The sailing life

I completed a five day trip with five guys who went to grad school together; it was great to have them aboard. Since they went to M I T, I thought they would all have pocket protectors, glasses held together with duck tape and goofy clothes; stereotyping was wrong, as always.
I'm at anchor in Nassau harbor and have been for three days dealing with small but aggravating maintenance issues. My four year old GPS chart plotter began to malfunction on my way over from Miami and finally died. That's being handled by my next guest Gary who has purchased a new one for me and will bring it with him to George Town. That will be expensive, about 2k when all is done.
I was enjoying some BBQ ribs sometime last week and broke a four tooth permanent bridge. Dental work is the only thing I know that's more expensive then boats but fortunately I have been doing barter with my two Dentists for years so the only expense will be flying to North Carolina a few times to get this problem resolved. I just have to remember to not smile to broadly till then.
More maintenance, the anchor windless is slipping when I use it to haul the anchor up. That usually means I simply re torque the main spindle bolt thereby increasing the friction. Well the dam bolt is frozen, I have for two days been trying PB Blaster, extreme heat and ice. Last night I got the bright idea to use the wench handle (that's the way it's designed) with a leverage bar yep; the wench handle broke. What next, I don't know, anybody out there got an idea?
Here's a small one but very aggravating; Chef Mate Deb told me way back in Miami that there was water on the shelves below the two galley sinks. I replaced all the plumbing with new, it seems I only made the problem worse; I'm not good at plumbing would be a kind description of my plumbing skills.
While I'm venting, I was boarded here in the harbor by the Bahamian Defense Force yesterday. I presented myself and papers while covered in grease, with tools strewn inside and out, topped off by my smile at their comment. They said they couldn't believe the age on my passport compared to my physical condition; and where is all my help.
I quoted Captain Ron "it's the rum, sailing and woman" that keeps you young.

Here is the last one I'm dealing with: the raw water pump that brings up sea water to cool the diesel engine, which drives the generator, had a small water leak caused by a two dollar lip seal failure. No problem, I have a spare for that so, remove, repair and reinstall about two hours, wrong. The spare was damaged. I got in a taxi then visited six shops, I was slow to understand that lunch here means that one shop is closed 12 to 1 and the next might be 1 to 2, anyway four hours later and a $120 taxi ride I located the seal at the last shop that might have such a seal, it wasn't two dollars it was ten; I would have paid fifty at that point.
I put it all back together and it worked fine; this morning it is not drawing water up-see why I don't like plumbing!
At the end of four days I'm right back where I was at the beginning with the exception of dock and taxi fees.
I'm going to the dock after I post this log and find my friend Captain Tony who often knows more about certain plumbing issues then me, not to diminish Tony but most everyone knows more about plumbing

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