June 30, 2009.

There’s been nothing of note to report as of late, unless you want to read about work. Works been pretty good. There’s been something different every day, which is good.

It’s especially fun being here in Annapolis because so many cruising boats are coming through. I had to cure a starting problem for a cruising boat just yesterday. The cool thing about it was that since they were on a mooring down in the basin I got to take the bosses Boston Whaler down to the mooring field to do the repair. It was the furthest I’ve ever driven a powerboat.

Before noon today I had to go about 20 miles out of town and fix a fuel delivery problem and then take the boat out for a test drive. It was a little disconcerting to be taking someone else’s boat out without them being on board. The guy didn’t have a GPS and his depth sounder wasn’t working. So I’m on an unfamiliar boat, with no depth sounder, no chart, in waters I’m unfamiliar with and hey look, is that a storm cell headed my way.

Fortunately the boat was a smaller Beneteau and handled like a dream. I backed it out of the slip and smartly down the fairway. She spun around nicely and I made several passes up and down the vaguely marked channel. I had no idea if I had 6 inches or 6 feet under me, it kinda sucked and my ass was sore from being puckered until I once again approached the sanctuary of the slip. I just got the boat tied up, closed up and was unloading my tools when the small front hit. It only poured for a few minutes and it wasn’t as bad as it looked.

In the afternoon I installed a FRESH water anchor wash down on a large powerboat. I can’t even begin to imagine having enough fresh water that I could afford to rinse the mud from my anchor in fresh water. It’s funny to me just how much my definition of “decadence” has changed since we’ve been cruising. Oooh, unlimited fresh water, how decadent.