We told you Ravenswing had a good first ocean trip. And of course it generated a to-do list. We’re getting after it, pre-Mexico.

Jim and Dan, my first task at 6am today… The bathroom dry rot king can imagine what happened when I finally got the pump’s clog to clear in that Alamitos Bay parking lot bathroom. Nothing a little Clorox couldn’t fix. Note in the photo the small water lines and black ‘vented loop’. That used to be much higher up, behind a false bulkhead. Turns out I had too much elevation gain in the toilet flush-water supply line, meaning we were constantly starving the toilet for sufficient flushing water. Rerouted it all this morning via the “sea chest” concept down at hull bottom level, and it works like a champ now. The Lavac toilets are great with simplicity and strength, but do require sensible setup.

The other big one I mentioned before was blowing out a solar panel. Anton advises the flexible panels have proven to be quite prone to breaking circuitry due to the flexing. I thought we had done well to mount them to solid boat parts (I pity those who think it’ll work strapping them to Bimini tops). But we agreed that these panels really need to be permanently attached to actual backer boards to ensure the best chance of longevity. We’re out of foam core and wanted this project done quickly before I drove back to LA. So it was pressure treated wood and a sheet of doorskin. We’ll show you the install soon.

Got the sewing machine out for covering the Bimini when it’s folded up during sailing or storms.

The mainsail reefing-led-to-cockpit is working well, but missing a couple of line guides in front of the cabintop halyard winches. We had some extra plastic hanging around yesterday, and will install tomorrow.

I loaded the pickup with all the last stuff for the boat’s coming adventure, plus every tool I could foresee using in LA this week. Some of you knew our 2017 Ram Ecodiesel 1500 4×4, all tricked out with off-road gear. Yea, that motor couldn’t handle the travel trailer load. After a five month fight, we prevailed in arbitration and Chrysler bought it back last week. Their dough enabled a 50k miles 2017 Cummins diesel 2500. And this garage queen just barely fits :)Pretty darn happy yesterday driving down I-5 (basically empty) at 70mph getting 23-24 mpg in a huge ass truck.

Last weekend it pulled the travel trailer very well up to the Sierras. Mountain bike racing and early snow!I discovered how great the truck’s factory supplied exhaust brake works.

Anyhow, today was moving Ravenswing from the two week max stay at Long Beach to a three week berth in San Pedro. Never gets old passing the Los Angeles harbor entrance called Angels Gate.

Tomorrow includes solar rewording / reinstall, line handling upgrades and interior adjustments. Probably painting jobs on Sunday.

Oh yea, Navy radioman Dave: Turns out the VHF transmission problem was the $3 patch cable from the antenna splitter to the radio. After you left Catalina I took another crack at diagnostics and found the cable cutting in and out. Not cool that the $900+ professional AIS rig showed up with a crap cable! They quickly sent this for me to put in tmrw. No time for sailing this week but at least this is a nice marina to hang and work in for a few days. Next up will be the designated BajaHaHa anchorage in San Diego later this month!