head sail up.  Oh, let’s make sure the wind kicks back up while we do it. Oh, and let’s make sure we forget 15 steps so that the sail goes down, and then up, and then down and then up.  Take boat out, furler is toast.  Not. Our. Fault.  It got damaged 5 years ago when the boat was shipped to the Midwest.  The lake folks never quite got Humpty Dumpty put back together again.  So, to make a long story short, it’s always been a bit of a bitch to operate.  Until this last week when it upped it’s orneriness from bitchy to full out not going to work.  Tim wound up having to go up front and hand roll the sail.  Luckily, wind died and we had a flat sea.

So, back at shore, I pull out our boat computer, that had been working (except for communicating with the actual battery—but working plugged in) to find out that it no longer wants to boot up. The last thing I remember from having it on was that there was a gazillion Microsoft updates, this will be the second computer that shot crapped after a Microsoft update.  Thanks Microsoft.   Can’t think of what else it could be, the computer is in a protective case in the chart table so I don’t think corrosion is a factor.

So, next on this list.  Making dinner that night, pull open the door to the dish cabinet. SNAP. There goes the catch, now cabinet won’t close.

Not broke, but if you don’t have it, it mean, no work. That was propane.  All propane on boat simultaneously went out.  Now, that’s not as easy to do as it sounds. Don’t try it at home.  Luckily, in the land of the propane tanks, it’s easy to get refills.  In the midst of rushing around refilling propane the world famous Macadamia Nut Hawaiianbread stuffing got a tad overcooked/dried out, but since not much was left, not a total failure.  Tim rocked on the game hens again.

Finally, big whammy jammy.  The Torqeedo is kaput.  In some perverse German engineering reason, you have to hook up/disconnect the connections from the battery to the throttle in precise order….or you fry the circuit board.  Tim failed to remember that fact and, no work no more.  So, we have to send that off for repair.

So, out of all that. Only two things will need professional help (not including mental help), the furler and the Torqeedo.  The ice machine will probably be donated to somebody who wants to take the time to see if they can replace the board (if that’s actually the problem).

Boat Projects..ALMOST complete

I went up to the lake to test fit the bimini.

And the wind, it was a-blowing.

And the air...it was dry.

The spouse...was out of town.

So with much cussing and electrocution by static electricity, I got it on.  And was surprisingly impressed on how well it fit.

Except the new aft braces rapid caught and pulled out my binding (not really their fault) and things weren't really lined up like they should.

Some adjustments here/there and a new pedestal cover, we almost there.

A week later, the spouse comes for his review.  Except for a few attempts at murder by winch handle, I took his comments well. 

We both came to an agreement (NO, REALLY) on how we could make it look a bit better.

However, and let me remind you all this, this is my first attempt at my own bimini. My own patterning, my own design, etc etc etc.

And I shall sit here in my own smugness.

SewYoga with Special K

As has been noted, I've been working on a few sail loft projects.

What hasn't been fully explained is the new form of yoga/pilates that I have developed in said projects.

The following move is what I best describe as the Bimini Butt Kick.  

1. First, place yourself in front of your machine.
2. Take your left leg and wrap it under your right leg and reach around so that you are touching your butt with your heel.
3. Take right leg and crank it up until your knee is around your ear.
4. Place right foot on foot control
5. Place left hand on fabric to guide.
6. Go for it.

Be careful because the following will happen:

1. You will get sudden horrible cramps in your hip flexor and/or arch of your foot.
2. Your ass will lose all feeling.
3. You suddenly realize your age when you go to unfold yourself and realize.....you can't.
4. (for pet owners)  You go in full Mario Andretti mode when your dog decides to try out her high pitched crazy bark because she just saw a squirrel out the window.  This is followed usually by the foot cramp, and you'll have to remove the foot control from under your foot with your hand.

