September 12. Holy shit where does the time go. It’s been a week since my last update. We’ve been sitting here at the marina in Forked River. We’ve accomplished most of the things on our “to-do” list. The marina here has several picnic areas scattered around the property. Most marinas have these areas but this is the first marina we’ve been to that the people actually seem to get together and use these spaces. It’s nice to see the people from 2, 3 or 4 boats getting together for meals, cocktails and laughter. There’s the Wild Bunch, the Corner Club, the Odd People that nobody talks about. It’s really a nice place to hang out.

I was able to finish the dinghy chaps and after some eye hooks are installed on the inside of the dink, it’ll be ready to install. When I post pictures you’ll be impressed, if not, I’ll just blame it on the quality of the camera.

I recounted before the trouble we’ve had with our alternator on our journey. I’d decided I needed professional help, no not that, with the alternator. As luck would have it there is a business near the marina that bills themselves as being a DC marine specialist, excellent, just what we need, an expert.

I went over and arranged for an estimate which turned into an agreement to do some work. I was not really comfortable doing anything but basic electrical work. I need a professional so I can walk away from this knowing that everything was done right and I can sleep at night.

I haven’t slept since. There were several components added to our existing system along with another alternator. Everything was installed and when it was time to hit the go button, nothing worked. The boat started but everything in the instrument panel was dead. Crap.

Anyway, to make a long story short. They installed everything and when it didn’t work the guy wanted to bill me for 6 additional man hours to figure out what was wrong with the work they just did. Its got to be a mistake so I went down to see the boss and ask about the hours billed.

I didn’t even get to finish asking the question when this a-hole started screaming about me trying to cheat him, how I’m a thief. I was astonished; I was almost speechless, almost. He ended up throwing me out, threatening to call the cops if I didn’t leave. All I wanted to do was pay them and now he wouldn’t even take any money. I ended up leaving a check after they were gone for more than they earned, but I’ll be damned if I’ll pay for them to troubleshoot their own incompetence. Past performance is no guarantee of future results so your experience may vary from mine. But I wouldn’t let these “technicians” plug in a toaster for me. Twenty dollars to plug it in, and four hundred dollars to figure out how they plugged it in wrong.