Day 21- By Aaron

I decided to sleep in this morning.  It seemed to be nice and cool in the boat.   I slept in until almost 11, figured it was a holiday.  Then I woke Vicki up so we could get showers, do something nice for the day, and forget about all the stuff we've been dealing with. 

I went and took a shower, came back, Vicki putz around a little bit, we ate some lunch, then Vicki went to go take a shower.  I thought this would be a good time to start the engines, let them warm up, make sure everything was running right while Vicki wasn't around so she didn't have to worry about anything.  The engines started up right on the first try.  It was the easiest they ever started.  I let them run for about 15 minutes, then Vicki came back, we were just about ready to go take a walk around town when all a sudden I started hearing a little popping noise.  I smelt a little something, like something could have been burning, but very faint.  At that point, I looked at the amps on the master control panel and it was flipping up and down wildly.  So, I immediately turned off the air, unplugged it, and unplugged a few other things. 

I discovered that the power cord that was plugged into the new air conditioner unit was somehow melted.  It also melted the carpeting in the boat through two layers.  I also discovered that the brand new land to ship power cord that I bought, the end that was plugged into the boat, was a bit melted.  Now that the part that is on the boat that you would actually plug the power cord into fried.  One of the three steel prongs broke off and melted into the power cord.  At that point, I unplugged everything.  I made sure there was no fire.  Of course I should have turned off the refrigerator, so now the batteries are dead.  I left message with the dockmaster on his voice mail to help me out I will need a charge tomorrow to get it started so I can get it the hell out of there.

Extension Cord To Portable AC Unit Fried
It got hot and melted the carpet.

Carpet Melted Threw This Layer and The Old Carpet Underneath
The extension cord got hot and melted it.

Brand New Ship To Shore Power Cord, $120, Fried

Now I told myself yesterday that if one more dam thing goes wrong, that was it.  So, I decided, being that it's a nice holiday day, it would be easy to figure things out (By that I'm being sarcastic).  We have no vehicle at the boat, so I decided I needed to rent a car.  Again, being that it's a holiday, everything is closed.  So, I hopped in a taxi cab and took off to the airport to rent a car because I know that place is open 24 hours per day.  I got a car, drove back to the boat, told Vicki while I was doing this to have everything ready that she wants immediately off the boat.  She's going home with the cat. 

Right now, I'm at home, my actual land home.  Tomorrow morning, I will return the rental car, get back to the boat, and start heading for home with the boat.  I might decide to go half way and then get a hotel on Clearwater Beach, as I won't sleep on the boat with no air. 

Now I told Vicki, think about it and it's totally up to her, either I get dropped off at the boat and she goes home and I take the boat back by myself, or she can go with me.  Told her it doesn't matter to me.  I think she should just go back home so she doesn't have to worry about things.  Vicki said that she's sticking with me and whatever I decide to do she will be by my side.  So, tomorrow morning, I will stop at West Coast Marine and buy the part for the boat to plug the electric cord into, just so I have it and go from there.  Let's hope I can make it to Clearwater Beach.