So, you know you want a visual, here it is:

Twister ala Sailrite

All in all, the funny joke is:  when you have a big project and you work from the floor (not sure that's advised) you wind up doing a lot of squats, pec work and triceps work.  Didn't realize sewing would be my new work out plan.

Okay, I lie, I never had a workout plan.

Sail Loft projects.

After a lot of input (from the actual owners of the boat and contributors from others), sailing with bimini, sailing without bimini, cursing bimini.

We finally put forth a bimini plan.  I once again, had a full revolt and simply said, talk to me when you have the bimini design how you wants it.

And with much re-engineering and design, Compy Comp pulled together a good plan.  Sometimes the: "As long as you are happy, honey, I'm happy" line really does work!

So, now. It's time to do the canvas.  I finally got a 3 hour window in which the wind had truly died on the lake.  It got to be insane how I would touch the patterning material and all of a sudden the wind would appear.

But I digress..

The start of any project, clothing, canvas, upholstery is very intimidating.  I will actually try to do some real time descriptions of the work this time.  There's some good books/videos/advice out there, but every bimini is different.  I got lucky because I have the old canvas to sheet off of and refer to.

Now this pile of crap will somehow become a bimini.

What you see above:

1. patterning material, actually still taped together. marked for zippers, window, hems, backstay slots.

Still needs to be shortened to fit new frame (already marked) and the hems taken up a bit so that they don't block our view like the old one did.

2. sunbrella fabric (marine grade), dacron for reinforcement in places and chafe guard.

3. window material so that we can see our windex from the helm

4. zippers galore.

5. thread, velcro for window cover, assorted crap. I also have webbing for straps but the re-design might not need it.

More later on how this pans out.

Describe this picture

Every once in awhile I will just click a random picture.  Later on, it will ensue hilarity.  Mainly, it's the look on folks faces.

Below is case in point, I know what's going on, but can you figger it out?  Very. Intense. Thinking.

3 men, a binnacle and a screwdriver

Pimp My Ride--Sailor edition

Well, projects are getting knocked out one by one on the boat.

Done:

1. Awl grip/bottom paint
2. Unexpected rudder replacement
3. Unexpected head replacement
4. New stainless trim on vents/scupper drains
5. New lifelines (gotta get the before/after of those)
6. Water pump for motor replaced
7. Gear linkage replaced
8. Shift/gear handles replaced to stainless steel
9. Replace water/diesel/holding tank deck caps
10. Covered white veneer on salon table with stained wood veneer
11. Air conditioner ALMOST done (this resulted in a hilarious moment when our friend almost got dunked in the water by my spouse after asking 'you're not done yet!')
12. New stereo (previous worked on shore power only--WTF?) with new stereos and cockpit speakers and remote
13. Curtains---getting there
14. Stack pack
15. U/V cover for headsail
16. Various other things

Need to do:

1. Finish installing ductwork for a/c
2. Make final decision on bimini and reframe, make canvas
3. make companionway canvas cover
4. Make binnacle cover
5. Final adjustments to stack pack
6. Install wine fridge, er I mean, beer fridge, er I mean ....  ah screw it, the beverage fridge. Man got no bizness being on a boat without a cold beverage.

So all in all, except for a few major things like the hull/rudder work, we've tried to do most of the labor ourselves, and we've done a pretty good job.  I'm going to try to interview the spouse for a 'lessons learned' on his installation projects.

Thanks to the friends that helped, and those who just acted as cheerleaders.  To everybody who enjoyed the impromptu sailboat swap meet that happened on our dock, glad you had fun.  (Well, except for poor Point Jude who had need of some fenders and life jackets--not for the guys, for the boat--yes)

And on a final note about the spouse.  I have praised and extolled the virtues of this man's ability to dinker with almost anything...

But at the end of the day, he's 2/3 Professor and 1/3 Gilligan, good to have around to problem solve, but a little hilarious in the process.

Sail Loft, The Sequel

So, I made it through the head sail.

Kinda.

Well, my mechanical spouse rebuilt my machine, it was impressive.

