Aug 22 - Color us....gone

Not far, mind you, but out of the marina. The last few days have been hectic. Our refrig compressor decided to cut in and out continuously....running full time and eating up amps. Plus, the noise of the compressor doing that was enough to drive anyone batty. At any rate, after a lot of diagnostics, it was finally determined that a resistor had gone bad. I mean, how often does a resistor go bad? I have no idea the answer to that somewhat rhetorical question, but it's now fixed by putting in a variable resistor board, which will save amperes and be more efficient. We chose the rpm to run the compressor at, and will just have to monitor the system and see how things go. Our autopilot passed its dockside testing, so we're now planning "on the water" testing, which will be discussed shortly. We picked up our last minute laundry (30 baht/kg), Sue did a bit of last minute provisioning, and we had fresh water delivered to the boat (20 baht/20 liter bottle). Boat Lagoon Marina is tide dependent, meaning deep draft vessels have to come and go at high tide. We arranged to pick up diesel at the fuel dock, paid our final marina bill, and headed out, destination Ao Po Marina....nine miles away. We were to pick up the Simrad fellow and have our final check out, so out the long, winding channel we went. No drama. Gotta tell you, it felt so good to be back aboard and going somewhere...anywhere...even if it was only nine miles away! We reached Ao Po and it was blowing 15-18 knots and choppy, not ideal conditions for picking people up by dinghy or testing the autopilot, so arrangements were made for pick up tomorrow morning. We re-anchored two miles away at Ko Naka Yai (N08deg 03.123min; E098deg,28.30min), and enjoyed a swim, happy hour nibbles and calm conditions. Meanwhile, we have about two million system items to check (Westsails...those simple boats....), and are smiling about it...It's been about seven months since we've been out at anchor....way too long, but Infini is back in her element and looking good.
Pic: Looking toward Phang Nga Bay from our anchorage at Naka Yai.

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