2023-10-08 At the dock and working hard - unexpected issue with washer

We hung out a couple days at anchor, and did nothing, but it was great, as it gave us the chance to recover from our Flu/Covid (pretty sure Covid, but we did not test).  On Tuesday afternoon we headed the short 6 mile trip to New Bern, where we had a reservation at Galley Stores Marina.

Lots of small fish dead in the water on the trip up - think it was from agricultural run off - at least that is what the locals said.

Passing by dead little fishes

Unfortunately, some mix up in communication on the Marina's part - meant they only had room for one of us, but after an hour or so, we worked it all out.   Breathe - had to dock temporarily with no power until the next day around noon.  

Since we were not starting work on Breathe yet, we got the marina loaner car, and headed out to get some groceries, and had a nice dinner out of Mexican food.    

Next day Breathe moved to their new dock site around noon, so after lunch we started ripping out all the old electrical off the boat - batteries, inverter and wiring.   Got it all ripped out, and started running some new lines.  Kris had to crawl into a couple tight spots, and luckily Dean was on hand to pull her back out.

Kris in a locker on Breathe, working on wiring.

Kris getting helped out of locker by Dean

We met up with our friends on What If, and Sojourn, who drove to New Bern to meet us all for dinner.  Breathe, and some of their friend's joined as well, and we all had a fun time visiting.

The gang out for dinner.

New Bern has a nice little downtown, and we also enjoyed the walk to dinner and back.  Halloween décor is already up.

Jason goofing off with the Halloween decorations

Next day, back to work on Breathe.   Kris focused on tight cabinet work, and Dean made up wiring runs, and Jason and Monica helped everywhere.

Dean making sure the new batteries are topped up before install

Kris in the locker, installing bus bars and such

Had to take a break when our new purchase arrived - We ordered a new outboard motor for the dink.  An electric start and electric tilt - will be nice, as Kris had a hard time starting the old Honda 4 stroke pull start.  Hate to spend the cash, but sometimes quality of life matters, and this will help with that.

We were so happy to have Jason and Monica to help get it off the truck and down to the boat, as it weighs about 116 lbs.

New engine arrives.

Our new outboard

Went out for dinner again the next night with another Manta owner in the area - Cerca Trova.  They are new to the boat, and doing a bunch of projects, so the nights conversation was on boat work.

Another nice walk, and more views of New Bern

More Halloween decorations

One of the pretty homes in downtown New Bern

Next day was more boat work, but we had started some laundry, and our washer would not drain.   Finally got it drained, but a large squealing noise developed when it was spinning - so needed to check that out.   We got the washer out of the cabinet - no small feat - and started investigating.   Looks like our drum bearings are pretty shot - so now we have to make a big decision on what to do. - Fix or get new?

Washer out of cabinet, and checking out the squealing noise.

On Friday we did some more work on Breathe, finalizing the install, but had to take a break when our Walmart grocery delivery arrived.   Around $800 worth of groceries and supplies.

Now we just have to find space for it all inside.

Unfortunately, Walmart only had one package of our Lemon cookies.  - Will need about 6 more before we leave the US.

We went out for pizza dinner - it was Friday pizza night after all, and back to boat to relax, as the long work days were catching up with all of us, and Dean still recovering from Covid.

Saturday we walked to the Farmers Market, where Kris got some honey she was wanting, and then we walked too another marina to visit with Cerca Trova, and see the damage they got on their boat during a large storm. 

Nice artwork on the walk to the Farmers Market.

New Bern is known for being the birthplace of Pepsi-Cola, and also for having multiple bear statues located inside businesses, and outside as well.  They are all painted differently, and it is fun to see all the different ones.

One of the bears

Bear outside by Farmers Market

Bear at hardware store with Mums

Fun for the day over, it was back to work on Breathe electrical, and our broken washing machine.

Finished up on Breathe, except for some final configuration work, and decided to look for a new washing machine, as the bearings are near impossible to access and replace, and the machine has also had intermittent issues with draining.  Now begins the project of finding and getting it to the boat - and then through some very tight passages into the V berth.