Sunday 20 December 2020 Southport, FL
Frank emailed me a copy of the finished survey of the
houseboat, and there were no priority one (safety) items requiring fixing
before the boat can be operated.
Actually, there were no priority two items, and the boat ran 22 MPH at
wide open throttle of 4400 RPM, right on the money. Amongst the other recommendations, the
surveyor offered up the ideas of placing drip pads under the engines, weighing
the clear agent fire-fighting bottle, and adding smoke and carbon monoxide
detectors, all easy-peasy items. The
survey is in the hands of a local insurance agent, and we now wait for the
insurance binder for the final go-ahead.
The night before last, I received a small portable Automatic
Information System (AIS) receiver which plugs into my laptop computers and
displays approaching vessels, like tugs pushing gigantic barges, onto the river
charts of my Coastal Explorer software. In
the past, without this AIS, we would come around bends in the river and be confronted
with a tow (as we call tugs pushing barges) taking up the whole river, bank-to-bank. Knowing the tows are there via the AIS icons
displayed on our computers will allow us to call them by name and sort out the
passing procedures ahead of time. We
first saw the value of AIS on the rivers when in 2017 a client had me install it
onto the boat we were delivering from the Gulf to the Great Lakes, and for 87
bucks, this addition to my system seemed quite cost effective. By the way, the clever but quite un-boaty name
of the new receiver is dAISy spelled as you see it, no kidding.
Oh, and my DUH factor kicked into overdrive while trying to
make the dAISy work - one mere click on a slightly obscure button (something I
have doubtless passed over hundreds of times) in the Coastal Explorer would
have saved me hours of frustration. UGH!
We had a busy time yesterday and the day before with granddaughter
Emma’s wedding which included us lugging two umbrella propane heaters and
associated full propane tanks 17 miles out into the countryside to the drafty party
barn where the reception was to take place.
After the wedding in town, we were flagged down by a threesome of
granddaughters (cousins of the bride) with a ruined tire which ended up with me
standing by the one who owned the car while all the others loaded into another family
car and left for the party. I spent the
next several hours shepherding her through the tow truck and tire shop experience
while missing the bulk of the party. She
got a liberal education into why she should have AAA and lug nuts which fit a
lug wrench (long story), and of course Rich paid.
This has to do with our houseboat delivery, how? Well, are taking the day OFF and getting no
work done in that direction done today. We
get into high gear tomorrow collecting the stuff around the house and checking
it off the list as we pile it up in the spare room.
