First Night or Fixing Your Boat In Exotic Locations

Well maybe not exotic but still away from the dock.  That's right.  We had some maintenance/repairs required at anchor last night.  While it's not the first choice of activity while anchored in a lovely, quite river, it's also not unexpected.  Not that we thought this would happen.....fridge and freezer would not start back up.  The strainer was clogged up big time.   Ooops.  We checked it 2 -3 weeks ago, honest.  So Tom cleaned it out but the units still wouldn't start.  Then he messed with this and that while I got this tool and that and flipped switches on and off and we troubleshooted what it could be.  Fridge started running but we could't get freezer to start.  Tom tested pump and it was fine.  Water flow in now cleaned seacock/strainer was great.  Finally he changed the freezer pump diaphragm.  This seemed to do it.  And yes, my brilliant husband found one spare onboard when we moved aboard and thought "hum....I should probably order a couple of more since we have multiple pumps that use this part."  He also changed the seacock O ring and then doubled it up when it leaked a tiny bit after changing.  Freezer started up and ran all night.  Yay!
My point in all of this is....things are going to break and maintenance is required even in a nice anchorage.   Even after being at the dock for 3 1/2 months, we had to do repairs and maintenance the first night out....officially cruising!  But we didn't let it get to us.  We know this.  We expect it.  I would even say its the norm or standard.  Will we have maintenance and repairs every night?  I hope not.  Will there been consecutive nights where we have repairs and maintenance?  You bet.  But that is the price we pay for life afloat and on the go.