A quiet day in the neighborhood

Monday, 12 June 2017

A quiet day in the neighborhood

 

The few weekend boaters and the fishing tournament folks are gone, and the Columbus Marina once again slumbers in the summer sun.  The folks on Fruition across the pier just left in their car which they retrieved from Orange Beach on Saturday and will be gone for a couple of days leaving Mary and me the only humans on the large covered pier.  The purple martins, however, are a very buy community as the numbers flitting pairs have set up housekeeping in a couple of neglected vessels.  There is a lot of activity to watch as they feed their young and make a thorough mess of the areas below their nests, which look like swallow nests just sort of muddy messes glued to the underside of boat overhangs.

UPS tells me on my computer that the automatic charging relays I ordered to modify the DC electric charge system aboard Pathfinder are here in Columbus; so I pay attention to the parking lot next to the marina office across the way for a big brown truck.  Then I will be busy over at the marina shop making charging cables.

Later:  The exhaust gaskets or the generator are here, but the solenoid for the starter is not yet here.  Maybe tomorrow.  The automatic charging relays are here, but I still have fuses and wiring on order to complete the battery charging installation.

Mary and I took off in the courtesy van for a few hours today to get some miscellaneous boat parts and a bit of general shopping for Mary.

When we got back there was an 80-foot yacht tied up at the guest pier with a bent prop.  I went over and sat on the edge of the pier for a couple of hours watching the marina manager and the mechanic Glen Miller dive on the boat to remove the five-bladed 36-inch prop using a tool the vessel carried aboard called a Prop Smith.  I found it entertaining as well as educational.