I can’t believe it’s May already. I finally got my second COVID shot yesterday!

We had planned a trip to Captain Cook last weekend but the swell had really picked up. Small craft advisories all weekend. Not great for a leisurely ride. So, instead, Ed volunteered to help get some things done on Jane’O to get her ready for the return trip. We had a very successful day last Saturday, with a few minor snags:

• Mounted new barometer. The old one had a broken front glass and stopped working.
• Replaced impeller for starboard engine. The original impeller was actually in good shape, but we replaced it anyway. The port engine was done last month.
• Replaced fuel filters, starboard engine. New 10 micron Racor pre filter and 2 micron engine filters. Port engine needs this next.
• Zinc was worn on the starboard engine but it seems I had ordered the wrong zincs! New ones are ordered and are enroute. I suspect the port engine needs a new zinc too.
• Added the last 5 gallon can of diesel to the starboard side. Also used up the remaining octane boost. Still should add some biocide.

We also cleaned out 5 compartments while searching for the high water alarms (found!) and a mysterious rainwater leak. No luck on the leak, but a lot of organization will make finding things easier during the return. Plus we have more room for food.

I also had this brilliant idea to disassemble the stove lighter since it needed more butane. As it turned out, I could have added the butane without taking it apart, and I couldn’t get it back together. Anyway I purchased a few new ones, some refillable, some not.

Other stuff that was done in the not-too-distant past:

• Rebuilt salt water pump for toilet. This was already a replacement unit I picked up on E-Bay. It made it all the way across the pacific until the rust inside the unit caused it to seize, really badly. It was a bear to remove since the set screw that holds it together wasn’t accessible -- it required rotating the unit to get to it. We ended out just forcing it apart, and now it works! This took several hours but now we have salt water for the toilet on the return trip.
• Rerouted the starboard engine water to add a pee-hole. Some of the water now goes directly overboard after passing through the heat exchanger rather than cooling the exhaust, thereby reducing the back pressure, which improves fuel economy. The amount of water needed to cool the exhaust is really quite small. It’s set up so that there will always be SOME water going to the exhaust but about half of it now just goes out a separate exit port. This has an added advantage that it would be harder now to hydrolock the engine. This would be harder to do on the port side as it would need a new through hull hole.
• Outboard had trouble staying in forward. Turns out this was an easy adjustment; there is a set screw for the lower unit that was a little loose.
• Engine room fan now wired on starboard side. Still need to do the port side.