06.11.04 - After a too-brief sojourn in Hawaii to celebrate 25 years of incredible marriage to my bride, where we met "Bluewater Bob" and learned that you can live aboard a boat in a "transient slip" for 90 days at a time for $245 a month - at Waikiki Beach - I returned refreshed and invigorated to "MoonTan II", armed with two plastic buckets, a gallon of Clorox, 409, Comet Cleanser, laundry detergent, hand soap, scrub brushes, steel wool and an assortment of towels, shop rags and sponges, assuming that I would find her in pretty much the same condition as when I left. Unfortunately, there were no surprises.

At least all the water seems to have finally drained out of the space between the outer hull and the inner shell. After all, this is Arizona... and it's a dry heat. Six hours and as many knuckles later, I now know that the through-hull drain is from the galley sink. Beginning to feel a bit like that not-so-famous guy who re-invented the wheel.

Anyway, I discovered that the sink fixtures actually work! There's a 5-gallon water tank in the cabinet under the sink and the faucet "pumps" water out of it into the sink. The water then runs out through the drain. The faucet handle keeps popping off during the priming, but I'm sure a little super-glue will fix that. The 5-gallon "tank" is actually a clear plastic foldable container with a handle on top for easy lifting. Never seen anything quite like it. It doesn't have a cap - the intake siphon hose from the faucet runs straight into a round, threaded opening on top of the container. I may look around for a cap that will fit, then modify it with a grommet to accept the hose, just for general hygiene.

By the way, the purchase of the cleaning supplies ran about $20, and since maintenance has to be included in the bottom line, that brings the investment to-date up to $450. Oh, I almost forgot - just to keep things simple, I paid for a year's storage in advance. At $35 per month, that was another $420, bringing the running total up to $870, give or take. Still a bargain, it seems to me, at twice the price!