Mar 18-19 - left, go left ! Or right ?

We had a great day on the boat on Thursday but there was a hiccup. The motor started ok, but of course I'd made sure of that a couple of days earlier. It did need a shot of ether but that was expected. I backed out and oh oh ... I'd turned the motor of course to reverse out and it wouldn't turn back. Yikes. 

We inched our way over to the dock gingerly reverse the forward, tried to turn by hand but of course that was a waste of time. It's hydraulic steering and there's no way you can push that fluid. 

There's a little too-up screw right at the steering wheel and opening that up, I could see wetness inside but no fluid level. Ryan got a quart of fluid and the hose and we but each other that this wouldn't solve the problem. A couple of ounces of fluid later, it was full. Bingo, working again. I guess that 12 years of fitting around was the issue. It's something that I would never have thought to check as it's a closed loop. 

So now I have enough fluid for many more years than I have left to me. At the same rate of evaporation perhaps 150 years ?  

We did the usual — ocean, island, lunch at Off the Hook, formerly Inlet Harbor.   The only concession to both the sitting around time and steering issue was first making a swing over by the yacht club to give the steering and motor a workout. Everything worked like a champ. 

Yesterday was a bike day. 

Onward. 

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From my iwdt