Houseboat visit, 1/28/2025

 After a crazy busy few days, doctor's appointments, etc, a trip to the water was seriously needed. This is a little walk down "B" dock to the houseboat, at night. Here's a little video...

Houseboat Maintenance, 1/21/2025

 We have a hard freeze (low teens) coming tonight. The heat pump was a little low on freon, and I was worried about the houseboat/plumbing freezing. I came up here and topped it off with freon, and found what I believe is the small leak that's been bugging me. 

When I unbolted the battery box and moved it, I discovered one of the ports to be lightly oily. I tightened the Schrader valve and checked it with liquid detergent, and no bubbles! 

This is a 38 seer (!!!) Mini-split and is efficient down to 0°F! It's been running 2 years, and I love it!

Snow at Kerr Lake, 1/11/2025

 A few pics from the Steele Creek Marina, Jan 11 2025. About 3" of fluffy white snow!

Kerr Lake, 11/2/24

 Some good friends of ours invited us up to their new property on Kerr Lake for a little party. We took the pontoon boat from the marina over to their location. After the gathering at their place, we cruised back to the houseboat in total darkness (around 9p), navigating on instrument only. Nice night time cruise! Once we got to the houseboat, I got a couple of photos of the new LED lighting I installed earlier in the week. Here's a few pics...

Night time cruise...

A look at the boats over at Booty Beach as we rolled through...

New LED lighting...

Houseboat Maintenance

Today turned out to be more work than expected... 

- I worked on the retractable front awning to install a method to secure it when deployed. We were afraid to leave it out when we hop on the pontoon boat to head up the lake or when on the fishing boat, as storms come up quickly and totally destroyed it on July 4th of 2023. After fitting and installing a new awning, we were constantly cranking it in and out. After a bit of thought, I installed a set of quick release restraints to secure it when deployed. The prototype worked well, so I finalized it today. 

- The cheap decorative lighting I installed 2 years ago had begun to fail. I got some rolls of LED self-adhesive lighting and replaced it. I got all of the wiring and lighting completed, except for the pirt side of the houseboat. I'll finish that when I return.

- One of the security cams had developed an issue, so I worked on that. Turned out to be an intermittant power cable, easy fix.

- I discovered a little rust on one of the deflectors over the side bedroom transom window. I cleaned adhesive and prepped it for paint when I return. 

- The external north side of the house always grows mildew when we move into fall, as it receives no sun. I washed / scrubbed that today, and it came clean fairly easily. 

- I finished all I could, covered the pontoon boat, and headed home.

The above pics are of the restraints & quick connectors to attach to the porch railing.

This is one of the restraints, stowed away when the awning is retracted.

Washing the house, after removing the old lights.

Removing the mildew...

Rust spots...

More rust...

More rust...

More rust...

Wow...this rust is just on one deflector...must have been scratched while wrapped and in transit. 

You can barely see the light strip routed along the roof drip edge. More pics when the port side is installed and illuminated at night...

Kerr Lake, 10/26/24

 Rode up to the Houseboat today, just to get away from work and relax a bit. Took a run up to Jaws Beach and hung out with friends a while, came back to the houseboat and cooked on the grill, watched a movie, and crashed. A nice, relaxing day. Rain sat in on Saturday night, so we got up Sunday morning and went home. 

Kerr Lake, 10/11/24

 We ran up to the houseboat to check on things and go for a ride on the pontoon boat. Temps are getting cooler, but still very nice outside.