But it did get done. And while my job might not be 'perfect' it looks pretty damn good.

So, I thought I'd add a few more notes.

You get points for:

The brilliant use of clothespins to keep your hem in place.

You get bonus points for:

Not killing your pet when she decides to eat the curtain panel
that you just finished and hand sewed slugs to.

Actually, that was quite an exciting evening with attempted caninicide and assorted mayhem. (spouse was at a 'trade show' in Vegas...whatever)

However, the culprit, she totally was repentant..not so much.

YUM!

Actually, the little twit tried to take the next panel... OUT OF MY HANDS AS I WAS SEWING IT. In terms of intelligence, this girl is.....preeetttttty.

However, back to the head sail.  It's looking good. More later

I get by with a little help from my friends....

So, honestly, I have a great sewing set up.  Really, I do, when I used to have time, I used to make my own clothing (I'm 5'10", no torso and built like a Daddy-Long-Legs.....not really a category that the clothing companies go after).

So, over the years I have collected a nice assortment of tools of the trade.  The last one being the Sailrite machine a few years ago.

However, when push comes to shove. Nuthin' beats some home grown 'tewls' to help you get shit accomplished.

Thus, I present, stuff you just didn't know belonged in a sail loft.

Order from left to right:

1. Yep, that would be canned air like you use on computers. Blows those itty bitty bits of thread way the hell away.
2. Assorted seam rippers. the one on the left is the shit. And it also is great for impaling thumbs.
3. My bent tip tweezers from my serger. OMG. The best for grabbing shit in tight places.
4. Needle nose pliers. Don't knock it until you've tried it, once you start remove thread with those, you'll never go back
5. The most unusual of the bunch.  And if you are wondering, yes, it IS one of those funky wine opener doodads. I can't open a bottle of wine to save my ass with that (which results in me breaking out in a cold sweat and panicking...Must. Have. My. Precious...), and also, a plastic knife.  Both are brilliant for removing old seam stick or other sorts of two-way tape. I seriously mean it. Blunt, yet thin and strong enough to peel back tape and not hurt the sail. As for opening wine...fuck it.
6. Scissors (duh), always have big and small pair around. And this part is very important. DO NOT LET YOUR SPOUSE NEAR YOUR SEWING/SAIL LOFT SCISSORS!

Oh, and a vacuum. Works great on ripped seams also (after they land on the floor)

Sail Loft underway--fingers optional

Well, it seems I have this great post.  But my Evil Sailing Sista Sabrina seemed to beat me to the punch, however she gave credit where credit was due so....

okay you ho!............................nestly nice sailing person, and I do mean that.

However as that ho!.............................nestly great gal has been enjoying her kickass boat, I've been quietly adding to the the Evil Sailing Sisters Sew Off rules. Oh, and the revenue of the local wine shop.

So (sew?) the history...Sabrina suggested having a 'challenge', I said hell, let's just go with the throwdown (okay, Bobby Flay, see top, foodie!)

Okay, then later, it becomes smackdown.  What?  WWF here I come!  The only smackdown that's happened is my various implements of sewing and me.  Whatever!

So, the original rules, (if you didn't check out the link already) are:

Okay, I think we need to establish some parameters.

You get:
Points for difficulty of project.
Points if the previous work done was done by an idiot. Unless, of course, the idiot was yourself.
Points if you go 15 minutes without dropping the F bomb and scaring your pets.

Demerits:
More than 5 F-bombs in a 15 minute period.
If you say more than 10 in an hour, you have to go to the penalty box.
Stabbing yourself with seam rippers/scissors/needles anything pokey....and then doing the same dumbass stunt again.
Bleeding on your project. (However, points for efficient blood removal....)

Handicaps:
Rum
Wine
Vodka
Beer

Now, to add to the rules.....

