Goodbye Newport RI

Well it has been a full two weeks.  We know it has been two weeks because the harbor master stopped by the boat and reminded us that our 14 days were up on Tuesday.  That is a pretty sharp harbor master who can keep track of boats even if they move position in the anchorage, which we did after dragging, then going to fill up our water tanks.

We got several projects completed during our stay here both of which set us back about a BOAT each.  First was the re-certification of our emergency life raft, a Given Buoy 4-6 person Cadillac of a raft that I pick up for a song in Florida for $150 on the chance it COULD be re-certified.  Looks like we got lucky and now have a very nice raft to match our very nice boat.  Before we pull up anchor this morning, I need to finish the deck lashing with 2" nylon straps and quick releases and that project will be truly done.

The second project was the Spectra water maker.  Again, a very nice unit, but not functioning.  In this case it was pretty basic concepts and plumbing, so I took on the project myself and it paid dividends. The first dividend is that I now understand the system whereas before is was a mystery.  Second, I was able to simplify (think KISS) the plumbing removing several redundant valves and fittings. Third was cost.  We now have an 8gph water maker for the cost of the replacement parts.  The only thing remaining is to replace the accumulator which I think is broken because every time the Clark pump shifts it bangs a little.  The accumulator tank is supposed to soften the shifting which happens every 7 seconds when the pump is running.

We also went to all three days of the Newport Boat Show.  What we most enjoyed was the free seminars from Pam Hall (she is a kick) and Lee Cheasneau (THE original marine weather guru).  Just like in Oakland CA two years ago (our first boat show) we found ourselves drinking from the fire hose for a couple of days.  The cool thing is I think Christine has become a weather avoidance disciple after listening to Lee and seeing some of his slides of sailboats in F10 conditions.  The next project is to get our SSB radio recommissioned so we have a reliable source of weather fax charts.  I am almost tempted to spring for the price of an Irridium GO device just so we can have two sources for this critical information.  I have already tried a stand alone shortwave radio and iPad WeatherFax software, but no joy, just static even with the aerial antenna.  Oh well.

I will leave you with one last picture from Newport.  David and I were walking up to the Radio Shack for a cooling fan, when we found a family playing with a parachute in the park.  Just had to stop and play awhile.  It took some convincing from his new friend that is was actually OK to run under this thing!