What more can I say?

"There's a spot..."

Our friends John and Lisa are back after over a year “on the hard”.  Orcinius has had an extensive refit and is raring to go.  They proudly came through the bridge (that wasn’t even here last time they came up river to go into the boatyard) this afternoon and docked just down from Charisma in Riverside Marina.  Guys, we’re glad to have you back!

The new drawbridge waiting for Orcinius' return.

Comin' through the bridge.

Orcinius looking better than ever.

Happy to be back!

OK, it’s my birthday today (April 3rd).

Ann put on a great party.  We had a bunch of cruising friends up at the BBQ for a pot luck birthday.  What a great time!  Such wonderful friends and I got to hear “Happy Birthday” or some such, sung in English, German and Swedish (OK, I sung the Swedish version since Ann made me do it).

Can you get a better view for a birthday event?

Some of the gang at the party...

What a great day.  Thanks to Ann for putting it all together…

…and on, and on…

OK, so for the last couple days we’ve been doing some of the less glamorous jobs.  Like caulking the seams on the teak.  Not very exciting, not much fun.  In fact, it’s back breaking work, but has to be done before you can varnish.

So…a quick look and hopefully we’ll have something more interesting to show in the future (like finishing installing the windlass…??)

First you have to tape the seams, then inject the caulk into the gaps...

...then you smooth the caulk with a putty knife. Easier than it sounds. Lastly you pull the tape as you work, before the whole mess dries...

There you have it.  Caulking 101.  Now all we have to do is let it dry a couple days, sand it a couple times with progressively lighter paper and put four coats of cetol on it (with 24 hours between coats).

Oh and today I put the last of the four injectors back in the engine.  The local mechanic pulled all four injectors and had them serviced.  I just wanted to make sure all was well.  Apparently the guys in Fiji who cleaned them did a pretty good job,  but one was not “seated” properly.  It was leaking and had to be re-machined a bit, but it’s all done now and all is well.   We even timed the injector pump.  When I did it in Fiji (not having a clue how to really do it) I came very close, but it was a tad off.  We adjusted it further here and now Charisma’s engine is purring like a little kitten.  Nice to know all is well in the engine department.  I’ll do an oil and filter change before we leave for Fiji again in a month or so.

OK, that’s it for today…