1. Points if you no longer cuss when you stab some pointy object into various parts of your body. As in, do not remove sail cover in your lap......  Ewwww! Don't start getting gross on me, it wasn't like that, it was my leg! 
2. Points if you are bleeding on your project as your husband walks in the door (he, after all, just had the sails cleaned) and managing to play cool and hide the brilliant red spot on the brilliant white sail. (In my defense, I didn't even know I was bleedin')
3. Bonus points if you convince your husband that you Really. Don't. Need. Help.  Seriously, the BandAid/Neosporin/Bandaging Tape supply is low enough.

Demerits:

1. Having a sudden thought while using the hot knife and just revelling in your thought for a moment.  Sunbrella will light on fire if you make it!
2. Losing your shit on the spouse when he says, "I hope you get that done soon, I don't want the sail to get dirty/dusty."  In his defense, see above, he did pay to have it cleaned.

Foot UV removed.
Old royal blue on the luff.
And my laundry, yeah, I know.....

New UV strip installed.

Melted throttle linkage

Okay, who to yell at first.

1. Yanmar for not putting a sufficient size heat exchanger on their diesel?
2. Hunter Marine for running the throttle linkage right over diesel?
3. All of the above.

Okay, Yanmar,  yes, we did let our strainer get clogged, but that doesn't let you off the hook.  When you be motoring through the balmy waters of the Florida Keys in May, the only option for water cooling is running about 85 degrees.  Nice to swim in, not so nice to cool the engine.

Hunter.  Really?  Engines get ... hot. So why don't we run the linkage cable right there within two inches.  That sounds like a great idea!

Melted Linkage cable.  The wires are actually supposed to slide
through the casing.  Not so much.

So, before we can leave, we need to get this situation of forward/reverse/neutral worked out.  So, Tim proceeds to perform surgery on the linkage cable.  I had the stressful and taxing job of sitting in the cockpit, drinking wine and listening for: "Now try moving it in neutral/reverse/forward"

Because of the engine overheating, our back berth, usually where we sleep is roughly 10,000 degrees.  I get all the fans I can blowing on Tim before escaping back up to the cool breezes outside.

We finally got it to working. Thankfully.  It was going to be fun trying to dock at Marina del Mar in Key Largo otherwise.

I wound up sleeping in the cockpit that night, we built up the bed in the salon for Tim.  

With very little to no ambient light, the night sky was absolutely fantastic.

Adventures of Compy Comp

Some of our friends often joke how my spouse lives under a lucky star.  And he does.  Of course he'll tell you he makes his own luck.

Whatever.

Well, he managed to have a job in Miami. Okay.  Then he gets a sales call in Key West at the Naval Air Station. Now he can pretty much right off the whole HemiD visit to the company.  Nice, huh?

So, he went to finally fix the battery problem. (However, every time he called, he was half in the bag in downtown Key West, hmmmmm)

But, he did get a lot done.  He replaced the batteries, deciding screw it on the AGMs and put good old fashioned buggers in.  And managed to convincingly tell some sob story to West Marine and get the replacement batteries at cost.  (Lucky star)

Also, with a lot of head and butt scratching, he figgered out that there was a fault in the battery charger (bad Xantrex, bad, bad Xantrex) and that is what caused the AGMs to overcharge, which caused them to crap out and really....AGM batteries are kinda candy assed if you ask me.  That was under warranty so that was no biggie.

He also replace the tach since ours wasn't reading out the engine hours.  Also some odds and ends that were irritating me.

I also tasked him with doing the laundry, that quickly got sub-contracted out to the local laundromat.  No surprise there.

And he came back with some lovely gewgaws for me, that's my man, drunk shopping for his gal.

Friends don't let friends work on electronics drunk

Except for this particular buddy system, the voice of reason passed out.  Yes, that would be me.  Maybe not reason, but at least a voice.

We arrived in Key Largo on time despite rumors of security protests at airports.  We hadn't picked up the rental car yet, so we ambled on over to the marina bar Coconuts.  There's been, um, some changes, um yeah.  We met the new manager, wow. He's a treat. Pathological liar comes to mind, desparate, psychotic need to be accepted.  Half the bar staff quit within three weeks of his arriving, just to put things in perspective.

