Red tape - We have applied for a green card as 99% of my work is in the USA, I'm getting old and don't like the cold and the sailing from the state of Florida is enough to keep me interested for years. Last year at holiday time we were awaiting a grandson any day and holidays were approaching, I was asked to go to Chile for a month long job that would take place in January when I'm usually on holidays so I was chomping at the bit to do something, anything really and we could do nothing as we couldn't leave the US. My visa had expired and the card had been applied for but for the meantime we were in limbo. The lawyer eventually got us advanced parole cards that enable us to leave and return with just a little hassel but they never arrived until March or there a bouts so as soon as they arrived in the mail we were on a plane to Ottawa to be there for the birth of Maksim Alexander. Traci was happy and that's all that really matters to me when it comes down to it.
I do need to talk to Byron, (Gringos blog) and see what the requirements are to live in the Turks as now the Bahamas are supposedly coming out with a 7.5% tax that is new to them. Corruption has to have fuel and I can only assume that it got them in this state or will soon have them there.
Removed the old, little refridgerator.
Had installed the above as well as a new course computer, battery monitor, got the SSB radio fixed for round the world weather, had installed two new 1100 gallon per hour automatic bilge pumps, another new toilet in our bedroom bath, a new 105 amp alternator and smart regulator on the starbord engine and numerous other gadgets to go on holidays with last year. We couldn't go due to the green card thing so we were ready for this year and adding more toys. We got the chance to go to Canada for a month to 6 weeks as I had to work out of the office so we shut down all the breakers except the fridge, freezer and lights as they had food in them. When we returned to the boat, around 2 a.m., it smelled as though someone had died in here a few weeks earlier and there was no lights. Turns out the shore power utilities had been hit by lightning and the current travelled through the ground, through the on-board battery charger in which all the solder was melted away and throughout the whole 12V ground system of the boat and fried pretty much everything except a few led lights, 1 of the new bilge pumps, the windless although it fried the new remote I had put on it and the VHF radio but it did melt the antenna for it right off mast. I'm still finding ruined stuff every day as I test this and that and the costs are enormous. Insurance for such a thing is between 4 and 5 thousand a year so I don't know which is the lesser of the 2 evils seeing as we are living in the lightning capital of the world in the summer months. I will without a doubt invest in a good surge protector and am going to install 2 gang breakers so that when they off, they are switching off the ground as well as the power supply to various trinkets. There is a huge fuse on the ground buss right near the batteries that may do the same thing but I will need to leave some things on I'm sure.
I'll update sooner, promise.
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