One of the issues we've had is water collecting in the bilge. This meant a trip up the mast for Mark to suss out the reason since we've checked out all the possible deck leaks. Yup, there are 2 mounting holes at the top of the mast that are open. So down Mark came to purchase the necessary stuff to close it up. Up he went again to install the plugs, down again once he realized he needed a different size. Up once more for good measure with the proper sized plugs and now hopefully we've stopped the water ingress. We really appreciate our ugly mast steps just now. they might not be pretty but they certainly made this job a whole lot easier than it would have been without them.
While he was up the mast, Mark did a bit of investigation to determine why our steaming light comes on when we power up the anchor light. Seems we have a short circuit in the wiring. The question is- is it at the fixture or deep within the mast? We are hoping its at the fixture and the installation of our LED tricolor will cure it. Of course, with our luck it will be the wiring which is toast. The good news is we have an unused wire for a strobe within the mast we can swap out for the wire currently in use. The bad news is this will still be a pain in the butt when we were hoping we just had to have a new tricolor mounting fabricated. We've got to get this sorted as we have a quickly approaching deadline...
While Mark slaved away at the top of the mast, Maura had her favorite cousin over for a sleepover. What do 12 year old girls want to do on perfectly warm, sunny Spring days? Join the madness that is the Kemah boardwalk in Spring. $20 for a ride the roller coaster and spinny rides until you puke wrist band makes for some seriously happy kids. They returned giggling and breathless and full of giddy exuberance. We have to put up with traffic, crowds and noise at the marina but sometimes having a mini amusement park right next to the boat is a pretty sweet deal. If we didn't have a tween it would be something less than awesome but since we do, it works.
Currently, her favorite video is the Backyardigans Pirate Adventure and she has used this to form her own association boat=pirate. While we were driving, Kitty piped up from her seat with important information for me- "Daddy on he boat. Daddy a pirate. Daddy say 'arrrgh'". I suppose if you are almost 2 it makes sense, pirates have boats and say 'argh'. Daddy is always on his boat so that must mean he is a pirate although he indulges in far more colorful terms while dealing with the boat than 'argh'. I should probably take this opportunity to tell her that pirates are actually the bad guys and explain the socio-economic and political reasons piracy exists but she is not yet 2 and its just too cute when she says "arrgh" so we will just skip this opportunity to educate her. I'm sure there are saltier than thou types who will feel I am allowing her to glorify piracy but they can deride me as they please. I promise I won't buy her a little plastic AK 47, at least until she is 3. ;-)
That last paragraph had me grinning ear to ear...and I might have actually let out an "arrrgh" under my breath. It's good that you are waiting until she turns three for the plastic AK-47. I mean, as a parent, I'm sure you want to give your child everything, but it's good to teach patience, no? I hear they have them in pink. ;)
ReplyDeletehaha..We know all too well the Up and down that happens on a boat. Awesome that you found another water entry point that you could close.
ReplyDeleteKitty seems adorable. What is it? "Kids say the Darndest things".
Dani
Just be careful. She might start wanting a parrot or maybe a monkey. And I hear they're messy pets.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE our mast steps. Except when I let a halyard wrap around them. Then I HATE them. But the wrap is easily cleared. All in all I LOVE them way more than I HATE them. I'll never to back to a bosun's chair. -Steve
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