Finally We Are Floating!!

Finally we are floating! Yay! We had a slip reserved at Cap Sante Marina, Anacortes for the next 6 nights. It was only about a mile to the marina but it was nerve wracking. We had only water for coolant because we had had a coolant leak while parked on the gravel and the coolant had been drained. Vince (our mechanic), who just made it on board before the ladder was pulled for put in was with us to trouble shoot any engine issues on the way. We gently motored away from the boat yard toward the marina. We followed the red and green markers seemingly taking us away from our goal then making a big dog-leg into the marina. Docking is always an attention getter. Bill and I have “Marriage Savers” which really helps. They are Bluetooth cordless head phones. We can talk to each other and hear each other. What a concept! Bill helmed us in back first (stern-to in mariner speak) so that work projects could be completed (hopefully). This maneuvering required several revs of the engine. Butt Pucker! But nothing blew up and we were in!
Vince set about flushing the cooling system with the coolant. No leaks, no problems. He tested the transmission fluid which appeared bad, brownish instead of red. We had the transmission rebuilt in 2018 and the very expensive and integral piece of machinery lives at the bottom of the engine compartment with no access unless you take out everything above it, so this news was heavy on the heart. He would send it in for chemical analysis and we would cross our fingers.
There are many plans for these next days……oh boy, plans again! The mounts for the solar panels needed to be installed, the solar panels needed to be attached to the mounts and then the wires run, the hydro generator needed to be mounted and tested, the new sails (the big main sail and smaller stay sail) needed to be put on along with the control lines, we needed to test run the water maker and learn how to operate it, finish the rest of the cabinets for the spinnaker sail and our foul weather gear….I might be forgetting something. Bill started making phone calls and vendors began showing up. Very exciting! Stuff was actually getting done and systems were starting to come together.
We have two 150 watt solar panels and one 175 watt panel. These put juice into our battery bank which holds 690 amp hours. From these batteries we run all of our electronic “house” stuff. Lights, radio, water pump, freezer, refrigerator, etc. We have a different battery for starting the engine and another to start the diesel generator. The hydro generator is similar to the solar panels. When we are sailing at least 2 nm per hour it starts putting about 120 watts into the batteries and it maxes out at 300 watts at 6 knots. The engine and diesel generator can also charge the batteries. The diesel generator creates AC current and we use it for big energy items like our heating/cooling units, doing laundry, making fresh water, and running the microwave. It is pretty cool to be able to create all of the energy we need for ourselves.
The water maker will make drinking water from sea water. There are special membranes that can produce water at 30 gal per hour when salt water is pumped through at high pressure. The water produced will be pumped into our two water tanks that hold 130 gal each. The whole system seems complex. A lift pump sucks sea water through a strainer to get rid of whole bits of seaweed and the like, then through a 20 micron filter then a 5 micron filter and finally to the high pressure pump, boosted to 800 psi, and through the membrane. It needs to be flushed and back flushed, there are 2 switches with 3 positions each and a dial and a flow gauge and a salinity gauge……. I will definitely video our lesson. Unfortunately there are parts missing and this work will not be completed now.
Sails went up and on finally! We have a sailboat with sails! The riggers came over with big full sail bags. They looked excited too. I thought they were happy for us but now I think maybe they were a bit nervous. First, in order to install the sails they needed to fully raise the sails while we were held to the dock. Normally if the wind is too strong, you can change the position of the boat to decrease the power of the wind in the sail. No changing the boat position here! Second, apparently sails are like finely tailored clothing and sometimes they need alterations to fit. Up and up went the main sail. It was beautiful AND it fit perfectly! The wind cooperated as we were taught how to bring down the sail (furl, in maritime speak) into the boom. Next the smaller stay sail. It also fit perfectly but the wind puffed up and in about 5 seconds Dylan had the furling line in his hand, fell on his back purposely and yanked hard wrapping up the sail. Well, we will learn how to do that on our check sail TOMORROW!!!!!!!