Countdown

    The marina sent out an e-mail last night to ask members to reach out as soon as they're ready to launch, so that they can get the list moving as soon as possible. They want to avoid a mid-May avalanche of requests all at once, and I for one am all on board with that idea. Naturally, I sent a reply saying I was good to go. Granted, I knew the time was coming, I've been watching them get the docks in over the last week.

    There are still a couple of fingers left for the C dock as well as D, the East wall. Tomorrow should be a nice day though, so hopefully they're able to get those in too, and get some of the launches started. I'm certain I won't be in the water tomorrow, so I'll be using the day to run up and install the new LED bulb for my deck light into the fixture before it splashes. While I believe that a ladder would give me plenty enough reach to reach it after the mast is stepped, there's no reason not to just get it done while I can. It'll also give my car a good chance to prove to me that it's fixed.

    I drive a GL series SUV, and last trip up caused me to notice that an issue that I had been avoiding diagnosing had become well, needy. A bunch of months ago, I went to take off in a spirited manner from a stop, and heard a crunching/grinding noise briefly in what seemed like the driver's side front wheel area. Normal driving however, was fine. While concerning, obviously, I deduced that as long as I just drove normal, I could just put off having it looked at. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. I noticed it happen one more time during my last trip to the boat, under what I would consider less-than-spirited takeoff. Now, I could certainly baby the vehicle off the starting lines of stop signs and green lights, but I also decided that it was less safe than practical; if I needed to quickly accelerate on the highway out of potential danger, it would be a problem.

    We have a newish garage locally that I've found relatively reasonable and pleasant to deal with. They're also one of the few places around that will install parts you've purchased yourself, at least within reason. Of course, they can't guarantee those and nor would I expect them to, and generally I would rather they get the parts anyway, but the option is nice. They've done some work on other cars, and honestly I'm just at a point that I hate spending free time during nicer weather under or beside a wheel well. I called at the middle of last week, and dropped it off for diagnosis, hoping it was something as simple as a bad CV axle, or maybe a wheel bearing. 

    One transfer case, and twenty-two hundred dollars later - which included an oil change, mounting two more tires I had purchased already, and a renewed state inspection - we'll see if it's fully fixed and trustworthy of a longer journey this weekend. To be fair, it's the first major issue I've had, and going through the service records for the 160k miles of it's life, seems to be about the first major issue it's had at all. Shocks, batteries, but this was the first biggie. No complaints.

    On the order of other projects again... the tiny-home shed is no longer going to be a tiny home. It's still a shed, though I've been working on some of it. I've run electric throughout, although right now it's all powered off an extension cord. Once I get it moved over to the driveway, I'll run a dedicated feed into it's panel. It will ultimately be finished off inside and turned into half office/work space, half playroom for my toys, like the Sim rig, and the other simulation that I've built in there:

    

    I can't remember if I've mentioned or not, but one of the bucket list items I have in life is to learn to fly, to progress towards a Private Pilot's certification. This would be done by training on likely a small Cessna plane, a 152 or 172 perhaps. So I've built myself a flight simulator cockpit that somewhat replicates a generalization of one. I do have a different throttle assembly coming in the mail, either tomorrow or Monday that will effectively round out the experience, but so far, I'm happy with it. I'll do a full breakdown in another post. Right now, it sits in the shed, pre-move, but functional. 

    I've made the joke, that since I have a racing sim cockpit, a flying sim cockpit, a Venture 21 sailboat on a trailer outside I can go sit in while a breeze blows, now I just need a submarine to put in my pool and all my bases will be covered.

    I did also order some fairing compound to finally work on solving the ugly cockpit bulkhead where the gauges used to be, and a new block for the port rail to feed my jib sheet through. I did also order some wiring to use to do a better job with the outboard electric starting. Currently the battery sits in the cockpit locker, and I have to pull the battery out and set it on the seat so that the wires from the outboard can reach it. It's annoying, but at least it works. I'm hoping that this panel mounted connector will let me make a disconnect for the wiring, but also enable me to leave the battery in it's container in the locker without having to manhandle it up, cause tripping hazards, and such. As a slight bonus, I can also use a spare connector to wire up a small solar panel to act as a trickle charger for that battery if need be. I still have a small 5 watt (I think) panel and it's controller that were on the boat when I purchased it, so I can retrofit that into working for the outboard battery, and just set the panel on the seat when I leave, letting it keep the outboard battery topped off in between trips. Even though the outboard has an alternator of sorts to keep the battery up, I don't usually run it long enough to make much difference. I'm sure it does something, but if I can regulate the battery better via solar in between outings, why not. I might even be able to start working on that system tomorrow while I'm there.