Duncan never ceases to amaze me. The new genset is mounted down – very important on a sailboat. Larger fuel lines are run and connected delivering diesel to the generator. Exhaust systems are attached. Water systems are pumping. Wires, fuses, regulators and starters are all firing. In less than 72 hours of the generator’s arrival in Opua, the new genset is alive and charging! There are still a few miscellaneous bits to sort out, but in general, we are back in business. To top off all this good news, the Fischer Panda sold.
For the first 13 years of our relationship, Duncan and I spent most of our weekdays working on technology. For the most part, we paid professionals to keep our living quarters and automobiles clean and functioning. Plumbers, electricians, mechanics, merry maids, and on and on. Fresh water miraculously appeared out of faucets. Toilets magically flushed into some unknown place. Ice cubes dropped out of the refrigerator door at the push of a button. Electricity appeared at the flick of a switch except during those crazy Gray Davis/Enron/California Blackout years. Car engines ran and ran and ran. Jiffy Lube changed the oil and always tried to sell us new air filters.
The notion of traveling on a sailboat to remote places with plans to make water from the sea and to generate the electricity needed to support both critical functions such as navigation, communication and refrigeration and non-critical functions such as stereos,TVs and hot water had me a bit concerned when we left San Francisco. Furthermore, Duncan informed me he failed “Electricity and Small Motors” in high school. With our history of outsourcing most household maintenance, did “we” have the ability to bring these functions “in-house”?
Either Duncan had well hidden talents as a mechanic, electrician and plumber or he is a very quick study. The installation of the new generator is further proof I should not have been so worried when we left San Francisco. Now, if he can only figure out how to get a merry maid to show up, we will be in great shape.
