Janurary 29, 2016 Pretty boat day Marsh Harbor

OK, I guess it’s time to get some things done. 
We did 4 buckets of laundry today in our 5 gallon bucket.  We wanted to get our cold weather clothes washed and put away for the winter.  Our laundry is limited by number of clips we have for hanging laundry.  The winds were pretty strong today, so we didn’t want to use the regular wooden clips.  We have metal clips and plastic ones that are meant for our life lines or a rope about the same size.
down jack lines,

jeans hanging to dry and filling with wind like a wind sock

special clothes pins for life lines or rope

Dave worked on placement of generator with our new cord.  We have tried to avoid gas engines on the boat.  Even opening the gas tank to fill the engine brings fumes into our boat.  The gas we have for our outboard engine is stored outside the boat.  And we don’t want to store the generator below deck because of the fumes.  The problem with storing out Honda generator in the cockpit or on deck, is theft.  They are easily recognized.  Dave came up with a way to lock it to the boat.  At least it would slow somebody down.  After trying different locations, he decided we still needed a longer cord.

Dave spent some time putting things away.  Good thing we have visitors occasionally, it helps declutter the boat, just like home, I guess.  Gloria, in West Palm Beach, had put together a fishing line with a yellow feather like they use in the Bahamas and had given it to Dave.  After seeing that, he picked up the different fishing line here.  He realized he needed wire leaders because most of the fish here are “toothy”.

He took down the jack lines on the deck and the lines strung inside the cabin that we used during the crossing.  The jack lines keep you attached to the boat out on the deck.  And the inside lines just gave us a hand hold as the boat was rocking. 

Dave checked the amperage of the water heater to be sure it was ok to use with the Honda generator.  He used a clamp meter to check for current flow and how strong it was.  The water maker uses 12.5 amps and generator puts out 13.5. 
 
Dave set up what we needed to put the Mercury outboard back on the dinghy.  He stores the motor lift davit in 2 pieces.  There is strapping to wrap around the motor.   Then the lift rope attaches to that.  And he uses a couple snatch blocks for running the line to the winch.  We will change the motors after we go to Elbow Cay, but he prepared everything today.  We have been using the same1 lb can of propane on the Lehr outboard motor all week.  We carry a spare can of propane in the dinghy for when it runs out.  You can’t really say that it will run x number of hours, because it also depends on how high you run the motor.  We are still experimenting with the usage, since we don’t use it for extended periods of time.