Today was a Relax Day in Trenton

Today we decided to stay in Trenton and see if we could do a few things on the boat. This morning Captain Paul spent a couple hours in the bowels of the engine compartment trying to find out why the generator would not start, but he had no success. In the end we have figured out that the Solid State controls may have blown so the only answer is to try to jury rig a way to get it started. After some thought and consultation we are going to try to add some manual switches to override the controls and get the generator running. A mechanic at the Trenton marina is going to come tomorrow morning and see if this will work.

While the Captain was working in the engine compartment, Jan was on a mission to do a thorough cleaning and sorting out, of the interior of the boat as we have been living on it now for almost 4 weeks. It needed some TLC.

After lunch the Captain and Swabbie donned their bathing suits and took on the task of cleaning the exterior of the boat including getting all the black marks off the hull which were a result of the bumpers and dirt from passing through almost 100 locks. After much elbow grease the exterior is now looking a bit more normal with the exceptions of a few scratches.

Later this afternoon we took a break and played a game of Dominos but we never really completed the entire game. We still have a few more rounds to play but at this point the Captain is leading. We will finish the game tomorrow.

After dinner Swabbie took Jan for a longer dingy ride with Out Seein' as they tried to locate the Trenton Air Force base. During the day lots of large planes from the base fly right over the marina as they land. I guess they looked but never really found out where it actually was. Swabbie was just glad to have managed to get the dingy up to 30 mph instead of just cruising around a marina going slow.

The evening was peaceful and quiet. Swabbie managed to get Jan a Jack Daniels Honey and the Captain a Monkey Shoulder Scotch and we sat on the aft for a couple hours just shooting the breeze. We talked about boating in rough water, parts our our journey so far and why boat manufacturers are not consistent with the length of boats. Our boat is a 43 MY (meaning 43 overall length) but the following year they changed the model to a 47 MY with no explanation. Swabbie suggested we get the measuring tape out and find out just how long Out to See III really is. From the front of the boat to the rear of the swim platform our boat is 50 feet 6" and Swabbie was still not sure why they ever called it a 43 MY. There was no conclusion to our conversation, just more confusion.

At 11 pm we called it a night. Tomorrow we try to get the generator fixed and if it works we may start on our trip back up the Trent stopping in Frankford tomorrow.

The Hallman Experience; Today there was no new experience.

Solution: Be more aggressive and do something crazy.

See you on the water soon!