Marathon – Unglamorous things to do

We never tire of sunsets

Living on a boat requires attention to things you normally ignore. Today was pump out day (how unglamorous it that! – but necessary) and the operator noted that the suction was not as it should be which meant that the vent to the outside was partially plugged. It hadn’t been cleaned in seven years but it required the outside chrome vent to be removed to be cleaned. Of course there’s lots of hoses inside that have to be released first so the entire procedure took about three hours.

Then the knot meter needed cleaning so the paddle wheel turns freely, a job that needs repeating every one to two months. Lime-A-Way seems to work well for that. Then the freezer needed defrosting. Unlike our home freezer, the one on the boat is not self-defrosting (it would require a higher energy budget). Then, of course, one of the primary propane cylinders needed refilling, we have two on board. The list goes on and tomorrow I’ll restart my chores (back flushing the genset to improve cooling water flow, cleaning waterline scum, doing the teak on the swim platform, etc.)

But then there are compensations. The temperatures continue to be in the 70’s and even though we’ve had high winds, they’ve moderated somewhat today – and – we had a nice sunset as we sipped our wine on the back of the boat. Ann went to the local fish market for tuna which we had for dinner. All in all, I’ll take that.