Still No Electric, but Let the Sun Shine In!

So Hans still has no idea why the hell there's no electric on our boat, and last night he sent a desperate email to our electrician (who doesn't take weekend calls). Maybe because Hans has spent a lot of money over the years with him (his previous boat was a 42' Passport) the electrician called back. He told Hans that he'd gone over our electrical system with a fine tooth comb and can't for the life of him figure out what the problem might be, and will stop by tomorrow to check things out.

This exact situation occurred this past summer when we jumped on board, took off, and immediately ended up with dead batteries. This is because although this same electrician replaced 2 of our batteries, the original wiring was all wrong. But after many hours of paid labor to fix that problem along with installing a new stereo system, the stereo bit the dust the next day.

The problem? A blown fuse. Why? Who the hell knows!

This brings us to boat ownership and being handy.

Hans swore after he sold his Passport that he'd never buy another boat if he had to travel hours to get to it, take care of it, and depend on others to keep an eye on it. But after forgetting the pain (just like women who swear they'll never go through child birth again but go on to have two more kids!) he went and bought our Knotty Cat.

Hans is a very intelligent man (at home I call him McGyver) but we both felt it would be worth the money to have an expert get things up to par and then go from there. But if an expert can't figure out what's going on...

Today he finished up his diesel engine course and the nice thing was, the engine they used was identical to our two. He said the class helped bring everything together and tie up a lot of loose threads about what he already knew about our engines. Hans also got a kick out of the couple who appeared to be in their late 70's and look just like twins, and the guy who ate Hans' lunch.

The one bit of good news is; the solar panels woke up bright and early this morning and began charging our electrically deprived batteries, right off the bat!

I fly down to meet Hans tomorrow and our original intentions were to get our butts moving south. I sincerely hope this will be possible because I don't think I can handle leaving Wilbur even one day longer than necessary.


Here's our poor boy earlier this week after a bout of tummy trouble.

No more cheap doggy biscuits for him.


I just can't imagine how he'll fare while being boarded. I realize he'll have a half day of doggy day care (ie, running like a maniac with other dogs), but what about bed time?

This dog is a heat whore. If he's not sacked out on the futon with a blanket, he's in front of the forced air heating vent.

And in addition to that, he has sensitive skin and those aforementioned tummy troubles.


I have a feeling these next two weeks (or more) are not going to be very relaxing for me.