October 15, 2022-Summer work report

wingssail images judy jensen
Working on the Mercury

Here we are, the middle of October. Summer is almost gone and what have we done in the last four and a half months?

Well, summer is for boat work, air conditioners, and long siestas.

That’s what we’ve been doing.

After the work on the dingy that I mentioned in last post, and the winch work, and the hydraulics work, we worked inside. We replaced Mr. Faucet in our galley. Yes another new faucet. Mr. Faucet was leaking. Boy do I hate that job. It’s hours laying on my back under the sink and numerous getting up and back down, plus skinned knuckles, etc, I hate it, but we got it done, Judy and I, and it looks nice and does not leak.

We also finally got our Mexican License plates, the Chrysler has gone native.

Then the dingy motor, our old 15 HP Mercury 2-stroke. It had a few problems and needed some maintenance and TLC. We kept it in the shop forward and worked it over. New wires, new kill switch, fixed up accelerator pump, new lower unit lube, and a good clean up and touch up with new black paint, it looks and runs good now. Not sure how long it will last but at least now we got it purring.

Moving on, a couple more car projects intervened. Lost brakes one day. That was scary. But it was just a blown brake line (replaced), and a transverse rear suspension link got loose (fixed) and a power steering pump belt went out (replaced). We had a dent in the left front fender where I pulled out in front of a truck (also fixed). Not sure what will go out next but I know it will be something.

Rain: Boy has it rained this summer. We’ve been collecting water with our shade awing water collection system and it has worked really well. We use 100 gallons a week and we’ve gone 12 weeks without filling our tanks other than rain water. That’s 1200 gallons we’ve collected (and consumed). The rain has also flooded the town, but that’s normal.

wingssail images fredrick roswold
Judy

Work outs: Judy and I have kept up our three times a week routine at the gym and it is showing. We both feel healthier and are doing well in the gym. I’ve even lost weight. Judy’s time for the mile on the treadmill is coming down and she is really giving the weight machines hell. I think she’s about to break some of them. On the treadmill her mile is consistently under 17 mins and on the stair-stepper she’s heading for a 14:00 mile.

I’ve been working hard on the rowing machine (as well as other machines) and I’ve really made some progress. Since 2004 I’ve been trying to get my time for 3000 meters under 12:30. (I’ve had the same type of machine since 2004, isn’t that cool?) Now, this summer I finally beat 12:30. Then I beat 12:00 with a time of 11:48. Since then I’ve gone faster every week and my latest best time is 11:08. That is unbelievable for me and I don’t know if I can ever beat that. But I’d like to get under 11:00. Can I? (one problem is that the timing device quit on Monday, so I’m stuck).

wingssail images judy jensen
Pork Kebabs

Cooking: We usually eat at home and Judy always prepares great meals. This summer she decided to document her cooking. She has been photographing her results every night and she has a blog post with all of the results. They are as good as they look. I’ve got one photo here but Judy is posting a month’s worth are here>> Thirty Days of Meals

Next up we’ve got a haul out coming and a new paint job for the hull, plus some instrument upgrades and new rudder bearing. It will be busy. We’ll try to keep you in the loop.

Click here for more photos.

Click here for Judy's cooking photos

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Mexico

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