By Larry McCullough

Yes, the other woman! Since Jamie is the editor you can probably guess that she approved of this post, or at least put up with it like she puts up with me. Boats are always referred to as females, thus the other woman. Like all relationships, not just with woman, things are not perfect all the time. There is a give and a take, you let things slide a bit and when you wake up in the morning, you try not to dwell on the negative. The main thing is you try to workout the problem and move on, not that Jamie and I have ever had any problems.

Such is the relationship with a boat. You think human relationships are tough, nothing compared to a boat. With the human you can just try to forget about it and move on, not with a boat, for some reason a boat problem hangs on. Yes, you are probably guessing correctly that we are having some problems with the boat. As I brought them to the attention of Life Proof I started off the email “This is not a bitch session, I realize that bringing a thousand (or more) piece puzzle together, and turning them into a boat, is going to have some problems”. I meant that. But as in a relationship with a real woman, as opposed to a boat, it is what happens next, how is the other woman reacting, or in this case specifically how is the manufacturer reacting.

I must say Life Proof has been very responsive to our problems. Most recently, as Jamie has previously posted, we are in Ketchikan Alaska and I am very glad that we are here now. The first morning here I got up around 5:00AM as usual and hit the coffee maker button. The pot brewed then shortly after the 120 electrical power went out! I tried diagnosing the problem, checking connections, the electrical panel: input output. Panic starts to set in, the coffee has been brewed, but with the power off it will quickly get cold in the 50 degree temperature of the boat…and then Jamie will get up without a hot cup (not really a cup, 16 ounces x 2) and there will be hell to pay. What do I do, I can’t figure out the problem, leave a note and go hide, put out an extra biscotti and hope that calms her down! I man up, and try to solve the problem…beyond my pay grade.

I email Life Proof with the Subject Line “Inverter Problem”, to distinguish from our other topics, more on that later. Within a few minutes, as I am typing up another email with all of the symptoms and diagnostic items I have done, my phone rings and it is Michael the project manager for the boat. I had emailed him and the CEO Micah (who we had originated our deal with at Life Proof). Michael gave me some ideas, I tried them or said I had already tried them. Micah, the CEO, emailed me pictures of the inverter that had the reset button circled along with another switch circled, I had already tried that! I mentioned that we could not go further north without the inverter working, they knew that.

The next morning I receive an email from Michael and he has arranged for a local company to handle a service call. Great, I am relieved, no date is discussed, no name of a company. As I mentioned, we were in Ketchikan, a city with a fair amount of marine services due to the large fishing industry. This could be a good place to take care of the small oil leak in the Mercury outboard. I contact Mercury and they mention a local company who can handle a service call, great, I can take care of the inverter and oil leak. We had decided to fly home for 8 days and we left our keys to the boat with Bill, Benson’s owner (the dog giving me a hug that Jamie posted), in case one of the techs can come by to do the work.

While Jamie and I are home, we both are getting slammed with various things and I am getting a bit worried. I look to buy an inverter and bring it up to Ketchikan, then I get an email from Michael at Life Proof, the inverter company screwed up scheduling and now Life Proof is flying up a “Senior Tech” with a new inverter to install it!!! What a relief. I can finally feel better about going back to Ketchikan and being on the other woman, better rephrase that, getting back to the boat.

Jamie and I arrive back to Ketchikan Monday night and meet Mike, the Life Proof tech, at the restaurant in our hotel for breakfast (we got a hotel because we were getting in late and the boat was torn apart to make it easier if a technician came aboard). We jump in his rental car and I help him drag his tools and the new inverter to the boat. Mike checks things out and then switches out the inverter, it still does not work! If you have ever seen the guts of a boat it is like veins in a body, wires everywhere especially, no surprise, behind the electrical panel. Mike starts checking all the connections with a voltmeter and voilà, a loose wire running from the inverter to the electrical panel was the problem, that was it one little wire. I had asked Mike prior to him starting to work if he would mind if I hovered over him so that I could learn more about the boat, in exchange I was his “bitch” grabbing tools, telling him which lights the inverter had on, etc.. While Mike was here he also fixed the bow thruster which still worked but the joy stick at both controls had stopped. I was so grateful that Life Proof sent Mike, if it was just an inverter tech he/she/they/them would have said “it’s not the inverter, bye”.

While Mike was on board, and I was hovering, I think I learned quite a bit about Mike. More than a great guy with a great family but what a life. He has traveled the world working on boats for owners who are the who's who of the technology world. Before that he was a special effects technician for movies. Mikes not a big Tequila guy but he felt obliged to toast the boat working properly, see photo below.

Just a sip to toast a working inverter…thank you Milke!

As in life, as with the other woman, when there is a problem both parties must work to solve the problem as opposed to just complaining. Owning a boat is taking care of one problem after another and it is nice to be working with Life Proof who has been very good at helping taking care of those problems. With the engine leak, thankfully it is a minor one, Friday will be two weeks since the local Mercury Technician said that he believes he had diagnosed the problem and will have ordered the parts and we would not have a delay in resuming our trip. We have guests arriving on Saturday, we will be like their Uber driver taking them from hotel to hotel, and plan to leave Monday, we have to because we have a reservation for Glacier Bay on June 26 with some miles to go. Mercury Platinum Protection, today being Thursday - I am getting worried again!