Coming Unraveled

No matter how meticulously maintained, every new boat will eventually show its age. The teak will get dull gray, the hull scuffed and dirty. And the pristine, perfectly ordered wiring, hidden for the early life of the boat behind cushions and panels, will have to be exposed and reworked. After five years, Indigo has come to that point. In Mexico several months ago our inverter, which converted power from the batteries into regular 120 volt "plug in" electricity, failed. Now we are having a replacement installed, and the Captain and the energetic and good-natured guys at the boatyard in Anacortes have spent hours teasing out the secrets of how the boat is wired.

A project like this turns ordinarily shipshape Indigo into a disaster area. Innumerable access panels are unscrewed and much of the floor is lifted. Buckets of tools and parts are scattered everywhere; one or two male humans are squeezed or contorted into small spaces as they troubleshoot and eventually complete installing the new inverter. Success! Gradually order is restored, the floor and many panels put back into place. The boatyard guys go home, and we sit down to a late dinner. But what's this - now the stereo doesn't work! A project for tomorrow.