However, bartender Archie was there and totally entertaining us with great stories.  Long story short....we got a little messed up. Tim proceeded to nightcap 15 gallons of beer with a very strong bloody mary.

We got back to the boat, grateful to see water on board, started to chug that.

Then that's the last thing I remember.

Here's what happened after I face first into the back berth.

One of the last stages of installing the radar is to put on the connecter ends after running the wires down the mast. Now let's me-a 'splain something to ya.  There's 42,000 wires, all the size of a strand of hair and they have to be crammed, IN ORDER, into the connector and crimped.  Now let me repeat, IN ORDER.  Let me also explain to you that they are COLOR coded. Now let me also tell you that even stone cold sober bright light and magnifying glass Sparky cannot tell colors apart.

Really the wires are not that much bigger than the drawing.

Okay, you got the background now.  So, Special K, face planted in back berth. Compy Comp deciding that, yeah, I can wire this bitch up. I'm doing it.

Well, yeah, he did, but...not so much.  And if you might be confused why not? Read above, thin wires, color coded, smashed into a small connector. How would a drunk guy screw that up?

Anyway, the next morning, after a quick hangover cure breakfast at The Galley restaurant, we did get the radar together and working, of course, since neither of us are a retired radar operator from WWII, we don't know what the hell we are looking at.

Now accepting applications for radar operator....

Lady Gaga boat services

So the spouse has a little bit of MacGyver meets Liberace to him evidently.  This latest incarnation was to protect the face against metal shavings while drilling into the stainless steel to run more wiring.

A little more bling or some raw meat and we have Gaga

However, it was most beautiful to have the boat finally get cleaned up a bit.  Of course, both my rugs and my hand/dish towels were destroyed in the process, so I finally got to do a shopping trip.  Why let him have all the fun?

My boat is now smarter than me

And probably has a better phone plan.

Okay, the boat now can turn on her cockpit lights, cabin lights, air conditioner, sound an alarm if somebody tries to break in.  (oh, yeah, by the way whoever built my security system, label your outputs correctly)

I'm actually not being vague, I honest don't remember.

VHF is working great.  XM antenna with radio and weather working great.  (Oh, boy, Radio Margaritaville 24/7--whimper)

The great 12v airconditioning for the back berth debate has been put on hold. We bought a ChiliPad that can run off the inverter, we have one at home and it's quite nice, especially if you have a foam bed.

Cabin fans have also been installed.

Things are looking quite nice, and for all the teasing I've been doing, I am kinda quite impressed with Sparky's abilities.  It's good to know while I'm out running snorkeling trips and being the boat beer girl he'll have a job also.  :-)

Twelve Volt Man

Stage One of the great electrical refit has been accomplished.  If I can get Sparky to contribute I'm sure he has some valuable information.

So what got done.

New battery bank of six (6!  6!!!) batteries.

New beefed up alternator.

New monitors for battery system/alternator.

New wiring from alternator to battery bank.

New battery charger/alternator.

They call him the twelve volt man....

I was finally allowed on the boat which resulted in me kinda doing a Roger Rabbitt impression and an OMG WTF thrown in for good measure.

OMG--The DC electrical panel just barfed up on my chart table

I started to get a bit shaky, thus the blurry picture
Oh, oh my

However, I was elected to help (which if I want ANY access to my boat again…..) mainly I was the flashlight holder and measuring tape girl.

At one point, I tried to climb out of the cockpit locker and managed to imbed the locker shelf into my back.  Quite fantastic cussing and bruising ensued.

As far as the technical aspect, I need to get full report on it, but basically, as with most boat projects, electrical work entails 24,000 trips to the hardware/battery/online stores.

Cussing.  Contortions in such a way that you expect to drafted into the next Cirque de Soleil show.

Did I mention cussing?

