A QUICK STORAGE PROJECT

The three days hunkering down below waiting for the Nor' Easter to pass gave me time to work on some projects that have been on the "To Do"  list. I have three aerosol products that I try to keep handy in the tool locker. They are Corrosion Block, Boeshield T-9 and PB Blaster.  I often have to rummage through other items to get to them. Somewhat of a pain when all I need to do is grab one of them for a quick spray. So I came up with an idea of hanging a fabric pocket made out of some knock off Sunbrella material I had on board and hanging it on the inside of the tool locker door to hold the cans. It was a quick job using my Sailrite LSZ-1 Sewing Machine to put it together:
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This allows for much easier access to them and utilizes the space inside the tool locker  much better. Not to mention less aggravation trying to find the cans among the other stored items

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UPDATING THE ELECTRIC PADDLE

Well another 50 degree F plus day came along between cold snaps. So I wandered down to the boatyard to check on the boat. I stopped by the office for a gam and Russel was busy sending out bills to drop the moorings. A bittersweet sign that the new sailing season is coming. But, of course so does the bill for the mooring. When I got on board I checked the bilge:

Still dry as a bone and good to see. I let my Dual Pro 4 charger top off the four 8A4D AGM batteries that make up the 48 volt propulsion bank of BIANKA. Though they were pretty much full already. I then turned my attention to a quick little issue regarding the new Electric Paddle outboard I bought. A few weeks ago I got a letter in the mail from the folks who make the Electric Paddle about a possible issue of corrosion on one of the connector terminals because of a missing seal on the connector. A follow up letter provided two brand new seals to be installed in case they were not on my outboards connector:

It turns out they weren't on my outboard's connector but, no harm was done as the connectors were completely clean and corrosion free. Even though the battery and outboard had been exposed to several rainstorms over the season.

After I put one of the seals on the connector I decided to just do a little preventative maintenance as long as I was here. I took one of the Connector Cleaning Brushes  I carry onboard and put some Corrosion Block on it:

Even though the connectors were still very clean and showed no signs of corrosion. Using the Corrosion Block can't hurt so I cleaned inside the plugs and pins of the connectors:

Mission accomplished!  Nice to see that the folks who make the Electric Paddle here in the United States also follow up on the products once they are shipped.

DON'T JUST SIT THERE, DO SOMETHING

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The winter has been terrible filled with snow and cold temperatures. So much so that I only got to visit the boat two times since December. While things were OK on the boat. It was still too cold to spend much time on board on projects and spring outfitting. It's too cold for any painting, varnishing, epoxy. Even holding metal tools for any length of time is not fun with temperatures in the mid 20's. Still I try to accomplish something in the short time I do spend on board. For example I noticed that the ENGEL MT25E refrigerator/freezer needs a little attention after ten years of reliable service:

Because of it's location near the hatch it has developed some rust on the compressor case:

My plan is to sand that off and touch it up with some paint. That is when things get warm enough to bring it outside to work on it. But, since it has been so reliable for the past decade I've never had to do any maintenance on the unit. So like the screws on my Honda 2000 generator some the screws on the ENGEL case may have  rusted in place:

So I figured the least I could do during my visit was to spray some   Corrosion Block penetrate onto the screws and letting it go to work:

I'm hoping it will make removing the screws in the future a much easier process once things warm up enough to spend more time on the boat. At least that's the plan. It's just a little thing to do but, gives me the feeling that at least something was accomplished during the winter visit.