Day 253
Clark made sure the bed was made and the dishes done for my return from Connecticut. Everything looked very nice except for the large pile of laundry begging to be washed. Since the weather for the day was questionable (rain expected), it seemed like a good day to get the laundry out of the way. Sadly, everyone else in Marathon must have had the same thought.
Hoping to accomplish two tasks at once, I went up to the marina building with my shower bag and another bag stuffed full of laundry. As I entered the laundry room, I could see that the situation was grim - both washers were going and a person there had her sheets waiting to go in as soon as one washer stopped. I decided to leave my bag of laundry and go take my shower with the hope that by the time I came back at least one washer would be available.
Besides the two loads of clothes that I brought up with me to be washed, I had a set of sheets and a blanket to be washed from stripping the bed. I hoped to get it all done but resigned myself to only getting some of it finished today. As I stood waiting for a washer to become free, the person there ahead of me (Julie as I later learned her name) mentioned that she had hoped to find a laundromat and was stuck at the marina instead. I told her that a new laundromat had just opened almost directly across the street. She offered to take me and my laundry there so we could get our work done faster. I took her up on the offer and ran back to my boat to get the rest of my laundry.
She had a car which made dragging all that laundry across Route 1 seem not so bad. When we entered the laundromat, however, it seemed that everyone from miles around had come for the day. Not one washer was open! Fortunately within a few short minutes of arriving, the washers started to empty out. It took 4 machines and $16 for me to get all my wash going.
Drying was another story. I cannot really say that I know how many quarters I pumped into the dryers at 4 minutes per quarter. I was lucky in that I got an over-sized dryer with 9 minutes left on it from the prior user. Wow - a whole 50 cents worth of time! It seemed to take forever in the sauna cum steam room cum laundromat, but finally, having started my wash two hours earlier, I got a ride back with Julie who had patiently waited another 20 minutes after her wash was done.
A fellow boater friend of mine calls them "boat angels". They are those people who appear out of nowhere to help you when you need it. Today Julie was my boat angel. I have never seen her before, and since she is from Rhode Island and left here today, I will probably never see her again, but she was there for me when I needed some help.
While I was sweating it out in the laundromat, Clark was back at the boat contemplating the engine problem yet again. After lunch he climbed back down into the engine compartment and wrapped himself around the backside of the port engine and "rodded out" the heat exchanger. It was a long, back-breaking process as he had to poke a wire into the heat exchanger repeatedly as he attempted to break down the "scale" buildup.
He worked on it all afternoon. Fortunately the rain that was predicted never appeared because just after 6:00 (when the rain was supposed to be heavy), he announced that we needed to take the boat out for a test run to see if his work had solved the overheat problem. High winds are predicted for tomorrow and he needed to get in that analysis of his work! Since I was wearing a dress, I ran to change my clothes and get boat shoes. He set to prepping the boat to take it out.
We went out a short distance from the marina and ran the boat back and forth, first at slow speed and eventually at high speed. The temperature gauge showed promising numbers at slower speeds and even at some higher speeds, but after a short run at top speed, that darn overheat alarm went off yet again. It appears that every little bit helps but nothing so far has solved the problem. Shortly after we got back in our slip at the marina, the nightly gun sounded signaling sun set at 7:30. That is one good thing about Daylight Savings Time.
With all the mucking about we ended up with a very late dinner. After dinner Clark headed up to take a much-needed shower, I did the dishes and then sat down to work on the blog entries. Clark has three more possible areas to look into for the overheat problem. With the cold front that came through today (even though the rain did not come with it), tomorrow should have less heat and humidity and make working on the boat more palatable.
Once we get the port engine under control, Clark said he should "rod out" the starboard engine heat exchanger since it seemed to make a very nice improvement in the port engine - just not enough. At least he doesn't have to be a contortionist to reach the starboard side heat exchanger!
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