Well, if you have spent time around the Chesapeake Bay in the summer, you know that “chilling” is, in this case, strictly metaphorical!  With the heat and humidity here, we have rarely been more grateful for Harmonie’s efficient air conditioning.

We are taking some time attached to land to get some boat projects and other things sorted out.  Despite our relative radio silence in blog postings, progress is being made!

By way of example:  We had an issue with the engine temperature readout suddenly and intermittently indicating that the engine temperature was way, way high.  Since the alarm (with is triggered by a separate circuit) did not go off, and it is almost impossible for the engine to go from 180º to over 240º in zero time, and there was no other evidence of overheating, I decided that the problem was in the temperature measurement circuit itself.  Sure enough… the problem was the actual temperature gauge; an easy fix. Since we had the engine instrument panel apart I took the opportunity to clean up some pretty ugly wiring back there.  All is now much more better.

We are adding an emergency shut off for the electric winches, and swapping out the aging buttons that actuate them. This is an important enough project, I’ll likely add a detailed article just about this.

One of the things we most love about the design and construction of the Amel is that the boat is DRY inside. Seriously, NO leaks of seawater or rain water—none. The deepest part of the bilge in the main cabin is literally dusty all the way to the bottom, without a trace of even a water stain. Because of that, a small leak from the main saloon hatch has been highly annoying.  It turns out the hatch is in two parts. The frame and the hinged lid are attached to the deck separately. The hinges had come loose from the deck preventing a good tight compression of the main gasket. Some epoxy, and some installed heli-coils to reinforce the threads, and we are hopeful we have a long lasting repair.  Certainly–for now–the leak is gone!

The leak from the hatch caused a secondary problem… it soaked the overhead cabin light fixture in the main saloon.  Rather than try to cobble together a repair, we deep-sixed it and replaced it with a fixture from AlpenGlow Lights (https://www.alpenglowlights.com).  An amazing improvement in the lighting quality in our main cabin.  We should have done this long ago!  I used this brand of light on my last boat too, and can’t recommend them enough.

A list of projects practical. cosmetic, and personal will keep us here for a few more weeks.