Today started with a plan to rewire the bilge pump so that it's always 'hot' — connected directly to the two batteries. (I want the bilge pump to kill the batteries before sinking the boat, if it comes to that; but I want to be able to shut down everything else electrical when I'm not aboard.)

Once I got the winch panel off and traced the wiring I discovered I'd wired it that way as much as possible — when I added the 4-way battery switch. The separate master toggle switch shuts off power to everything beyond the bilge pump. (I must have left it switched on when I accidently kicked the anchor light's electrical panel rocker switch, which led to killing the batteries over a few weeks last summer while the boat was unattended.)

While I had the winch panel off, I inspected the keel cable turning ball. It was due for maintenance so I removed the brass ball and its pin, cleaned off most of the salt build-up, greased them, and put everything back together. The volcano hose is good to go, like new; from what I can see the keel cable still looks serviceable (last replaced in 2008) but should probably be replaced next year.

Finally, I installed Battery 1, the starboard-side battery, and tested the bilge pump and cabin lights switches. All is well from what I can tell (without the mast cable connected). I installed Battery 2 and am good to go.  (Apr. 29, 2012)

After a week of rain, and last weekend spent/wasted making the crashed laptop hum again, yesterday I got started with eliminating the sliding hatch screech. It was either remove and shim its teak runners or use a Dremel tool to take maybe a 1/16" inch off its forward-bottom edge.  I opted for the latter, then moved on to scrubbing out the cabin, which for some reason this year was still quite clean, then the cockpit, lazeretes, deck, and finally the trunksides and hull.  (May 20, 2012)