Today was another cold, windy day with scattered showers.

In the morning, Eric upgraded the software on our website. And, of course, a host of things stopped working. So he wound up spending most of the day fixing the problems. When everything was finally working again, he installed a fan in the forward stateroom directly in front of one of the dorad vents. The weather forecast for our Atlantic crossing is strong wind from the rear. Our engine room is “negatively pressurized” which means the air goes outside and not into the rest of the boat. When we get a lot of wind blowing in through the back vents, the engine room becomes “positively pressurized” and the hot, smelly engine room and bilge air blows into the staterooms. It can get unbearably hot and stuffy down below. The logic of the fan install is the fan will maximize the dorad vent’s air flow, circulating the fresh air into the rest of the downstairs. Please keep in mind that the stuffiness and smell is only an issue with strong tail winds. Other than that, it is usually fine downstairs.

On a side note, sometimes we wonder about how much fresh air the dorade vents really brought in until the weather turned cold. We have found out that every time there is a gust of heavy wind outside, a blast of icy air shoots through the downstairs.

Colin tightened all the screws on the boat. Mike had done that for us before the Indian crossing and we forgot to thank him for it on the blog. Thanks Mike and Colin! The vibration of the boat makes some screws loosen up, and if already loose, 19 solid days of vibration could lead to problems. We decided it was better to be safe and make sure everything is tight. Then Colin scrubbed all the dirt off the engine, which was a big job.

Christi continued spring cleaning.

We did venture out to get dinner, heading north towards the town center. Before actually making it to the center, we found a restaurant that looked like it would be good. It wound up being OK. Almost as soon as we sat down, the waiter hassled us to order right then. We asked for a few minutes to look over the menu, and he was back 30 seconds later, pressuring us to make a decision right then. Colin ordered a dish, and was told they were out of it. He ordered something else and the waiter told him no, get this instead. He wound up with a dish we have seen on several menus called pan fried peppers. It was a big plate full of whole mild chili peppers pan fried in olive oil and coated with lots of sea salt. They were good, but being as they were salty, you could only eat so much. Eric ordered fish tacos and got a platter of bite size pieces of white fish in a spicy green salsa, served with small whole potatoes. It was good, but not even close to what we were expecting. He also got mushrooms sautéed with big pieces of garlic, another popular tapas item in Spain. They were strong. Christi got Mexican chicken, which turned out to be breaded chicken in a bland brown gravy sauce, served with white rice and French fries. It was about as far from Mexican as you can get, and honestly was gross.

On the way back to the boat, we passed another restaurant, and from the door we could see a big pig leg mounted behind the bar. Hmmm, so that pig leg from the other night wasn’t an isolated incident. This requires further investigation.

And, since we are doing boat chores and maintenance, we thought we’d answer a couple related blog questions.

Q: Does Nordhavn provide a users manual that guides you through what work/maintenance needs to be done, some kind of checklist with instructions of how to do it? Or is this something you just figure out on your own? Maybe a combination of both?

A: Yes, Nordhavn does provide a comprehensive manual that is custom written for our boat. It has a maintenance checklist and recommended intervals, and it describes how to do some of the work. The engines, stabilizers, appliances, etc., also have manuals, which usually have specific instructions. If we are unsure, we just send and e-mail to Nordhavn or the manufacturer, and we get clarification. Usually it is all about having the right tools available to get the job done.

Q: Why didn’t you order spare main engine gaskets from Nordhavn when you were in Turkey and had ordered parts for the stabilizers? It seems like Nordhavn could have sent you the gasket at that time.

A: The stabilizers are not made by Nordhavn. The boat comes standard without stabilization and you can choose any kind of stabilization you want as an extra option. We chose American Bow Thruster active fin stabilizers. We dealt with ABT, not Nordhavn, regarding the stabilizer repairs.

As for the gaskets, we could have ordered them from Nordhavn at any point, but we just didn’t think about it. The gasket actually went bad after we left Turkey.