“Note that the system “learns” about the characteristics of the tank with use, so the readings may be inaccurate when the tank is empty or almost empty when the system is first tested.” – from the instruction manual for our black water holding tank monitor Skynet starts here.
Installing the black water tank sensor ended up being a bit of a project. As of today, we are about halfway through. The starboard side is working. The port side keeps coming up with either an open circuit or a short. Unfortunately, the error codes are only helpful on a very basic level. Installation involved running electrical wiring from the main breaker panel to the holding tanks located in either hull. Waponi’s current wiring is a network engineer’s nightmare. 98% of the rat’s nest of conduit, cable, and wire is not labeled. The one saving grace is that there is, in fact, conduit. Materials: Two 25′ spools of 18 gauge stranded “zip line”Fish tape, aka pull stringSolder and soldering gunelectrical wire stripperselectrical tape or tape paintmasking tapemarriage counselor The process: Open electrical panel and resist urge to start rewiring the entire boat.Remove all items from the storage space under the…
The hinges broke on our toilet seat cover. The price for a replacement specific to our head: $64.99. The price for a toilet seat at the big box hardware store from which we can harvest the new hinges: $6.45. The lesson learned here: Before resigning yourself to purchasing the highly inflated name brand replacement part, make sure you check a regular hardware store. A little creativity can save you quite a bit of money. On that note, does anyone need a brand new toilet seat cover without the hinges?
Ryan and I took a little dinghy excursion on Sunday. A new catamaran moved in a few docks away from us so we had to check it out. There was a break in the rain. Upon our return Ryan had India hop in the dinghy for a little maintenance. Yes, she is still in her pajamas.
Today we traveled to Quartermaster Harbor. We included myself, Ryan, India and, our borrowed child, India’s friend, Keely. The sky was blue with no expectation of wind as we made our way under the bridge. Once we cleared the waterway, we were met with a steady 6knot breeze. Pro-tip: After taking down your Christmas lights and placing the main halyard back on the main, make sure it isn’t twisted around the lazy-jacks. This will inevitably result in a ripped sail bag. It becomes really difficult to tell if something is wrapped around a pulley when it is 50 feet in the air. After the aforementioned snafu, we sailed across Commencement Bay at a slow but steady 3knots. When we reached the mouth of the harbor, we lowered the sails, started the engines and motored in. We took advantage of the calm water to practice anchoring. The girls made lunch while…
The past two months have gone by in a blur. This is due in no large part to my brief employment in corporate America. It seemed like a good idea at the time. This week I resigned as I was finally hired on by the Tacoma School District. Being a substitute teacher will fit in much better with our plans over the next few months. A change in Ryan’s employment has presented the opportunity to move south on an accelerated timeline. What else has happened since the last post? We had our first Christmas aboard Waponi Woo. I insisted on the purchase of a small artificial tree for the salon and lights for the mast. Although our boat was the first to hoist up a string of lights, we were quickly outdone by other boats in the marina. One strand of lights simply isn’t enough. Not to worry, I purchased…