svcharm: 2023-05-06 Projects, projects, groceries and more errands

After a day of errands in Vero Beach, it was time to get busy on projects. Our friends on Breathe had asked us for help installing some DC-DC chargers for their engines, as step one of the Lithium battery upgrade they have planned for in the fall.

Charm rafted next to Breathe in Vero Beach. Being rafted together made working projects on their boat much easier for us.

Vero Beach mooring field early in the morning

Kris spent a few hours over the next 4 days installing the wiring and chargers for them. Dean worked on a project on our boat - to have the toilets have the option of a salt water flush - as we learned when we were short on water with the watermaker broken, that toilets were the the largest consumer of water we have on the boat. Sorry no photos - forget to take them when busy.

Treated to a nice view in the evening, watching a launch of a Falcon Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral.

Nice view, with reflection on water

Unfortunately, every night at Vero we were ran indoors due to no-seeums, which were out in force. So evenings we cowered inside, randomly hitting ourselves when we felt their bite, but these little guys were impossible to see inside with dim light - so we mostly looked a little crazy randomly hitting ourselves. Thankfully, itching was a minimum with the bites.

Kris continued to work on Breathe's project, and Dean worked on Breathe as well, assisting Monica with removing their mainsail for a sewing project, and helping Jason install a new water pump on their generator, and helping Kris pull wire through the boat.

We did find time to go over and see our friends Scott and Tina who own Sangaris - an Manta 42. We met them in 2012 in the Bahamas, and they live in Vero Beach. Scott had some issues with VHF whine, so we went to see if we could help diagnose that. Found some bad grounding wires, so went back later to help again, and take care of crimping some large lugs on wiring for him, as we have a nice large lug crimper.

Sounds like lots of work - but were well taken care of with lunch or dinner out, mooring paid for, and use of Scott and Tina's car. Excellent barter system. We even got to have a nice lunch with Jason's parents who drove down -and were very nice people.

Our new brushes for the watermaker arrived, so Kris took the motor apart again, and cleaned it and prepped for new brushes.

Old brush on left which was in "good shape" and not the one we were cobbling together, still looks bad compared to new brush on right.

We were able to make time to go out for a nice dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, which was great fun, had a really nice time.

Left to right - Scott, Jason and Monica, Kris and Dean, and Tina

We finished Breathe's electrical project, and took Friday off - to run back to town, got some more groceries, and returned some Amazon packages, and did laundry.

Saturday found us moving again, heading north on the ICW.