Eighth Day of Work

We arrived at the boat 8 days ago and we've done some good work in that time.  So much of it is important but, not photo-worthy.  I decided to provide a flavor of things, but some scenery as well.

And this is the problem with the autopilot drive unit: it's too long!  The black cylinder is the electric motor that drives the hydraulic pump that pushes a stainless steel rod back and forth.  The rod is connected to the rudder arm and actually pushes the rudder back and forth, steering the boat.  Our solution is a few photos down and involves a hole in that wall at left.

This monstrouse Beneteau 57 is two boats away.  57-feet long is very big, 17 feet longer than wings.  I mentioned to Conni that the dark hull would make her hot below, and she sneered and responded that she definitely had air conditioning.  She's right.

Lovely Conni walks along a marina after a day's work.  The island behind her is Taha'a.

Yet more damage done by finding coral.  What a mess!

This might not be exciting, but it's the last photo of our venerable old diesel heater.  They've been out of production for many years and we'll never need a heater here.  Its removal frees a lot of space.

After removing a lot of painstakingly-installed Raymarine gear, the new B&G gear uses the space.  This is autopilot "brain". 

This is the new NMEA2000 network, replacing much more wiring from the old Raymarine network.  The new network is standardized across most marine electronics, is vastly more weatherproof, and much faster.  The red "T" supplies power.  Each device on the network is connected to the horizontal "backbone" cable via "drop" cables that securely screw to the backbone. 

This is Bungalow B, our favorite of the group.  It has a larger kitchen and is a bit more quiet.  You can see our little porch. 

For our anniversary at Villa Ixora, we each enjoyed a MaiTai, the lovely cocktail sitting in front.  Conni has perused the menu and chosen her meal of duck.

This is our shared appetizer:  a lovely tomato salad with a ball of house-made mozzarella cheese and serrano ham.

Bill enjoyed this unique and delicious pork dish. 

This is Lovely Conni's duck dish:  magret du canard. 

As promised, this is our solution to the length of the autopilot:  bore a hole!  I had designed and finished most of the blue steel bracket extension and Conni's dad and I finished it.  We can move the drive motor back into that hole to gain full extension of the piston.  We will clean the hole and insert an oval, fiberglass cover for the back of the motor.

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