Remember back when we moved onto Sanitas in the Salt Creek Marina? And neither the stove nor the refrigerator worked? And I almost had a meltdown, and jumped on a plane back to Colorado?

Well after about two weeks of the inability to make coffee, and only eating picnic food (or, breaking down and going out to eat with the excuse that our stove doesn’t work) we finally received the solinoid in the mail and fixed our stove.

One of the biggest dangers on a sail boat is fire (much more dangerous and more likely to occur than capsizing, believe it or not!) An electric solinoid acts as a shutoff valve between the propane tank located way back in the cockpit stern locker, and the stove that’s conveniently located in the galley. When you aren’t using the stove, you shut off the solinoid switch. However, ours was corroded so badly, that it was permanently closed, therefore no gas and no heat!

Mike did a great job of figuring out all of the electrical work, and getting the new solinoid in place and working like a champ. And I was able to resume my place in a civilized society, with access to hot food and fresh coffee. (Though we still used that same excuse to eat out once in a while!)