Spiders, Sewer, and Storms

Lori and I had planned to go down to the boat on Saturday morning, but ended up going down Friday night, getting there around 10:00pm. Upon opening the boat up the smell of sewer filled the air. Dave had told me that there had been some back up in to the bowel of the toilet when he was there up Wednesday. Being that it was night, I worked some on it but mainly opened windows and got the fans going. Lori and I shut ourselves up in the forward cabin with the fresh air blowing in and spent the night on the new cushions Dave finished. In the morning I tried to see what was going on and why it would back up. I found that the bilge was full, the pump was not working, and it also smelled like sewer. After some testing I found out that the pump had failed. I got a new one at the harbor store and installed it. Later in the day I talked to the harbor owner and he said that a bad Joker Valve was the problem.  He thought it was caused be using the wrong antifreeze when the boat had been winterized before Dave got the boat. Dave is getting a new head (toilet). We also pumped out the hold tank that was full. I cleaned out the bilge area with the wet vac, and scrubbed and washed it out, too. We may have had lake water leaking though the head valve, filling the tank, and the bowl over flowing in to the bilge. I spent a few hours cleaning and pumping everything out. I also got the last drain line installed on the lav sink. Now the whole system is working. The main fresh water tank is smelling good, which was another problem caused from the antifreeze. We have run bleach plus a number of full tanks of water though the system at this point now. Hopefully after the new head is in we will be done with the plumbing system.


By this time, it is late Saturday afternoon  so we decided to get out and sail for a bit. We headed up river a few miles to have grilled chicken kabobs on the lake. 

This is the way to grill...





...as you watch this.

As the sun was setting, we looked for a good place to anchor for the night. We found a cove near Old Frontenac, where there were two other sail boats already achored. After two tries to set the anchor, we settled in with enough space between the other boats. I checked the weather once again and it sounded like a storm may pass near us. We got set for the night and just before going to sleep I checked the radar, and yes, the storm was heading our way in the next hour or so. I was awoken by the lighting around 12:30. I went on deck to check that every thing was okay, right when the winds came in, rocking and rolling the boat, with the rain soon after. Much of the lighting was going horizontally across the sky, lighting up the whole lake around us. The wind kept changing and turning, and at some point the distances from the other boats looked as though they were changing, too. I checked the GPS mark I had made on my phone when we set the anchor, and we were well within the area with the amount of anchor we had out. I got dressed with my rain gear so I could stand outside and watch the other boats, as well as our location. I think one of the boats pulled out farther into the lake till the storm passed, but it was hard to tell. The storm passed over us in about 25 minutes, and as the winds slowed, the skies suddenly became completely clear. We watched the storm head off to the the SE, and enjoyed the star-filled sky.




In the morning after coffee and cereal we headed back to the harbor. We did not even try to put up the sail, as it was calm. When i pulled the anchor up I could not get all of the muck off of it until using the water hose at the dock. After docking, Lori packed up our stuff while I cleaned the boat some more. I did a little more work before we headed home, taking apart the counter top area by the ice box. We think it will be the last wood we need to replace.  

Throughout the weekend many spiders were seen on the boat, in the boat, at the dock, in the grill, and most every where, of all sizes and shapes. That is not so much fun.

 Neither Lori nor I got much sleep the past two nights, but it was still a relaxing weekend.

Lori took a photo of flowers growing on a log in the middle of a pond, along side the road near the boat, and said "bloom where you are planted."