{"id":3257,"date":"2014-08-08T13:50:37","date_gmt":"2014-08-08T13:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=3257"},"modified":"2014-08-09T01:29:05","modified_gmt":"2014-08-09T01:29:05","slug":"wickford-ri-old-friends-and-new-babies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=3257","title":{"rendered":"Wickford RI, old friends and new babies."},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Friday morning and was a chilly 63 degrees in the cabin when I got up.\u00a0 I mention this as I\u00a0<\/span>wasn’t\u00a0expecting to be \u201cchilly\u201d as I had recently installed a new Espar diesel\u00a0heater to replace the old one that had given up the ghost and the plan was to turn on the heater at such times and enjoy the warm air.\u00a0 How simple\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s never as simple as it should be with boats and as is so often the case, and getting things right has turned out to be a long drawn out process.\u00a0 First, getting the parts took FOREVER to order as the dealer was busy, it would seem, with \u201cbigger fish\u201d.\u00a0 I wanted to order it from a location that was fairly close to home and chose a dealer in New Haven.\u00a0 Anyway, it is sufficient to report that it has taken a few months go get all the parts in place and FINALLY get the unit installed.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, getting the unit operational didn’t work out as well as I had hoped.\u00a0 The mistake I made was to try and use the old wire harness from the old \u201cmort\u201d heater and just match up the individual wires on a junction board instead of snaking all the new wires through the bilge.\u00a0 My brilliant idea was to avoid ripping up the floor a project that I have done one too many times and didn’t want to repeat.\u00a0 How simple, I surmised, to just label the wires, color for color, and note that the “new” red with white stripe wire in the new harness matched with the “old” brown with green stripe wire.\u00a0 Simple, right?\u00a0 NOT!!!<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what the new-to-old wiring looks like.\u00a0 An impressive mix of new and old. \u00a0It looks tidy enough to work…\"\"<\/a>Besides, the heater looks great all snug in it’s new home, working or not. \u00a0Speaking of snug, working under the cockpit is really tight. It’s like wriggling in a cave, and a very small one at that.<\/span>\"\"<\/a>Anyway, when I installed the unit, before leaving on our trip, I came up short on a single plug for the fuel pump and had to wait till I was here in Wickford RI for it to be finally delivered. You\u2019d think that the dealer would have provided a plug to go with the pump as the harness\u00a0<\/span>didn’t\u00a0come with one in the first place. I\u00a0guess that\u2019s asking too much.\u00a0 So, yesterday the part finally arrived and I decided to spend a little time getting everything in order. \u00a0 Mistake…<\/span><\/p>\n

After a few hours, I had plugged everything in and the heater wouldn’t start.\u00a0 I called the tech support folks in Canada multiple times and finally figured out that it was the little red wire, one of many wires, that wasn’t working right.\u00a0 I won\u2019t bore you with the details except to say that I ended ripped up the floor anyway, which took a few more hours;\u00a0 the very thing I had hoped to avoid by using the old wires.\u00a0\u00a0 That was clearly not a good decision at all.<\/p>\n

So, after blowing the day messing with everything, I finally gave up and decided that I would just wait till I was back home where I will just rip all the old wire out and put in the wire supplied with the unit; something that I should have done in the first place. I\u2019ll bet that my brother Bill, who\u2019s good with such things, wouldn’t have taken such a shortcut.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to say \u201clive and learn\u201d but I fear that the future will show that while I have \u201clived\u201d, I likely didn’t \u201clearn\u201d and will make such stupid mistakes again and again…<\/p>\n

So, no heat this morning, and that\u2019s why I am mentioning this at all.\u00a0 Besides, it\u2019s August and it\u2019s supposed to be HOT.\u00a0 Where\u2019s global warming when you need it?<\/p>\n

As you can imagine, Brenda wasn’t too pleased with me frittering away a beautiful day yesterday but happily, she has forgiven me and, as they say, \u201ctoday is another day\u201d.<\/p>\n

For the last few days we have been on a dock at Pleasant Street Wharf,\u00a0 our favorite spot here in Wickford.\u00a0 It\u2019s a favorite as it\u2019s home to our great friends Eric and Sandy, old time friends, with the emphasis on the \u201cfriends\u201d as opposed to \u201cold\u201d from our catboating days.\u00a0 Sappho, a catboat and our second boat, which we sold to Eric over 20 years ago, is still here and in great shape, perhaps better than when we sold her so long ago.\u00a0 Pretty amazing.\u00a0\u00a0 We had a great dinner with Eric and Sandy the other night.\u00a0 It was fun to reconnect.\u00a0 We hope that they will visit us in CT. \u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

While it’s not Sappho, our old catboat, there are plenty of these little yachts here in Wickford. Here’s one that sailed by the other evening. \u00a0It’s easy to see how catboats remain so popular.\"\"<\/a><\/span>We also visited with our friends Teri, Mike and their daughter Julie who now has two children.\u00a0 It doesn’t seem like very many years ago that Brenda braided Julie\u2019s hair in the cockpit of Sappho when we were out cruising together.\u00a0 However, if the truth were told, that was way back in 1990, 24 .lyears ago. \u00a0Time sure flys and it was so sweet to see her with her two boys.<\/span><\/p>\n

We also visited my cousin Pat and her husband Bob who just built an amazing home overlooking the bay nearby.\u00a0 I think that their garage is nearly as big as our home.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What a spot.<\/p>\n

So, here I am, sitting in Pandora\u2019s cockpit typing away thinking about our years past aboard and somehow everyone has grown up.\u00a0 As my mother likes to say, \u201chow is it that you have gotten so old when I am still so young\u201d.\u00a0 Me?\u00a0 I really don\u2019t feel like I am in my \u201cupper mid 50s\u201d.<\/p>\n

The view from Pandora’s cockpit is lovely.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>Life is good\u2026 And, we are here yet again in Wickford among friends.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today we head up to Bristol for another day with our Essex YC friends. \u00a0 Last night we had a fabulous dinner with the group at the Wickford YC. \u00a0 I ate too much. \u00a0It was a seafood extravaganza, prepared by our own EYC chef Michael. \u00a0We had quite a group.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While many came by boat, some arrived via the “Tabernacle Choir Bus” from Essex, owned by one of our members. \u00a0It seems that the “church bus” is actually a party bus in drag. \u00a0The “tabernacle choir” is completely\u00a0<\/span>fictitious, made up by our member in a\u00a0jolly moment. \u00a0I don’t expect that he will be stopped by the “Constabulary<\/span>“\u00a0any\u00a0time soon. \u00a0 How about this shot of the “sacred” spot framed by a rainbow. \u00a0\"\"<\/a>Perhaps they do have someone looking over them. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I guess Brenda and I do too. \u00a0 What a great day here in Wickford.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Friday morning and was a chilly 63 degrees in the cabin when I got up.\u00a0 I mention this as I\u00a0wasn’t\u00a0expecting to be \u201cchilly\u201d as I had recently installed a new Espar diesel\u00a0heater to replace the old one that had given up the ghost and the plan was to turn on the heater at such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3257"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3266,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3257\/revisions\/3266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}