Ahhh, cruising on a sailboat is the opportunity to fix your boat in exotic locations! I spent 8 hours today trying to run some power cables from the instrument panel to the back of the boat, run 3 wires from the right hand cockpit instrument panel down below decks, hook those 5 cables together with a dimmer switch and then output 2 wires from that assembly to the cockpit Bimini LEDs. The toughest part was getting from the cockpit down below, since the cover wouldn’t come off due to a stripped screw holding down the cockpit VHF mount; then once I had completed (I’ll need to purchase another Raymarine mount) I couldn’t run the cable down the conduit and I ended up having to partially disassemble the steering mechanism. Once that was run, I managed to get a power line run to the instrument panel 24V system and then realized I hadn’t enough cabling to complete the project. By now it was 16:00 and I dinghied ashore to find the chandlery closed already but luckily the bar was open and I connected to the internet while sipping a cold Carib beer.
My motivation for further work decreased concurrently with the level in the beer bottle but I returned to the boat to clean up a bit and take a shower to wash off all the grime, then returned to The Mad Mongoose and subsequently had an early dinner at a nearby restaurant called “Le Cap Horn” with a wood-fired oven for pizza which tempted me to get their daily special pizza with spicy sausage and other savory ingredients.
Back aboard Zanshin I had just enough energy to sit on the foredeck and watch the stars go by for a bit before retiring to yet another early evening.
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