One of the things necessary for our trip is that we are familiar with the boat's equipment. So with that in mind, I tackled the job of changing the engine oil for the first time. Yanmar recommends changing the oil every 100 hours. We were only at 80 hours on the current oil, but there's no time like the present for figuring everything out. When we bought Tranquility, the previous owner left her in great shape with tons of extra gear and replacement parts. One of the things he left was a nifty little electric oil extractor, which would let me easily pull the oil up from the pan through the dipstick tube. I figured that it couldn't get much simpler than that, so I hooked it up and went to work. As it turns out, that little pump wasn't as nifty as I thought it was. In fact, I couldn't get it to draw the oil out at all. No problem, though. The nearest Westmarine is less than three miles from the boat, so I headed over and picked up a nice manual pump-type extractor. This time it worked like a charm.
I also had some old running rigging that needed to be replaced. Almost all of the running rigging is in new or good condition, but there are a couple of lines that need immediate replacement. In particular, the topping lift for the staysail boom and the running rigging for the mast-mounted whisker pole.
I wasn't able to find anybody to winch me up the mast in the bosun's chair, so I grabbed a can of Budweiser and called it a day. I'll get to it this weekend, and then it will be on to getting the autopilot working again.
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