A part of boat life is things breaking (and the puzzle of fixing them). About two weeks since our departure, here is what has broken:
The steaming light (about halfway up the mast, used when motoring at night) was torn off (likely by our new forward halyard). In Bay St. Louis, Jason climbed the mast (using climbing gear and attached to two halyards--one for backup) to take it down because it was hanging by its wires. We had to special order a new one, shipped to a colleague of Jason's in Pensacola. While we were there, he kindly swung by the marina to bring it to us. We are in Destin now and hoping for some calm weather so Jason can install the new one.
Our 50 gallon water tank started leaking (don't worry, we still have two 25 gallon tanks and go about two days on each one). After some investigation, we determined the leak was coming from an elbow coupling just leaving the tank. We suspect that as the boat rolled in the waves in mobile bay fittings became loose or the coupling was damaged. While in Destin, we ran an errand to Home Depot to pick up a new elbow. We plan to fix this connection while here and hopefully that solves the problem!
The propane tank started leaking--or rather, the fittings to the regulator. Our stove and oven is powered by propane, and we have a ten pound tank in a special locker in the cockpit. The locker drains out of the stern of the boat to prevent any leaks from causing a collection of this flammable gas (that sinks) in cabins below. In the locker, the tank is connected to a regulator, with a gauge to test for leaks, and then goes through a solenoid switch down into the cabins. This setup with about five or six connections was giving me trouble for weeks in New Orleans. I finally realized that when the instructions said not to tighten too tight, they were probably speaking to someone with a man's strength that might break the metal parts with too much force. Not a problem for me. When I finally tightened as tightly as I could, we ended the leaks. I don't know if it was the movement of the boat or the passage of time, but in Pensacola I realized we had a leak (I smelled the gas, which is scented for this purpose). It seems that one of the fittings needed further tightening--and it seems this issue is now fixed.
The cabinet in the forward head (bathroom) that has hinges on the bottom and opens towards you from the top to reveal the toilet paper, came off of its hinges. On the way from Pensacola to Destin we had two to four, maybe five foot seas. We were sailing right into them for most of the day, with the bow slapping on the waves and the whole boat bouncing and rocking. This movement caused the cabinet to swing open with such force that five of the seven screws pulled right out. On our errand to Home Depot in Destin, we bought longer screws and intend to reattach the door to its hinge.
We also realized one of the hinges on our top loading refrigerator is loose (the screw appears to have stripped the hole and we will need a longer one) and that the latches on the forward locker and one of the hanging lockers in the forward (or pullman) berth need to be replaced. These doors kept swinging open during our bumpy sail to Destin. We've got one new latch and still need to troubleshoot the other.