The Most Important Thing in the World

Took care of a few chores when we got back to the boat. 

Hole in the Wrap

• Amazingly, the hurricane-force wind gusts of the storm only tore an 18" inch hole in our shrink wrap.  A little of that super shrink tape patched it up. 
• Also, since we own a Westerbeke diesel 50 amp generator, we might as well try running it in case the power goes out again.  It started up fine but only ran a few minutes.  My neighbor Al came by and pointed out that a sea water-cooled engine won't get any sea water if the valve to the sea is closed.
• Yesterday a friendly British guy with lots of great stories came by to look at the boat to see if our boat would be a good fit for a diesel hydronic furnace, instead of electric heat.  During the cold months the electric bills are crazy (last one was over $500.)  It would be a huge savings in operating cost, and would work even without shore power.  Because we actually already have a partially installed hydronic system (circulates hot water / antifreeze through radiators) on the boat now   Installing one from scratch is $10,000 - $15,000, but we might be able to re-activate ours for a fraction of that.  Still working on some details before making a decision...
• In the picture below, that white hose sticking out of the deck is called a "pump-out adapter".  Its the device through which the euphemistically described "black water" is vacuumed out of our septic holding tank and taken away. An air gap had formed in threaded connection, so the vacuum wasn't working well when the pump-out boat visited.  The hose device is also known under another name: The Most Important Thing in the World. I put some plumbers tape on the threads and tightened it down. Stay tuned.

The Most Important Thing in the World