Rum Run

Oh no, The rum is gone!

Mike was out of rum, so we decided to bike to the Walgreens past the airport to see if they had any of his favorite, Oakheart. Right next door is Beall's, a kind of TJ Max's, and since Mike was down to one pair of good shorts with holes in them, he bit the bullet and went clothes shopping. This rates right up there with going to the doctor with him. But he was a big boy and found a couple pairs of shorts and a shirt. Brenda had no trouble finding a shirt to add to her cruising wardrobe. Sweet! We can now go out in public again.

After such an ordeal, ice cream was in order. Island Time Ice Cream also has sandwiches, so we had a delicious lunch with ice cream for desert. That little stop pretty much negated the benefits of our bike ride, but, oh well.

While we were gone Tom Crank of Dependable Dive Service cleaned our boat bottom. He was amazed at the amount of growth. We needed to pay him, so we putted over to his boat and checked on Roger and Peggy's boat.

As long as we were that far out.....we dinghied on to Castaways loacated near the end of a channel filled with working fishing boats and processing buildings. And are we glad we did. We tried their crab Rangoon appetizers. They were to die for. These were not the usual rangoons, but more like a puff pastry with crab, creamy sauce and rice inside. Delicious! We got five for $5. We'll be back. We contentedly dinghied back home. Yet another beautiful day in Paradise.

 

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Dual Outboards On An 8' Dinghy?

We hadn't run our Tohatsu 4 hp outboard in weeks, so it was time to start it up again. Outboards really don't like to sit idle for long periods of time. The gas in the carb, lines and tank starts to evaporate leaving behind a gummy residue that makes the motor run poorly or not want to start at all. Since Brenda was on land helping another couple sew up a new riding sail with her Janome sewing machine, Mike figured this would be a good time to take the motor off the stern rail mount and haul it ashore. The marina has a test barrel filled with water for the cruisers to use, so Mike planned to take it there.

As Mike was deciding how to transport the outboard in the dinghy he thought, "Hey, why not just slide the 9.8 hp outboard to one side and set the 4 hp on the transom right next to it and test run it right there?" So that is what he did. While Mike was running the 4 hp a long term liveaboard on a nearby boat came out on deck to see who was running their outboard. The look of total bewilderment on his face was priceless as he simply stared open mouthed at Mike sitting proudly in his dual outboard dinghy. We can just imagine him thinking, "What kind of a moron northerner is this guy!"

It did look pretty cool though.

 

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Dinghy Chap Pockets

Hauling tools ashore in our new pockets.

I was so excited to get rid of our old, decaying cockpit cushions. The foam inside was crumbling, but the Phifertex material on the outside was still in pretty good shape. I hated to throw that part away and I had a plan. Our dinghy is small and we always have "stuff" on the floor: anchor, spare oil and no place for cups during a dinghy ride. So, I cut the phifertex material into pieces that could be used as pockets on the inside of the dinghy chaps. We marked where we wanted the pockets to be located and pulled off the chaps.

I used some left-over vinyl to make a casing for the top of the pockets. Then I turned under an edge on the remaining three sides and sewed the pockets to the chaps. It was an easy project and now our dinghy rides are clutter-free.

 

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