Ship’s Log
No Boundaries
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Shakedown might mean many different things. The image that usually comes to mind is to shake something really hard until it self-destructs or until it falls into the right place. One does not usually think that the shaking happens to the shaker. Aboard a boat that is exactly what could happen.
We left Baltimore knowing that we still had things to put away and things to test. Our return to Harborview for a week had turned into three, because nothing ever goes as planned. The right part turns out not to be exactly right. The right wire lacks just 2 feet of being long enough. The right screw doesn’t actually work and some different one must be purchased. However, as one week turned into two and then three, we continued to make progress. When everything was wired and in its proper physical location, we let loose the lines and departed. Few things had been tested, which is the point of a shakedown cruise. Of course, you already know that we were shaken pretty thoroughly by a torrential rainstorm as we gritted our teeth and left anyway. Still, this was not the sort of shakedown we envisioned when we said that we needed a shakedown cruise.
The real shaking down had to wait for us to finish all the putaway and cleanup and a few more little projects. However, as usual on a boat, no matter how much is finished, something else jumps up and demands attention. On Friday evening, just as I set dinner on the table, Larry reached up and switched on the overhead light. It flashed brightly and died. New lightbulb required. We have the lightbulb, and replacing it is not a big thing. We just did not need to add that task to the list at the moment.
On Saturday, as I was preparing dinner, I observed that the refrigerator was not as cold as it should be. We defrosted right before we left Harborview, then filled it to the brim with food. The refrigerator needed to be cold. Since a cooler setting would require the compressor to run more than to maintain the existing setting, we decided not to change the setting until morning, when we would be running the generator. We did that, but at noon, long after the generator had been turned off, the refrigerator compressor was still running. The task of trouble-shooting the refrigerator and possibly adding refrigerant or working on some part loomed over what should have been our Sabbath. Fortunately, after looking at everything and analyzing the situation, Larry concluded that we just needed a little more patience for it to get to the new setting.
What was being shaken was the shakers, the people who are supposed to be in charge. It happens all the time in liveaboard world. We sometimes feel as if we might have been assaulted by a rat terrier with a good grip on our necks. It takes strong sense of purpose and unstoppable determination to be cruisers.