So, we are sitting there, getting ready to start it all up. Fingers crossed.  Sparky says, turn the ignition…….

Nuthin.

Hubby looks like he could cry.  "Then..did you turn the batteries back on? You were supposed to turn the switch back on."

Harrumph.  I was not TOLD to turn them back on.  For once I'm there being perfectly well behaved and following every order without arguing, commentary or anything and that's the thanks I get.

"Did you turn the batteries back on.

Update, Update where is the update?

Current projects:  Alternator upgrade, electrical upgrade, chartplotter upgrade, security system upgrade

Status:  I am not allowed on the boat

Countdown to move:  Looking kinda sketchy right now

Details to come: As soon as I can get spouse to report in (see status)

On top of that I am travelling for work the next 4 out of 5 weeks, good times.  

However we did get to go to the Annapolis boat show. Will report on that soon.  Including a special "People Suck" rant.

Project List Part 2

Now that we's got electricity again both AC/DC it's on to the next project.

1. Security system.

2. Garmin radar/chartplotter/weather antenna and VHF AIS.

Now let me note right now that although the above things will be nice to have, we have a water pump crapping out (the tank ran dry and it ran for 30 hours straight, and I'm not saying nuthin more about that) and the hot water heater seems to be Tango Uniform.

So, we are now at a difference of opinion on the priority list.  However, listening to the water pump tax Sparky's precious electrical system has kinda moved that up on the list.  The fact that I let him know that his next shower on the boat will be tepid water at best has also moved that up on the list.

It's all in how you present the facts, folks.

However, Compy Comp does want to get the Garmin installed so, and I quote, "You can start learning how to use it."

Yep, you betcha.  I am the official navigator on the vessel.  Can't depend on Tim, he looks at a Google map and says, yep, it's a straight shot.   (except for a large coral reef….let me know how that works out for you)

PS--When I came home from my last trip, we had the mobile command center in my living room. And I didn't think of taking a pic.

The adventure begins

Actually it began a fine Sunday afternoon, with a brisk 15 kt breeze from the SSW.  Everybody was out, life was good.

And then......."it just ain't the same as sailing on the ocean."

And then........"let's move it back down to Florida."

"Okay."

"Okay."

Now what.

Now, comes the planning, the researching, more planning, contacting friends and acquaintances and in some situations complete strangers.

The beautiful thing about the sailing community is--EVERYBODY has an opinion.

So, I'll detail more about all that later.  Right now, let's start with the great battery caper.  The spouse is a non-practicing engineer, but every once in awhile...that engineer rears its ugly head.  The case in point this time?  Our battery bank, and now when I say battery bank, I don't mean your local savings and loan, I mean the whole freaking Federal Reserve.

On. My. Boat.

So how many batteries is apparently enough for a 2006 36' Hunter?

Not two.

Nope, not three.

Not four either.

How's about SIX!  YES SIX!!!!!!  Big ass muthas too. (That's my professional term for them, so shut up)

So tonight, impromptu dock project as CompyComp keeps rolling down the dock with batteries...and more batteries...and MORE batteries.  Our friends, AKA the old man dock club, just look and stare and yep, there it is: WTF?

Grateful was I that I got an invitation to go get pizza for the boys while they commenced with the big battery project.  Which usually consists of a lot of beer drinking and 'planning'.

But it gets better.  How could it you ask?  Oh, ye of little faith.

Somehow--can't imagine how, she says to herself sarcastically--somehow there was what we call a
'spark' and said 'spark' off of the 60,000 volts of batteries now installed somehow managed to short out the battery charger.  This would be our second battery charger since the first got zapped by lightning the first year we had the boat up on the lake.

SO,  thus ended the Friday Night fun with me standing there looking like Kermit the Frog with my lower lip pulled up over my face and trying not to laugh and my husband not happy. (Actually he was, now he gets to buy more gizmos!)

--Special K

Battery-licious

The Meeting of the Minds