Days Events:

Wx overcast since last evening; winds were forecast for up to 28mph this afternoon, with a maritime warning; rained off and on last night, then started just before noon again, but brief with intermittent sun. It has been really gusty all day!

The USCG boat went out in a hurry late this a.m., followed by the towns Rescue team, with our mechanic Tony driving [he had just left our boat - see below], in Tony's tri-hull pontoon. Tony helped them bring in a sailboat that was heading for the rocks.

I needed to adjust the dock lines several times during the day; nylon will stretch a bit and requires repeated assessments; I had 5 out initially and added 2 more, all on the port side since that was the only side we could use [see photo] - the winds were initially SW and pushing us away from the dock, then shifted to NE and pushing us into it; so have 2 on the bow, 2 forward spring lines, 1 aft spring, and 2 on the stern as spring/breast lines. Redundancy is reassuring. Our first fender board [the PVC pipe with the 2 smaller fenders] broke late in the afternoon [one of the smaller ropes holding the small fender to the PVC pipe] so used the larger black fender set up as a 'board', to keep us off the piling, and 3 other fenders as well. Winds are blowing hard and waves a mile off shore are 3' and up to 5', initially going away from us fortunately, but then starting to be directed at our shore somewhat; L.Superior has 10-12' on its southern shore!

Maintenance: The mechanic, Tony, came by and looked at our situation and felt the problem may be in the ELCI. When we reset the ELCI CB, power passes through it ok, then after about 5-7sec, we hear a 'buzzing' and the CB [circuit breaker] in the ELCI trips off. He says that if there was a direct short circuit somewhere, which by definition is dangerous, then that CB should react immediately [opens the circuit and stops power].

He called Blue Sea Systems, maker of the ELCI, and they were extremely helpful and suggested that appliances are the most common cause of ground fault leaks and tripping the CB [circuit breaker]. He suggested we test every 120v outlet and appliance, which we did: disconnect the plug if in an outlet, or disconnect the ground wire if hard-wired. And, we found the culprit after testing almost every one - the hot water heater; Marg would reset the ELCI after I had unplugged or disconnected the ground and we would wait - and be disappointed each time it still tripped off, until I took the ground off the HWHeater - we waited and waited and waited, and everything was still working!!!!! So, shut off the generator and we were back on shore power and in peace and quiet. It is a great relief to have this finally diagnosed.

I had read that water heaters are a common problem in that the element corrodes and allows power to leak into the ground wire connection system of the boat and thereby into the water [current always returns to its source by whatever route is available - a 'short' means the current is taking a 'shortcut' back to the pedestal instead of staying in the neutral/white wire where it is supposed to]. Tony will try and get us a replacement element asap.

We celebrated at happy hour. And watched another couple of episodes of the Great British Baking Show.

Vacuflush: Initially we thought it had settled down, as it was no longer cycling as often. Then, the pump stayed on until I shut it off, so will change the duckbills tomorrow, waiting for the water heater to be repaired.

Photos:

One of the hot water heater.

A positive spinoff from this search for a leak, is I found that the aft deck GFCI outlet had no power at all - it's at the end of that circuit - and so I removed it and taped the contacts. Will get a replacement at the hardware store here tomorrow.

A late evening shot looking toward the lake.

From Admirals Desk:

The weather is certainly the event of the day, especially the wind. We just had a gust that was at least 50mph. We have steady wind with gusts but this was a quick squall that blew over. More on the way. Rob's 7 lines were needed.

Since we are stuck on the boat, watching marina goings on is our entertainment. Fire and Rescue trucks arrived at the shore, the coast guard boat went out into the lake followed by our mechanic in his boat. We never figured out what was happening even with our binoculars but it was interesting. We assume there was a boat needing assistance with some sort of mechanical or weather related problem. Can't imagine why anyone would want to be out on the lake today in the first place. Apparently sailors think these are great boating conditions. Our sailing neighbors stopped to talk and mentioned they would normally be on the water on days like today. I definitely don't understand sailing!

No water heater will be interesting. Fortunately we have a kettle that we can make do with. It shouldn't take long to get parts. Most things are available overnight. And the weather isn't looking promising for departure for a few days anyway. We're retired so no big deal! 😁😂

It was actually a bigger job than it sounds to track down which connection was causing our electrical problems. Nothing on a boat is easily accessible. To get to the tv plug you have to remove a very large and heavy kitchen drawer, the microwave plug requires contortions, the HWHeater is in the utility locker forward of the engine room. Not a 15min job!

Our daughter-in-law Dana again took on the task of looking after our pool. After it drained itself last year we are very glad she was brave enough to take it on again. So....this year the Polaris motor decided to spew water!! Luckily she found it before we had an empty pool again!! And the pool people were able to replace the motor quickly. And send the bill even quicker! Anyway, big hugs to Dana.😍😍😍

A long post from us today. Time to sign off.

Planning:

Wx forecast remains borderline tomorrow, and for the next few days, particularly following todays conditions [significant wx takes a day to settle down]; will be here until we fix the water heater - a few days, to give me time to change the duckbill valves, repair the fender board, and a few other things.

Comments:

Deedee  •  22 Jun, 2021 - What a day!!! Exciting! I can only wait for my cats to have another cat 💩!!!!!

Ernie R  •  22 Jun, 2021 - At least the hot water heater is a easy fix! As usual, another batch of great pictures, even got Rob’s best side!!