Untangled

 It's official - I'm ready for the season. At the very least, the boat is. Whether or not the yard is as ready, that remains to be seen.

I woke up this morning, beating my alarm by an hour for the third day in a row - not a fan. I hopped onto good ol' trusty Amazon, and decided I better order up a couple things quick. I can't remember if I had mentioned it, but my steaming/deck combo light had an accident at some point. Personally, I believe they caught the deck light half with the mast sling when attempting to step the mast onto the boat at the beginning of last season, or banged the light fixture somehow in the process. I remember getting to the boat, and seeing an LED circuit board laying on the deck. So, assuming that my cheap fifty dollar combo had reached an early grave, I wanted to replace it. Now, I'm a cheapskate for some things, and I didn't see the need to spend hundreds, potentially several hundred dollars on a light for a boat that wasn't in a financially sensible value to warrant it. I did decide, however, to step up to a Hella Marine model.

There were two models I came across, an 8504, and an 8505 model. Hella Marine themselves only list the 8504 on their website as far as current products go. It's not too shabby, however it's fully halogen including a blinding 100 watt deck light. That's nice and all, but I don't need sunlight at 10 PM on the deck. Bugs are bad enough as it is. The 8505 uses a much more practical output, and can easily accept LED equivalents. So, a little under a hundred bucks later, that was on order, as was a new block for my port-side jib sheets, and some wiring to add a panel connector that I can use to hard-wire the electric start for the outboard without having to move the battery in and out of the cockpit every time I go out. Granted, none of this would arrive instantaneously, but at least it was on order.

I arrived at the boat in wonderful weather, just shy of 80 degrees and mostly sunny. First order of business was going to be to string the halyards into the mast, but as I walked the topsides, I realized that my cheapy light had a few screws on it's face. Hmm, I wonder... Yep, sure enough, the three screws allow for the top lens to be removed, as well as the lower housing to bend up out of the way to replace the bulb. The wait, what? Oh. Yep. Turns out the LED array I found on the deck last year was from the bulb that was in the unit, but the whole bulb could be replaced. So I ordered a whole new light when all I needed was a bulb. You would think I would've looked further into that. Cheap, yes. Smart, not so much so often.

So now that I had a plan for the light issue, I went about my time fixing and arranging the halyards. It takes three bolts, and a half turn of one nut in order to swing the top plate on my masthead off to the side with enough clearance to run the halyards up through the sheaves. This time, I took extra care to make sure they were actually run correctly, instead of over the forestay tang mistakenly like last year. I also triple checked that nothing was crossed up or tangled in the spreaders or upper shrouds. I'm confident that everything is finally settled and ready to go, barring the wasp next in the base of the mast. Not my problem, they can vacate when the yard steps it.

I also took my fancy new iPad and it's case, which arrived yesterday, to the boat and tested that claw mount. As I was remarking to myself, and to my dad on the phone that the mounts were very reminiscent of the RAM style mounts, I actually saw the RAM stamp embossed into the side. Go figure, but I guess that explains their robustness. And just as I had hoped, the claw mounts perfectly onto the handrail inside the companionway hatch. I guess I could've read the description better, but I'm quite happy with how it works. Now if I can only find a navigation app that I like, we'll be in business.

Lastly, I brought the fridge/cooler thing back into the cabin and placed it where it should go, got the fenders ready, and called it a day. Packed up my ladder, bundled up what was left of the tarp (really only one corner had ripped away, so it could probably be salvaged for.. the Venture!), and headed back home. I stopped at Wal-Mart for a couple quick things, like numbers for the other side of my mailbox. I've lived here for twenty years, and it didn't dawn on me until just the other day that the only side of my mailbox with my house number is on the opposite side of the mailbox from where the mail route comes. I have it it on the side facing the driveway, but the route comes from the other side. And since I had another ipad ordered which was quite literally dropped off at the neighbor's porch yesterday (the good neighbor, at least), I figure it was probably time to spend two dollars on numbers to put on the other side so that there's no excuse for drivers to not find the correct house. Whether or not they actually perform the duties beyond that, well... baby steps, I guess.

I also bought a new window unit air conditioner to finally replace the decade-and-then-some old 220v unit that I have installed now. I went with a 110v version, only 10k BTU but I'm also relocating it to a more central location on the opposite side of the house with a much better airflow path into the living area, instead of kind of tucked into the corner where the old one is. I believe that this will actually work out better, even though I think the old one was rated higher from it's time. Then again, it's so old and rattling while it runs, I'm certain that's a good chunk of missing efficiency there. And the old one is on the South side of the house, wide open and taking the brunt of the sun full force during summer. I'm not an expert, but I remember reading that if your AC is shaded, it's more efficient. The new one is now on the North side, center of the living area, which will be shaded until late in the evening, so that should help too.  Plus with the new shed being moved soon, I can get the race rig out of the spare room, which means there will then be two rooms that can be basically shut off from the rest of the house, helping out. And worst case, I get a little 5k BTU deal to stick in my bedroom window and tag-team the heat. Can't wait to drop that old out out of that window that it's lived in for years now, with the added bonus of having a freed up 220v circuit! I guess I could start a welding business in the dining room?

Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy and miserable, so I guess I won't get to tell Google to turn my AC on for a little while. At least in the virtual world, the race tracks will be dry.