We finally splashed the boat back into the water on February 10th, 2014, and decided to stay here a few more days to make sure that everything like the frig, hot water heater, stove, etc were working the way they should. Very glad we decided to stay. The engine fired up right away so we moved to the slip that they assigned. With the engine still running and while we were tying up, the hot engine alarm went off. Naturally I was not happy, but after we got settled and I had a chance to think about it, I knew, but had forgotten that I needed to add more coolant. When we cleaned the heat exchanger, we had to lose a lot of coolant, so I knew I was going to have to add some more. After adding the coolant the engine maintained temperature and everybody, especially me, was happy. The next thing we ran into was the dinghy outboard. It would start and run pretty fast, but then immediately die. With the help of our friend Mike Link, who we met in the Bahamas last year, I was able to pull the carburetor and clean it. Mike said he's done his so many times, he can do it in his sleep. It was pretty gummed up and I think the float was sticking. After cleaning and replacing, it ran fine.
Last night we had a pretty big bank of thunderstorms come through. Glad we were in the marina. According to the weather reports, there were over 5,000 lighting strikes between Orlando and the east coast of Florida. It was pretty windy and it rained quite a bit, but nothing too scary. We hope to get things topped off and ready to go so that we can start to move south a little. If the weather cooperates, we hope to head out on Friday, February 14. That will be our valentines present.
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| Slip at Westland Marina after "splashing" |
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| This is why we keep following our friends the Links |
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| Outboard is running great after cleaning |
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