Thursday, August 25, 2011

Maintenance and boat work, storms and worry

Since our return from the Abacos, Equinox has been the object of our attentions! Alas, we're not cruising, but instead, we've spent the last month coordinating various work projects aboard her. While aboard this last month, we compiled a long list of needed repairs and an even longer list of wished-for upgrades and improvements, so Ron's been acting as general contractor and worker bee, overseeing it all. 

It's taken some time, but items small and large are getting done! Everything from tracking down the cause of the annoying rattle in the saloon ice maker, to larger items like repairing the leaky fuel pump on the 12 kW genset are on the list. We also needed to replace our hot water heater, which rusted out and sprung a leak this past month. It was placed so tightly in its machinery space that we could never access and replace its recommended magnesium zinc inside, which may have contributed to the problem. We are now replacing it with a smaller, heavy-duty marine-grade water heater that we can access easily. Yay! As for upgrades, we're adding an AC-powered pump as a back-up for the hydraulic cooling system, looking into getting the freezer on the upper deck put on the inverter, and plan to upgrade the air-conditioning cooling pump. Lots of work in progress!

Currently though, with Hurricane Irene on the scene, our focus has changed. We took Equinox up to American Custom Yachts on Monday, a few days earlier than anticipated. She was actually scheduled to be hauled out tomorrow for the remainder of August and September for some work but the storm accelerated the schedule. We got battened down and were prepared in case Irene turned our direction, which is now only a blustery rain event here while it batters the Bahamas.
Irene making her way north through the Bahamas.
Photo courtesy of NOAA. 
Our thoughts this week are with all our friends in the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos; having spent so much time there over the past few years -- months at a time in the T&C --  we got to know folks well. Obviously, we can only imagine how they are faring and until we hear, our hearts are filled with worry. The hurricane-force winds are bad enough, but the storm surge is sure to be even more dangerous -- and is forecast to be 7-11 feet above the norm in spots! May they all come through this safely! And may our many, many dear friends on the eastern seaboard in the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, and elsewhere on the Chesapeake, be well-prepared and stay safe!!